CPU upgrade to my Dell Inspiron 530

[rgathright]

No... I would not recommend our fellow team member replace the mobo if he already has shown that he is unwilling to upgrade the PSU. I only say this because he will likely also have problems on reboot with the OS on the machine.

I suggest keeping this very simple for him and stick with the Intel E8400 Socket 775 processor. The Intel E8XXX line has a proven track record with SETI and should give him the boost he is looking for with minimal effort.

In regards to Ebay.com, the auctions for the Intel Quad Core 2 Duo processors are smoking hot right now. I have been trying to win an auction for a E9400 & E6600. I just lost the bid of $200 in the last 30 seconds to a automated post of $275. An auction for a rare E8400 E0 stepping is going for over $84 right now (well, that's my reserve price actual is $77 right now).

For that kind of money you could just try...
AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz Dual-Core: $59.99
BIOSTAR A780L3L AM3 AMD 760G Micro ATX: $44.99
And both ship free UPS 3 Day select.
The Biostar uses DDR3 800/1066/1333/1600(OC) RAM and Newegg has a 15% off sale on ALL memory with Promo Code DM15A0111US through this Wednesday.

If you need two PCIe slots then this JetWay JHZ03-GT-LF AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX for $79.99 should do the trick.

Edit: Also the Biostar supports all AMD Dual-Core & Quad-Core CPU's From the Sempron through Phenom families.

[Fire$torm]

No... I would not recommend our fellow team member replace the mobo if he already has shown that he is unwilling to upgrade the PSU. I only say this because he will likely also have problems on reboot with the OS on the machine.

I suggest keeping this very simple for him and stick with the Intel E8400 Socket 775 processor. The Intel E8XXX line has a proven track record with SETI and should give him the boost he is looking for with minimal effort.

In regards to Ebay.com, the auctions for the Intel Quad Core 2 Duo processors are smoking hot right now. I have been trying to win an auction for a E9400 & E6600. I just lost the bid of $200 in the last 30 seconds to a automated post of $275. An auction for a rare E8400 E0 stepping is going for over $84 right now (well, that's my reserve price actual is $77 right now).

Actually he never stated that he was unwilling but rather stated that his PSU didn't support the Quad CPU.
Here are some references:
Dell™ Inspiron™ 530 Series Owner's Manual
Wikipedia: Dell Inspiron - Desktop 530

Using the above references it can be confirmed that his MB (Foxconn G33M02) only has 6 voltage regulators and his PSU is a 300W ATX unit, neither of which can support Quad CPU's. So my recommendation of the Biostar/AMD Athlon combo should consume about the same amount of power as the G33M02 with E8400 combo. He would also have the added benefit of being able to move all the way up to the AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition Deneb 3.5GHz after upgrading the PSU, which would probably need to be done at some point as Dell's PSU's are notorious for crapping out.

[rgathright]

Yeah, yeah. I just miss discussing hardware with you all! Reminds me of a bunch of hot rodders discussing the possibilities of putting a Ford Mach 32, 4valve, 4.6L engine in a 2004 Jeep TJ. It can be done but would not be pretty.

AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition Deneb 3.5GHz after upgrading the PSU.

At this future point and time, I am willing to bet he would be able to purchase an AMD Phenom II x4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7Ghz.

[Fire$torm]

Yeah, yeah. I just miss discussing hardware with you all! Reminds me of a bunch of hot rodders discussing the possibilities of putting a Ford Mach 32, 4valve, 4.6L engine in a 2004 Jeep TJ. It can be done but would not be pretty.



At this future point and time, I am willing to bet he would be able to purchase an AMD Phenom II x4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7Ghz.

Ha! I'm all for the future...

[trigggl]

Actually he never stated that he was unwilling but rather stated that his PSU didn't support the Quad CPU.
Here are some references:
Dell™ Inspiron™ 530 Series Owner's Manual
Wikipedia: Dell Inspiron - Desktop 530

Using the above references it can be confirmed that his MB (Foxconn G33M02) only has 6 voltage regulators and his PSU is a 300W ATX unit, neither of which can support Quad CPU's. So my recommendation of the Biostar/AMD Athlon combo should consume about the same amount of power as the G33M02 with E8400 combo. He would also have the added benefit of being able to move all the way up to the AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition Deneb 3.5GHz after upgrading the PSU, which would probably need to be done at some point as Dell's PSU's are notorious for crapping out.

Actually, what I said was the motherboard is missing the power supply support. More specifically it doesn't have enough voltage regulator IC chips to support the extra power requirements of a quad. Someone went out of their way to make sure you buy the quad from Dell as an option. I would need a motherboard upgrade and that costs more than a way better motherboard. Anyways, I've already upgraded the PSU and the bios, so there would be no problem there.

I like Fire$torm's idea, but my next motherboard won't be a micro and right now I'm looking for simplicity. I need there to be less stress on the marriage and putting together MB, CPU and Ram is a little more than the amount of time I need to be working on this thing. It's one thing to convince the wife the processor needs to be faster, quite another to totally rebuild the innards.

Do a google search of Foxconn G33M02 and show me where someone got a quad working. The 'board' can't support the power requirement. Also, there's no such thing as overclocking with these boards.

From what I can tell, the lowest end cpu that supports sse4 (on NewEgg) is the E7500. I may be checking E-Bay for one of these in the very near future. It might be at tax return time, maybe sooner (like tonight).

Keep the suggestions coming, though because there may be something I didn't think about and won't stress my wife out.

[DrPop]

Ok...I get you. It's not a normal board - Dell crippled it. Lame.

What CPU do you currently have? Intel has variants of the socket 775 quads as low as 65W TDP. That is the same as a dual core.

If you insist on staying with that mobo/platform, please do this: Go into the BIOS and see if you can select either 800, 1066 or 1333 MHz manually from the menu, or if it will let you type it in. If you can, then that is a simple way to O/C these puppies, even if you have a "handicapped" factory board from Dell, and you can't change any other setting.
If you can select the 1333 MHz FSB, then get the cheaper 7xxx series core 2 duos because you can O/C them easily. The 8xxx series, already running at 1333 FSB, won't give you that option, and will cost you more.
Options: Ebay
Core 2 Duo E7400 - $70 Buy it now price. And you can do a search - 7200, 7300, 7400, 7500, 7600 - pick your best deal. Cheapest way for you to get the SSE4 support that you want.

Really, I understand the marriage thing, and the money thing, and the stress thing. The best bet is to talk with her about the options, and list out a pro and con sheet. If you need, I can give you a good price on a mobo and high O/Cing AMD Quad if it comes to that. Otherwise, Newegg has great deals all the time. You will have a way better system as far as future options if you go with the AM3 route, 2 PCI-E slots and a quad core. But...I know how life is, and if all you want to screw with is just dropping in a new CPU...well, I suppose the Core2Duo 7000 series is for you.

[trigggl]

Ok...I get you. It's not a normal board - Dell crippled it. Lame.

What CPU do you currently have? Intel has variants of the socket 775 quads as low as 65W TDP. That is the same as a dual core.

If you insist on staying with that mobo/platform, please do this: Go into the BIOS and see if you can select either 800, 1066 or 1333 MHz manually from the menu, or if it will let you type it in. If you can, then that is a simple way to O/C these puppies, even if you have a "handicapped" factory board from Dell, and you can't change any other setting.
If you can select the 1333 MHz FSB, then get the cheaper 7xxx series core 2 duos because you can O/C them easily. The 8xxx series, already running at 1333 FSB, won't give you that option, and will cost you more.
Options: Ebay
Core 2 Duo E7400 - $70 Buy it now price. And you can do a search - 7200, 7300, 7400, 7500, 7600 - pick your best deal. Cheapest way for you to get the SSE4 support that you want.

Really, I understand the marriage thing, and the money thing, and the stress thing. The best bet is to talk with her about the options, and list out a pro and con sheet. If you need, I can give you a good price on a mobo and high O/Cing AMD Quad if it comes to that. Otherwise, Newegg has great deals all the time. You will have a way better system as far as future options if you go with the AM3 route, 2 PCI-E slots and a quad core. But...I know how life is, and if all you want to screw with is just dropping in a new CPU...well, I suppose the Core2Duo 7000 series is for you.

Well, I hope the E7600 works because I just got a decent deal on one on E-Bay. Really, if I could screw with the clocks I would have already OC'ed the E2160. I've heard they overclock very well. Anyways, now I wait for the new CPU.

[DrPop]

Awesome, Triggl! Let's see: 2x the speed, 3x the L2 Cache, and 33% increase in FSB speed - I think you will be quite pleased.

Regarding the clocks - I'm sure Dell has all those settings locked down. But, did you try to set only the FSB manually? Almost every motherboard lets you do that, even lame ones with no O/C - they usually have to allow you to at least set the FSB to match the bus speed of the CPU. If it doesn't even allow you that selection, it is indeed a lame crippled BIOS from Dell!

[trigggl]

Awesome, Triggl! Let's see: 2x the speed, 3x the L2 Cache, and 33% increase in FSB speed - I think you will be quite pleased.

Regarding the clocks - I'm sure Dell has all those settings locked down. But, did you try to set only the FSB manually? Almost every motherboard lets you do that, even lame ones with no O/C - they usually have to allow you to at least set the FSB to match the bus speed of the CPU. If it doesn't even allow you that selection, it is indeed a lame crippled BIOS from Dell!

I've considered using the bios from Foxconn, but for now, I think I'll stay on the safe side.

My processor came in today. Now it's just a matter (hopefully) of installing it. I'm going to wait til the weekend so I can take my time and do it right.

[DrPop]

Hi Trigggl,
We all have opinions, and I'll give you mine.

1. What exactly do you feel your mobo missing that the usual models of this mobo have? It has these, which is all you need: ATX 24-Pin power connector and 4-pin ATX 12V power connector. Furthermore, it states right on their product description at Foxconn, that your mobo DOES support quad core - link is here: http://www.foxconnchannel.com/produc...d=en-us0000319
It's surprising how little power it takes to run a modern (45nm) quad core CPU - compared to a high end GPU, the PSU requirments are low! In fact, if you have an older single or dual (90nm or 65nm) CPU in there right now, chances are, power usage won't hardly go up at all.

2. If you still insist on purchasing a dual core for socket 775, then do not spend the money on those chips (Ebay like posted by Rgathright, would be fine), but they're too much $ new.
I would suggest you get the E6500, E6600, or E6700 ($79 to $85 at Newegg) and O/C the heck out of them. First hand experience - they will crunch 24/7 @ 3.5 to 3.66GHz and easily are the best bang for your buck "dual core" on a 775 mobo.
However, my personal opinion would still be to get a quad core if you can swing it. If you can't then limit your spending to $80 and pick up one of the above. They are set for 1066 FSB, and will easily run 1333 FSB, so there is a simple, and very effective O/C waiting to happen. If all you've got is $80 to spend (and believe me, I KNOW how that feels), then that's your best option new. Used - might have more options, take a look at Rgathright's Ebay links.

3. Brings me to my FAVORITE OPTION: That mobo is a little dated, but just fine functionality wise. If you want 2 pci-e slots for 2 high-end GPUs, that would be a different story - but maybe more $ than you're looking at spending today. You could easily put a 5870, or even a 5970 in that board, as long as you have a PSU big enough to run it. And if you're doing that, then the BEST CPU you can run on that board you have is a QX9XXX - they run upward of $300 on Ebay, I used to have one...very fast. Problem is, you're locked into the socket 775 platform, which does NOT have very advanced PCI-E x16 support. So...all that being said, your very best, future proof option is...

If you have visions of grandeur in GPU crunching on a limited budget (and really, that's where it's all headed, but you have to have good CPU power to run the GPUs as we found out on PG), don't spend another dime on that 775 platform. I've been there...spent it... and ended up selling it all. Save for an i7 later, or get into an AMD AM3 platform now.
What I would ultimately suggest today, is that you get into an AM3 platform by spending $150 to $160...at Newegg, for an AMD Quad core, and a dual PCI-e slot mobo.
If you're interested in that route, I will point you to the models I have tested myself.
Hope that helps, lots to mull over, I'm sure.