Will my upgrade work??

[Ogloo]

I 4 box shamans.. wanna pvp arenas.
ok im looking at the 2 different CPU's which are hardly different, but by looking at them, dell has the i7 set higher up than the others.. So these are the 2 that I am looking at.

As far as RAM. I have 4GB that are DDR2.. thats all my computer can handle. What about upgrading to a 64 bit version of windows xp? i know that this would alow my computer to handle the full 4GB or RAM (instead of the 3GB). But ive heard upgrading slows ur computer down, so it outways it. As far as video cards go.. I have a couple that i could use. I have a Nvidia Geforce 7900 GS, and a Gforce 6 series. Also i have a Radeon ATI X800.
which one of these is better, and but how do i know if they are compatible with everything that i have? like my DDR2? will that need to be upgraded to DDR3? because of these new CPU's? or is that ok, and the motherboard?

I cant really upgrade my RAM or my motherboard, because i just did RAM, and motherboard is to much money for me ATM. Thanks for the help!

Intel® Core™ I7-920 Processor (2.66 GHz) Faster GHz= better preformance?

Core™ 2 Quad processor Q9550 (2.84 GHz)- With four processing cores, up to 12MB of shared L2 cache¹.. I am not sure what that means..

Thanks so much for the help!

Other specs-
Dell Dimension 8400
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.4 GHz
4GB of DRR3 gaming RAM
XP professional

[Chranny]

Upgrading to the i7 would require a new motherboard with support for DDR3. The difference between that and the q9550 is mainly that the i7 is a newer architecture and has 4 more threads in addition to the 4 cores. (virtually making it an octocore)

Personally I wouldn't upgrade XP to XP 64 bit, but only because I've heard some pretty bad things about it. I haven't tried it myself though, so I really don't know just how bad (or good) it is.

Out of the three graphics cards you mention I think the 7900GS would be the best, but truth be told, neither of them are that great.

Since upgrading your motherboard is too much money for you right now I'd choose the q9550 and then later upgrade the motherboard and get more RAM. And in all honesty the q9550 isn't that far away in performance from the i7 in gaming.

Hope I could help you out. :)

[elsegundo]

hey wubba,
if you dont have money for new ram and mobo, then dont get the i7. this requires a different socket and different ram altogether. so getting an i7 will require the chip, mobo, and ram. the rest of the stuff you can migrate over.

but you say you have a p4.... which means if you want a core2 quad of any kind, you need to change out just the mobo. you can keep the ram.

hope thats enough info for you to make your decision.

also, with the i7, it has hyperthreading in each of its four cores, essentially making it 8 cores. also, it runs cooler being on a 32nm process. all this makes for better performance. but yes, as mentioned above, with the i7 comes the need for new ram and mobo.

[Bovidae]

The Core I7 will not work. The Dimension 8400 series do not have LGA 1366 (the socket for the I7) nor do they support DDR3.

It is possible (let me stress possible) that your mobo will support the Q9550, further information would be necessary and new bios might be required.

As you already noticed, your vid card is outdated and would probably be your easiest (most reliable) upgrade. Your board should have a PCIex16 1.0 slot on it (judging by your chipset). So there are a lot of options available. Your 7900 is the strongest card in your deck.

edit: beware, it has a 350w power supply which may not be sufficient if you make too many upgrades.

[Ogloo]

thanks a bunch guys!

[Ogloo]

What kind of information do u need to see if my computer's mobo will be compatible with the new Q9550?

[Bovidae]

What kind of information do u need to see if my computer's mobo will be compatible with the new Q9550?Any and all.

Post all #s you can find that I can use to identify exactly what you got. If you have the original packing slip, scan it and post it =P

[Ogloo]

hears what i got! click on the image to make it better
249249

[Chranny]

hey wubba,
if you dont have money for new ram and mobo, then dont get the i7. this requires a different socket and different ram altogether. so getting an i7 will require the chip, mobo, and ram. the rest of the stuff you can migrate over.

but you say you have a p4.... which means if you want a core2 quad of any kind, you need to change out just the mobo. you can keep the ram.

hope thats enough info for you to make your decision.

also, with the i7, it has hyperthreading in each of its four cores, essentially making it 8 cores. also, it runs cooler being on a 32nm process. all this makes for better performance. but yes, as mentioned above, with the i7 comes the need for new ram and mobo.Just thought I'd mention that the i7 is 45nm. ;)

[spannah]

Wubba, looks like your system is a few years old. Fact is, even if you upgrade your CPU now, all other components would cause such a bottleneck, that it wouldn't be worth it. You better save up a little longer, and then buy all newer components all together.

[elsegundo]

Just thought I'd mention that the i7 is 45nm. ;)okay. lol i thought i read somewhere that it was 32, or some strange number like that. thanks for clarifying.

[Bovidae]

CPU upgradeable - No
Memory upgrade beyond 4gb is not supported by your mobo
You power supply is small
I have not had good experiences with Dell cases or OEM drives
The only thing I'd salvage would be the data on the HD

You're pretty well topped out on what that machine can do for you, time to consider full replacement...