My desktop PC is a Dell. It was bought specifically to play WoW and only WoW. It's not a very powerful PC but it was cheap (damn cheap) and it's quiet (very quiet). I've been very happy with it.

Now that I'm multi-boxing, it no longer fits the bill. I want to run five WoWs on it rather than one WoW and four more on my (also Dell) laptop.

I took the side off and checked the motherboard. It's a Foxconn G33M02. I looked on Foxconn's website and found the G33M (close enough) supports processors up to 1333MHz FSB and specifically lists the Q6600.

So I ordered a Q6600 and 2x2GB of memory and it arrived today.

But...

Dell have removed five of the eleven power regulators from the board so that it can't supply the power the Q6600 requires There is a version of the motherboard that does support the processor (the G33M03) but even that only has nine of the regulators fitted.

So now I know how Dell makes its PCs so cheap. And it sucks

Fortunately, I discovered this before breaking the seal on any of the boxes and as my supplier has a nifty online returns system, I can send the stuff back and all I lose is the postage. Not much consolation though.

So now I'm faced with either:
  • Bunging Dell some more money for a new PC,
  • Bunging someone else even more money for a new PC, or
  • Sticking with what I have.
/sigh