PC Processor upgrading - need help

[Billy.]

im wanting/trying to upgrade the processor in my dell. the computer is about a year old. currently its got a pentium D dual core 2.6, but its the weakest link on my system since ive been upgrading everything on it including ram (4gb), graphics card (ati 512mb pci-e), sound card (creative ?mb), hard disk (500gb), and power supply (650w). yesterday i pulled the chip off the mother board and compared it to a P4 chip from an older comp i have and they are definetely not the same size/style. the P4 chip had the "male" terminals whereas the PD chip had "female" terminals and it was larger in overall size.... which brings me to my question: how do i know what chips i can upgrade to that will fit? and where can i find a chip for a good price on the web? (all my upgrades so far came from BestBuy which doesnt sell processors). id really like to avoid replacing the mother board if possible

*EDIT*
i guess i should have mentioned that this computer is used mainly for gaming at the moment and will be running XP. im really not interested in vista at all

 

[io_303]

what you will need is a Socket 775(AKA socket T) CPU, but firs you need to find out what the limits of your FSB is. What is the brand and model of your motherboard?

 

[Billy.]

what you will need is a Socket 775(AKA socket T) CPU, but firs you need to find out what the limits of your FSB is. What is the brand and model of your motherboard?

not sure (not at home right now) it's whatever comes oem in a dell 520. so the ability to upgrade the cpu is limited by my mother boards fsb?

 

[EG Hatch]

exactly, your fsb means pretty much everything nowadays, i just got a computer made 2 months ago, its only a 2.4ghz dual core but the fsb is like 1066mhz or something like that. seeing how your computer is a year old, i would assume that you may be able to handle 1066 fsb but leaning towards the 800 fsb, plus... why with dell? custom is cheaper. and make sure that the socket and the processor match, ex socket 775 you will need a processor that is capable with the socket 775. and a good site to buy from is www.tigerdirect.com, or www.tigerdirect.ca

 

[Kataku]

exactly, your fsb means pretty much everything nowadays, i just got a computer made 2 months ago, its only a 2.4ghz dual core but the fsb is like 1066mhz or something like that. seeing how your computer is a year old, i would assume that you may be able to handle 1066 fsb but leaning towards the 800 fsb, plus... why with dell? custom is cheaper. and make sure that the socket and the processor match, ex socket 775 you will need a processor that is capable with the socket 775. and a good site to buy from is www.tigerdirect.com, or www.tigerdirect.ca

I love tigerdirect. My old roommate used to work there and still gets great discounts, so I'm building my new computer almost entirely from there, lol.

Newegg.com is really good too.

 

[Billy.]

i bought the dell before i knew how to build a pc. now im learning the ways of the wise and dont want to have to start all over. i was looking at tigerdirect a little while ago and they had a good selection. so if i go with a core2duo like 2.4ghz it should work on my mother board as long as the socket matches up right? but if my fsb is only like the 800 or w/e than getting a cpu with 1066 is pointless.... hmmmm, looks like this is going to be a bigger investment than i hoped for. but hey if i end up changing out the motherboard i can upgrade to multiple pci-e ports for Sli graphics right? sweeeeet

 

[slowhatch]

since its a dell, chances are you wont find a mobo that will fit into your case. they usually have special mounts or something stupid like that, that wont allow you to upgrade. i shop at www.newegg.com and have had nothing but great prices and products, even on the open stuff. the only defective thing i've had from them was a chaintech mobo and i sent it back and got another item at the same price.

 

[Scorchsta]

Don't use tigerdirect. They have very bad practices and are usually douche bags about rebates. Use newegg. Anyone that you ask that's really into computers will tell you to use newegg. Super fast shipping (if i order before noon I will get it the next day) and extremely competitive prices. Also you can buy a processor that has a higher FSB rating than your motherboard, it just won't run as fast as it could.

 

[Billy.]

well i guess the only reason i would opt to upgrade the "mobo" would be to have more than one pci-e port. as far as it fitting into the dell here's my moto "if it dont fit, force it!". basically i dont mind drilling the holes in the case for the new mounting points, i dont mind my machine looking ghetto if it runs good, noone is going to look at it but me and if its guts are hanging out so be it, lol. i just dont want to have to change out all my other components too

 

[Scorchsta]

haha well if you're going to upgrade the mobo you might have a hard time taking it out with everything else still in there. a good mobo and processor can run you $500 easily.

 

[Billy.]

haha well if you're going to upgrade the mobo you might have a hard time taking it out with everything else still in there. a good mobo and processor can run you $500 easily.

im finding that out quickly. is it better to run graphics cards on pci or pcie16x? most of these boards only have 1 pcie 16x port and like 3 or more pci ports

*EDIT*
this is what im looking at. is it any decent?

 

[Scorchsta]

a x1 PCI-E slot doesn't have enough bandwidth to handle the high end video cards (7800+ Nvidia, x800+ ATI). A minimum of x4 is recommended though a x16 is the best to use.

edit: I'm not sure if the x1 has the ability to run a video card now that i think of it

 

[defvayne]

haha well if you're going to upgrade the mobo you might have a hard time taking it out with everything else still in there. a good mobo and processor can run you $500 easily.

You can get a real good mobo and processor for less than $200 bucks. I'm currently running a AMD64 +4400 X2 with a Biostar mobo that i got for $100 package deal. I might op and get a Asus so i can over clock it a lil better.

 

[Scorchsta]

You can get a real good mobo and processor for less than $200 bucks. I'm currently running a AMD64 +4400 X2 with a Biostar mobo that i got for $100 package deal. I might op and get a Asus so i can over clock it a lil better.

Yea but that would be a downgrade from what he has now (no offense).

 

[Mr. Jollypants]

Right off the bat, the dual core isn't your problem, it's a good processor.

4GB is overkill, 2GB is good enough for now, 3GB is actually overkill..

A powersupplys wattage doesn't matter, unless that 12V range can handle the cards.. You can have a 1000W powersupply, but if it's 12V range is only 12-13A, it's no good.

Starting off with a Dell is your problem.. I'd build a brand new system.

Yea but that would be a downgrade from what he has now (no offense).

Explain please?

edit: I'm not sure if the x1 has the ability to run a video card now that i think of it

No, it cannot.

 

[Scorchsta]

Since he's already in the 775 world why switch to AM2? I used to be all about the AMD, in fact I still prefer them over Intel. The problem is that Intel is light years ahead of AMD right now. So he has the ability to JUST buy a new processor (thus upgrading what he has) and being all set. A 4400 X2 isn't all that fast. Before I got my Core 2 I had an Opteron 165 @ 2.8GHz. It was nice but it couldn't handle the 8800GTX I have now. If he wants to upgrade his mobo, stick with Intel since he's already there. Spend a little bit more for better brands and be much faster.

 

[Billy.]

ok, so what is the difference between this "allondale" "windsor" "brisbane" "conroe" business? this all sounds like places, wtf does that have to do with a processor spec?

 

[Scorchsta]

It's the code word for the family in the shortest number of words. Different families have different amounts of cache, different FSB speed, etc. You're gonna want either an Allendale or a Conroe depending on how much you want to spend. Allendale is cheaper while Conroe is a bit more expensive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010340343+50001157+1050722265+1389627502&name=Desktop

Look through that and see how much you wanna spend.

 

[Billy.]

wow this is all a lot of stuff to learn. didnt realize it gets so complicated. sounds like fun figuring it all out though

 

[Matt.]

imo your processor is good enough, I would stick with it. With that much ram, a faster processor will not even be noticeable.