Upgrading CPU in a Dell

[sho69607]

Ok,

I want to upgrade my processor in my Dell Inspiron 560. The processors Im looking at, are the E8400 and the E8500 Dual Core Series from Intel. Is a processor Upgrade even possible with a Dell? Will the Bios accept it?

I have included System Specs in the attached file.

[ShyguyXPC]

hard to say, I don't see any Bios Info on that particular board from the CPUz report, but based on the current CPU and the Boards Chipset, I don't see why it shouldn't be able to support one of those two better Core 2 Duo series.

though aside from FSB bump, and Cache Memory, Its not going to be that much of a performance Bump, in my opinion.

It will be an increase, but whether you'd really notice it or not thats another story.



...unless your getting the CPU's at a discounted price.





Whats the PC being used for? General Uses, Gaming, Video editing, etc?




How much RAM is in this PC? the report only shows a single 1GB Stick.

And it shows your running Windows 7.

[sho69607]

hard to say, I don't see any Bios Info on that particular board from the CPUz report, but based on the current CPU and the Boards Chipset, I don't see why it shouldn't be able to support one of those two better Core 2 Duo series.

though aside from FSB bump, and Cache Memory, Its not going to be that much of a performance Bump, in my opinion.

It will be an increase, but whether you'd really notice it or not thats another story.



...unless your getting the CPU's at a discounted price.





Whats the PC being used for? General Uses, Gaming, Video editing, etc?




How much RAM is in this PC? the report only shows a single 1GB Stick.

And it shows your running Windows 7.

it has 4096mb of total ram (2x 2048)
Im using this computer mainly for Flight Simulator X which is highly cpu dependant. I forgot to mention I have a Nvidia Geforce GT 240 512mb card as well.

[ShyguyXPC]

no, I saw the GT 240 listed in the CPUz report.

But if your main game is highly CPU intensive, then suppose every last bit of performance you can get out of it warrants the upgrade.


as to the RAM, thats more than enough, was concerned since you were running Windows 7 and the report only showed 1GB.


Would mainly come down to whether the Bios Supports those CPU's, or if there are any Bios Upgrades from Dells Site for your System, that would allow it.

But just about any Aftermarket P45/P43 Chipset motherboard should be able to support at least the 8400 out of the box, since it was around when the 45nm Wolfdale chips first came out, the 8500 on the other hand, might need a Bios update more than likely.

But would really need to find out the Bios version you have, then check with Dells site and see if there's an update that would support the latter Wolfdale CPU's that came out.

Nevermind, Just looked up the 8500 and looks like it came out around the same time as the 8400, so it might be likely supported as well, both were 1st Quarter of 2008.

the e8600 @ 3.3Ghz came out in 3rd Quarter 2008. That might need an update, but hard to say for certain.

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E8000 Series

[sho69607]

I have just updated the bios to the current A4 version it is a Dell Eaglelake Bios. There wasnt much more info. This is the latest update that was released in August 2010. This Computer is also pretty new. I bought it in July and it was manufactured in February 2010. Also is the Max FSB in my pc ok for the 8400 series? The FSB in my current E5400 is around 800. The FSB in the E8400 is around 1300+

[ShyguyXPC]

Well the FSB will only run at what the CPU needs. the E5400 isn't going to run at 1333MHz, since the CPU is a 800MHz based FSB CPU.

Unless you were Overclocking, though most off the shelf pre-built PC's don't have that great of OCing features on their Motherboards, but in cases like OCing, you could possibly bump the FSB up to 1333MHz, and then the CPU would be running at faster Clock speeds as a result.



That aside, the 800MHz FSB Core 2's will run at 800MHz on a 1333MHz Max FSB board, 1066MHz FSB CPU's will run at 1066, and so on.



if your system is new as of February 2010, then it shouldn't really have any trouble running a 1333MHz FSB CPU.

the P45/43, G43, X48, etc Chipsets were the last Intel sets for Socket 775 anyways, before jumping to socket 1366 and then 1156.

I know Dells site does show this system supporting 1066MHz FSB CPU's.

but if its that new and is running a P45/P43 chipset, it should support 1333MHz FSB CPU's.

Its possible if its a G43/41 or similar board instead, it could be limited, since those boards are commonly used for MicroATX systems, with onboard Graphics, and usually lower CPU Wattage Rating supported CPU's, which usually means lower speed FSB's.



On the Mainboard Tab in CPUz what does it say for the Motherboards Chipset?

[sho69607]

It says P45/P43/G45/G43

[ShyguyXPC]

Ugh... Don't know why they always do that, those 4 are all from the same family of chipset, the G models are usually Onboard Graphics, and the P's are usually with out, but have seen some oddballs over the years where the P's did have graphics.

I know your PC has the GT 240, but does the motherboard have Onboard Graphics? (is there a Display output connector on the back of the motherboard where the USB and Ethernet ports are?

At least this way you'll know, at least with some level of certainty, if the board is a G or P series.




Well, all I can say is it SHOULD be able to run a 1333MHz FSB CPU, but if it doesn't and only supports up to 1066, that also wouldn't Surprise me... but in all honesty it really should be able to support one of those 1333MHz FSB models.

[JLK03F150]

According to Dell Support the board has a G43 chipset with GMA X4500 onboard video.

I can't imagine that an E8500 wouldn't be supported by that chipset using the latest BIOS update.

[sho69607]

Yes it does have onboard graphics, but they are not being used. I have my VGA cable plugged into my GT 240 not the integrated VGA slot.

In this case, is it possible to OC the FSB in a dell? Most Dells have their Bios locked from OCing?

[JLK03F150]

No, it is no possible to overclock the CPU your Dell.

It is possible to overclock your GT 240 though. Sorry, I can't help with the overclock. I've been using ATI video cards so long, I don't know how to overclock newer Geforce cards.

Look for GPUz for monitoring and Rivatuner for overclocking. I think there is another overclocking app called nVidia Precision Tune too.

[ShyguyXPC]

Precision is from EVGA, normally you need an account on their site to get it, but there are a ton of download sites that have the latest version,

And Precision is Based on the core of Rivatuner anyways. just EVGA's custom UI and options added for their cards, even though it works with ANY Nvidia Cards.

[JLK03F150]

Thanks for the clarifications Shyguy. Oh and I forgot about Coolbits, is it still around?

Here's a beginners overclocking guide for video cards.
Beginners Guides: Overclocking the Nvidia Videocard - Overclockers Forums

[sho69607]

K I have bought the 8400 and installed it. It works great! much better performance. CPU Temp a bit warm at 43c during minimal processes like Itunes or firefox, and 62 celcius during heavy gaming sessions. is this concerning?

Other than that, thanks for your guy's help I really appreciate it.

[ShyguyXPC]

Temps are a bit warm, should be closer to the low 30's for idle and 40-50's tops for process's you describe (if you were running something like Folding@home, or similar, which uses WAY more CPU resources than most games out there, maybe 62C would be ok, but it also depends on the games your playing as well, some may just tax the CPU more and run it hotter).

could be air circulation isn't all that great in the case (build up of internal case temps, making it harder to cool the CPU), Could be the CPU cooler and/or thermal paste.

hard to say really.


Kind of wish I had my Mini ITX system running right now, it has a 2.4GHz Celeron Dual thats based on the same Wolfdale Cores as yours, but runs at the 800MHz FSB, less cache, and of course 2.4GHz instead of 3 or so. and could use it as a base sort of on temps.

the Case its in, doesn't have that great of cooling, in fact it has no fans what so ever, other than the PSU's intake/exhaust, ventilated PCI/PCIe slot brackets, rear vent and side vents, and only fans in the system are the low profile Heatpipe CPU cooler and PSU fan.

Though the entire case is Aluminum, but still would give me a better idea of what temps it should be running for various tasks... downside is Its got REALLY low end Geforce 7 era Onboard Graphics, and the card I have to put in it (Geforce GT 220), doesn't fit right.

So Heavy Gaming sessions would be out of the question.


My Core i7 920 in this system I'm using right now though is sitting at between 28 and 32C at roughly Idle, with mainly just Firefox in use.

a few services in background like Keyboard and Mouse software (Gaming Keyboard and Mouse), Antivirus, GPU Fan/Temp Monitoring Software, etc. and Windows 7 own stuff.

Using just under half of my total of 3GB of RAM, and CPU use is jumping between 0% and 5% on one or two of the cores.

Not really sure on CPU temps at full load, but I know I've seen them get as high as 60-ish range, high 60's when I've run a CPU taxing Program like Folding@Home, that uses a majority of the CPU.


But the Wolfdale's should be running cooler than that with the process's you described in use.

I'd keep an eye on it, if you get any sort of repeated random reboots or system shutdowns, it could be running too hot.



Also keep in mind it could just be the ambient Room temps too.

But best to keep an eye on it, and see if it keeps at this temp. As it could just be the Thermal paste needs time to cure and do its job effectively, temps might drop some over the days of use of the PC.

[ShyguyXPC]

Thanks for the clarifications Shyguy. Oh and I forgot about Coolbits, is it still around?

Here's a beginners overclocking guide for video cards.
Beginners Guides: Overclocking the Nvidia Videocard - Overclockers Forums

Oh, forgot... On Coolbits, Every now and then I hear it pop up, but not sure how up to date it is, I think if I remember right its effectively out of date for most newer stuff, though for older cards it might be fine for.


Last I remember seeing it was on a download site somewhere and the File Upload date was 2004.

and that was the 2.0 Version of Coolbits, although I just did a Search for "3.0"

and an Overclock.net Forum thread/post indicated there is a 3.0 Version, but they renamed Coolbits to NVTweak.

NVTweak download from Guru3D.com

But even that file is dated 2005, and the Threads date was 2006.

Either way its severely outdated, though may still work for many cards, but IMO more recent versions of Rivatuner or Precision would be better suited for newer cards.

[JLK03F150]

The T-Junction MAX on those 45nm CPUs is 100C (and you want to stay ~20C below that), so there's still plenty of headroom if you are only seeing 62C. There is always room for improvement on case cooling for a Dell too.

Too bad about CoolBits, I like being able to overclock the video cards from the video driver control panel. Really simple & no other programs loading at startup.

[ShyguyXPC]

It still might work, but with Windows 7, last few generation of Nvidia Cards, and Nvidia Drivers that are Far Beyond the versions Coolbits was intended for, not sure if it would still work.

It might, but some of the newer programs just seem to be more popular now days.