Is it Worth upgrading a Dell 8200 w/ P4 1.9mhz

[borgmang]

I have a Dell 8200 that I was thinking of upgrading. What can I do to improve without breaking the bank, and is it worth it? By the way, I would like this system to be able to handle all the good games. See rig below.

P4 400 1.9
Dell Mobo?
Memory: 2x 256 -512?
Hard Drive: Seagate 80GB 7200rpm
CDRW: 24X ?
CDR: 48X ?
Video Card: NVIDIA-TI-500
Sound: Santa Cruz turtle beach
Floppy
Zip 250
Adaptec Duo Connect firewire/USB 2.0 card

 

[dexvx]

Some 8200s can have the BIOS upgraded to support 533FSB Northwoods. Yours is a Willamette. Getting a processor like a 2.4B/2.53/2.66 will give a decent amount of performance, and you dont have to do anything except replace the proc.

 

[magomago]

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2C4149%2C58049%2C00.asp

That seems to be your pc save for a) Its a 2Ghz P4 b) It has a 100gig HD

I would help futher but I have no real knowledge over Intel Chipsets...so hopefully that will help someone else who is more affluent where I lack :0)

 

[borgmang]

Would you make any other changes? How about the video card, HD, or Ram, or anything else in the system?

P4 400 1.9
Dell Mobo?
Memory: 2x 256 -512?
Hard Drive: Seagate 80GB 7200rpm
CDRW: 24X ?
CDR: 48X ?
Video Card: NVIDIA-TI-500
Sound: Santa Cruz turtle beach
Floppy
Zip 250
Adaptec Duo Connect firewire/USB 2.0 card

 

[Wingznut]

First you have to find out if it is a Socket 423 or a Socket 478. If it is a S423, you'll need to upgrade the motherboard, before you can upgrade your CPU.

Next, figure out if it is DDR or SDR RAM. If it is SDR, then a new motherboard w/DDR RAM would be a very nice upgrade.

If you choose that the cpu/motherboard/RAM does not fit in your plans, then a new videocard would be the next step. The best price/performance card right now seems to be the Radeon 9700. It can be found for ~$200 in the Hot Deals forum.

 

[jlarsson]

I was in a similar situation. I had an 1.7 ghz P4, and I just did some upgrading. I bought an Abit IS7, 2.4 ghz P4 'c', 2x256mb Crucial PC3200 memory, 80 GB Seagate SATA hard drive, Antec case and PSU, and a second 19" monitor. I used the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro that I put in my Dell about 8 months ago, and I also took the two IDE hard drives I had, (60 GB and a 40 GB).

I spent under a $1000 for all the new stuff.

 

[Cogman]

I dont know if I read it right, but if you are planning on upgrading, even though Intel is #1 on preformance, AMD still gives you a decent preformance at a lesser cost. the MoBo and CPU for an AMD computer are both cheap. However, if you must go intel, I recommend uping the processor to a 2.4C as you get hyperthreading with it. If you go AMD, then the 2500+ would be your best pick for fast and cheap (Like $90 at newegg) just my $.02

 

[HappyGamer2]

dell cpu upgrades

 

[borgmang]

Originally posted by: Wingznut
First you have to find out if it is a Socket 423 or a Socket 478. If it is a S423, you'll need to upgrade the motherboard, before you can upgrade your CPU.

Next, figure out if it is DDR or SDR RAM. If it is SDR, then a new motherboard w/DDR RAM would be a very nice upgrade.

If you choose that the cpu/motherboard/RAM does not fit in your plans, then a new videocard would be the next step. The best price/performance card right now seems to be the Radeon 9700. It can be found for ~$200 in the Hot Deals forum.

How can I figure out whether I have 423 or 478 socket? I know for sure that its a Intel850 w/ RDRAM.

 

[Nebor]

Well then, maybe you should get some more RDRAM... hell, for the money, get one of those dual opetron systems.... heh. RDRAM will break your bank.

 

[OverVolt]

My friend has a similar system, but instead of a GF3 TI, he's got a GF2 MX. I kinda feel sorry for him, since he's a into gaming.

Anyway if i were you i would save up for a new rig. I personally hate to do major upgrades on OEM machines, so save your bucks and wait awhile.

BTW: i think the CD-RW is a Lite-On variant if you got the free dealie. And i don't think more RD-RAM will benefit the system.

 

[borgmang]

Originally posted by: OverVolt
My friend has a similar system, but instead of a GF3 TI, he's got a GF2 MX. I kinda feel sorry for him, since he's a into gaming.

Anyway if i were you i would save up for a new rig. I personally hate to do major upgrades on OEM machines, so save your bucks and wait awhile.

BTW: i think the CD-RW is a Lite-On variant if you got the free dealie. And i don't think more RD-RAM will benefit the system.

OverVolt, I'm in the process of building another system - I just thought that I could possibly save this system from the grave, by getting another processor and video card. What do you think - is it worth it?

 

[nabeel]

wont he also run into psu problems? i know dells run on proprietary 200/250w psus (dont remember exactly), i know a few people tried upgrading their video cards and ran into the irql_not_less_or_equal errors because of that. so i dont think it can handle a new mobo or proc

i would just save up for a new machine and leave this one intact, so then you can just have 2 machines

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: nabeel
wont he also run into psu problems? i know dells run on proprietary 200/250w psus (dont remember exactly), i know a few people tried upgrading their video cards and ran into the irql_not_less_or_equal errors because of that. so i dont think it can handle a new mobo or proc

i would just save up for a new machine and leave this one intact, so then you can just have 2 machines

I run my rig on a 250w PSU that I pulled from an HP pc, with no problems at all... So, quantity isn't really an issue.

I'm not sure if that particular PSU is proprietary or not. But that's a good point, and one that would need to be investigated before upgrading the motherboard.

 

[borgmang]

Bump