Is upgrading my processor feasible?

[Wowfunhappy]

Hi! I have a Dell Inspiron 530 with a 2.83ghz, Core 2 Quad, Q9550 processor.

I'm a fairly avid gamer. As per a recommendation from the extremely helpful people in this thread, I recently upgraded my graphics card to an HiS Radeon 7770.

The card works great, but now my CPU seems to be bottle-necking most of the games I play, which is disappointing. Since I already spent money on the graphics card, I was thinking about trying to upgrade the CPU as well, which is obviously quite old at this point.

How feasible is this? How much money would I be spending? I'm concerned by the fact that Dell's are notoriously difficult to upgrade, and that I myself am pretty inexperienced at installing hardware. Also, I'm worried about my PSU. It's only 350 W, and the graphics card I bought is technically supposed to have at least 450 W. At the moment, my current power supply seems to be doing fine, but I don't want to strain it too much more...

Not sure of my budget yet, I just want to know what options I have, if any...

 

[Denithor]

Unfortunately, you don't really have much in the way of options. The Q9550 (4 cores @ 2.83GHz) isn't a bad chip but it is kinda slow (by today's standards) at stock speeds. Your best bet would be to simply overclock that chip, however there are zero overclocking options on Dell motherboards. And even though you could upgrade somewhat on that motherboard, the fastest chip it is likely to support is the Q9650 which is only one speed bin faster (3GHz), is likely outrageously expensive and offers nothing in the way of IPC improvements (which is really what gives newer chips better performance).

So you are somewhat limited in your options. You could buy a different socket 775 motherboard, transplant your cpu/ram onto it, deal with reactivating Windows (notoriously does not like to be moved from an OEM motherboard, but is possible if you prepare correctly). But I honestly hate to recommend that you put any money into an old setup like that.

You'd be FAR better off to sell off that processor on eBay (cheapest bare chip listed right now is $125 so you could actually get some decent money for it) and then build a new system from scratch. If you live near a Microcenter you can get some awesome deals on cpu/motherboard combos.

Anyway, we can provide more specifics if you give us a working budget and what you think you can handle.

Good luck!

 

[Wowfunhappy]

I'd like to not spend more than $100. My absolute limit would be $200, but that's already more than I want to spend.

How expensive would it be to replace the motherboard with something more overclock-friendly? And what would overclocking do to my already-stressed power supply?

 

[Hitman928]

If you replace the motherboard then most likely your windows os from dell won't re-install. Even if you could make it work, I'm sure the dell case has horrible air flow which will greatly limit your overclock potential as well as your power supply not being up to snuff. Personally, I would just use what you got for now, it shouldn't be too limited for most games out there, and try to save up for a new system down the road.

edit: As a note, what games are you playing that you find yourself cpu bottlenecked?

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Windows shouldn't be a huge issue. My college gives out free Windows 8 licenses. I've already used mine to install to boot camp on my Macbook Air, but I can probably get a friend to let me order a key under his user account. Or just get rid of that bootcamp partition, which has been a constant headache anyway.

On one hand, I feel like I should just deal with the processor. At the same time though, this new graphics card isn't really doing what I'd wanted. I can't play Sonic Generations and I can't play Assasin's Creed. Skyrim was playable enough, but even then I can't get 60 frames.

 

[ShintaiDK]

I'd like to not spend more than $100. My absolute limit would be $200, but that's already more than I want to spend.

How expensive would it be to replace the motherboard with something more overclock-friendly? And what would overclocking do to my already-stressed power supply?

I would give up and save the money for another day if I was you. upgrade of already outdated components is a bad idea as well.

 

[Denithor]

Okay, if you're upgrading on a budget, here's what I would do.

Biostar mATX G41 motherboard $45 shipped:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138315

G.Skill 2x4GB DDR3-1333 ram $38 shipped:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231424

Corsair 500W PSU $60 - $10 coupon code - $20 mail-in rebate = $30

Total cost here is $113 after the rebate.

Before you do the hardware transplant, follow this guide to make your version of Windows hardware agnostic. (This step only necessary if you plan to re-use the existing copy instead of upgrading to Windows 8.)
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2007...new-motherboard-without-reinstalling-windows/

And here's a beginner's guide to overclocking Core 2 chips:
http://hexus.net/tech/tech-explained/cpu/9808-intel-core-2-duo-basic-overclocking-guide-beginners/

Hope this helps.

 

[2is]

Okay, if you're upgrading on a budget, here's what I would do.

Biostar mATX G41 motherboard $45 shipped:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138315

G.Skill 2x4GB DDR3-1333 ram $38 shipped:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231424

Corsair 500W PSU $60 - $10 coupon code - $20 mail-in rebate = $30

Total cost here is $113 after the rebate.

Before you do the hardware transplant, follow this guide to make your version of Windows hardware agnostic. (This step only necessary if you plan to re-use the existing copy instead of upgrading to Windows 8.)
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2007...new-motherboard-without-reinstalling-windows/

And here's a beginner's guide to overclocking Core 2 chips:
http://hexus.net/tech/tech-explained/cpu/9808-intel-core-2-duo-basic-overclocking-guide-beginners/

Hope this helps.

Good luck overclocking a quad core very high with that motherboard. Look at the VRM's on that thing. They are virutally non-existant.

Unfortunatly, there are no GOOD motherboard options for LGA 775. You'll either need to find a decent used one or just abondon the idea and go with a new build.

 

[pauldun170]

How do you know that the Q9550 is the bottleneck?
Where are you seeing issues? What display resolution?
I have a Q9550 and I have a HD7770 card (in separate boxes)

The HD7770 isn't exactly a stellar card and based on my experience with both the Q9550 and the HD7770 my gut says the HD7770 is your bottleneck and not the Q9550

I've had the Q9550 for years and up until recently had it paired with a GTX570
The HD7770 is currently paired with a i3-2100.

HD7770 is a entry level to mid range gaming card at best.

 

[Hitman928]

I can't play Sonic Generations and I can't play Assasin's Creed. Skyrim was playable enough, but even then I can't get 60 frames.

I would think your rig should play sonic generations fine as well as AC (unless it's the third one you're talking about?).

What resolution and antialiasing settings are you using?