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New Processor

Phil22

Phil22

Phil22

Associate
Joined
30 May 2007
Posts
69
Hi I was just if anyone could help me in choosing a new processor. Just now it is a 3.00 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4, however it is starting to show its age. I'm not sure if the mother board will support a core duo. It is a Dell Dimension 8400, Belarc gives the following info for the Board:

Board: Dell Inc. 0J3492
Serial Number: ..CN4811147101KC.
Bus Clock: 800 megahertz
BIOS: Dell Inc. A00 06/17/2004

If the board is too old can anyone suggest a new one as well as a processor. The budget would be up to £150. The comp is only used for work related tasks and Dynamips network simulation software.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Phil
 
Judging just from the i925X chipset on that board it would seem that the best CPU it can handle is a Pentium D. I'd tell you to just get a new mobo but that would necessitate a new case as well since Dell rarely uses the ATX mounting points.
 
It won't support Core 2 Duo chips as they are too new. It may support the first generation dual core chips, but details are sketchy. The manual only lists P4 HT CPUs, as does the Chipset specification on the Intel website.

Chipset info - http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/925x/index.htm
Manual - http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim8400/SM/specs.htm#wp1052308

I think you will need to change the board/cpu/ram together. If you do just upgrade the CPU to a faster one anyway, make sure you update the BIOS first - you are on the original version and the latest is A09!
 
Thanks for the replies. I think I will need a new case, motherboard, Processor and RAM. Can you suggest anything between £300 and £400.

Cheers,
Phil
 
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Abit IP35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)
Corsair VX 450W ATX PSU (CMPSU-450VXUK) £39.99
(£46.99) £39.99
(£46.99)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £29.99
(£35.24) £29.99
(£35.24)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £136.99
(£160.96) £136.99
(£160.96)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Sub Total : £291.95
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £52.66
Total : £353.56

still about £50 left for a case
PSU is in incase your current one isnt up to the job for a quad
drop CPU to a C2D if C2Q isnt needed
 
Thanks for the setup, looks very good. For future proofing would you advise getting the quad, I do not think any of the applications I use will support 4 cores.

Phil
 
Phil22 said:
Thanks for the replies. I think I will need a new case, motherboard, Processor and RAM. Can you suggest anything between £300 and £400.

Cheers,
Phil
Click to expand...

Well you have a good budget there I'd suggest a new PSU as well so to help the cost I'll find one in a case that's good quality.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-093-AN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat= £54.04

or this;

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-094-AN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat= £68.14

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-004-OK&groupid=701&catid=339&subcat= £249.06

As little as £303 and you have a nice kit.

Or a Quad kit like this

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-038-OK&groupid=701&catid=339&subcat= £283.14

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-090-AN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat= £86.94

Total £370.08

And that will be an awesome kit plenty of horsepower in the PSU and just about the best CPU on the planet.
 
good for video encoding and similar tasks
not so good for gaming as not many games if any are multithreaded at the moment.
quad core CPUs are becomming more common (as in more options will be released in the future) so when you need a quad a better range may be out.
 
Phil22 said:
Thanks for the setup, looks very good. For future proofing would you advise getting the quad, I do not think any of the applications I use will support 4 cores.

Phil
Click to expand...

Quads are good for doing lots of things at once or a single multi-thread program really fast.

I would suggest getting a cheap dual for now and then upgrading to a quad next year if you feel you need it. buy then the new one's will be out and prices will have dropped ;)

Surely he will see a big performance increase with a standard e2180?

Edit: What GFX card are you currently using...? If you don't have one (or AGP) then you will either have to have on-board graphics (poo) or a new GFX card... or an asrock dual mobo thing
 
Last edited:
at stock, the performance increase will probaly cause him to stain his trousers slightly brown, when OCed, just look for the news report concerning a guy dying due to the increase in his pcs performance or listen for that loud gasp that everyone who has upgraded and overclocked their C2X makes
 
jak731 said:
at stock, the performance increase will probaly cause him to stain his trousers slightly brown, when OCed, just look for the news report concerning a guy dying due to the increase in his pcs performance or listen for that loud gasp that everyone who has upgraded and overclocked their C2X makes
Click to expand...

:D:D Made me Larf :D:D



Still got £75 left for a case. If you tell us what sort of case you want then we can help i'm sure.

Can always get an Antec case here if you like the look of it as that has a PSU already in it.

The mobo also has on-board grpahics in case you don't have a PCI-E card already.

What is PC going to be used for and are you thinking about overclocking at all? (or know someone who will?)
 
if you drop the quad
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Abit IP35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)
Corsair VX 450W ATX PSU (CMPSU-450VXUK) £39.99
(£46.99) £39.99
(£46.99)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £29.99
(£35.24) £29.99
(£35.24)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail £46.99
(£55.21) £46.99
(£55.21)
HIS ATI Radeon HD 3850 Pro 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £94.99
(£111.61) £94.99
(£111.61)
Sub Total : £296.94
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £53.71
Total : £360.60
 
Last edited:
Hi the PC will be used for work that includes Network simulation tasks which can be fairly CPU intensive.

Yes would like to give overclocking a try, however, have never done it before!

Phil
 
Last edited:
Phil22 said:
Hi the PC will be used for work that includes Network simulation tasks which can be fairly CPU intensive.

Yes would like to give overclocking a try, however, have never done it before!

Phil
Click to expand...

All you need to do is ask, we'll help it's what the forms for, your in good hands on here,:)
 
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