should i bother upgrading dinosaur CPUs

[T2urtle]

I have a Dell Vostro 220 that is my daily machine left on 24/7. Most likely 8-9 years old if i had to guess but its daily duties are Office 2013 (excel data analysis stuff), normal web surf and bluestacks( android emulator). No gaming what so ever.

Specs are Win 7 Ultimate 64bit
- Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU E2200 @ 2.20GHz, socket 775 i gather
- NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
- 4gb of ram (maxed out)
- 250gb Samsung SSD (SATA2)
- 750gb WD green

I just got the SSD installed last month and loving it, it pushes back my thoughts of building an mid-range I5 machine. Overall this computer works for what i need it to, just requires a reboot daily and some patients. The patience part was cut down a good amount with the SSD but i'm considering another cheap update.

Googled around i found a post from a dell employee stating these all were possible upgrades for my CPU...

N654J Wolfdale Dual Core E8600 3.33GHz
D923J Wolfdale Dual Core E8500 3.16GHz
06YMG Wolfdale Dual Core E7600 3.06GHz
H399J Wolfdale Dual Core E8400 3.00GHz
T116N Wolfdale Dual Core E7500 2.93GHz
9HP6Y Wolfdale Dual Core E6300 2.80GHz
Y442H Wolfdale Dual Core E7300 2.66GHz
YG8MC Wolfdale Dual Core E5200 2.50GHz
K151N Wolfdale Dual Core E4700 2.80GHz


Most of these seem to be $10-20 CPUs on ebay like this link, would it be worth my time/effort/money to throw in a E8600? I'm thinking the 6mb vs 1mb cache along should be helpful.


Also i've heard of some OEM companies making it hard for people to upgrade stuff. Things like soldering CPU into the boards and etc. WOuld you think dell would be one of these?

 

[LTC8K6]

I'd drop the Wolfdale E8600 in there if it was me. :biggrin:

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/382/Intel_Core_2_Duo_E8600_vs_Intel_Pentium_Dual-Core_E2200.html

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/67?vs=54

 

[T2urtle]

I'd drop the Wolfdale E8600 in there if it was me. :biggrin:

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/382/Intel_Core_2_Duo_E8600_vs_Intel_Pentium_Dual-Core_E2200.html

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/67?vs=54

E8600 are going for $25 ish.

E8500 are $10

Is there a huge difference?

 

[VirtualLarry]

E8600 are going for $25 ish.

E8500 are $10

Is there a huge difference?

0.16Ghz?

 

[T2urtle]

0.16Ghz?

:biggrin:

is that simply it tho? I'm not too versed in CPU stuff. If e8500 is $10 and E8600 is $25 i would think something else is different. The difference might be null to be but should be something other then .16ghz

 

[VirtualLarry]

:biggrin:

is that simply it tho? I'm not too versed in CPU stuff. If e8500 is $10 and E8600 is $25 i would think something else is different. The difference might be null to be but should be something other then .16ghz

Yeah, pricing on CPUs isn't linear. There's a price-premium on the "Halo" chips for each platform. The reason being, is that some people want to just max out their upgrades.

 

[crashtech]

Learn to in mod a Socket 771 Xeon instead.

Also, if it takes 45nm CPUs, why wouldn't it take a Core2 Quad? That would be more of a worthy upgrade.

Oh, they sell the pin mod:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Adapter-for...Q9550-Q9650-/321860375143?hash=item4af05f9267

 

[JackMDS]

If the Mobo is compatible with.

This is the most cost effective solution, http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...essor-SLGUR-/301762811078?hash=item46427714c6

 

[T2urtle]

Biggest problem is this is a Dell prebuilt. I dunno if the bios and board will accept/run it.

I'll do some research later on but I rather go with a sure fire e8500.

I do have a worry about dell doing something off the wall to prevent me.

 

[LTC8K6]

Biggest problem is this is a Dell prebuilt. I dunno if the bios and board will accept/run it.

I'll do some research later on but I rather go with a sure fire e8500.

I do have a worry about dell doing something off the wall to prevent me.

The 8500 and 8600 are pretty much identical except for the speed.

I just figured if you are going to keep it for a while, might as well get all you can get. :biggrin:

 

[Charlie98]

Be aware of cooling a higher performance chip... I upgraded my old Pentium D 2 or 3 CPU steps, and with the Dell CPU cooler it couldn't take it.

 

[dbcooper1]

E8400, 8500, or 8600 will work; you might need to upgrade the BIOS, but everything else is good. A quad might require another power supply or even a different rev. of the board and possibly a heatsink. Of the 3, I usually go with the E8400 as it's most cost effective depending on availability but I haven't checked in the past few months. From what you have to the 8400 is a good improvement; beyond that is barely noticeable.

 

[MongGrel]

Hey. we're on ATOT.

Shove an E8600 in that baby

But, I am leery of Dell being proprietary myself, why I haven't owned one at home in 20+ years i guess.

Only had one, and even then you had to buy the ram specifically from them and was about 3X the going market price.

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[QuietDad]

According to Dell, that PC supports:
80X97 Yorkfield Quad Core Q8400 2.66GHz
N654J Wolfdale Dual Core E8600 3.33GHz
D923J Wolfdale Dual Core E8500 3.16GHz
06YMG Wolfdale Dual Core E7600 3.06GHz
H399J Wolfdale Dual Core E8400 3.00GHz
T116N Wolfdale Dual Core E7500 2.93GHz
9HP6Y Wolfdale Dual Core E6300 2.80GHz
Y442H Wolfdale Dual Core E7300 2.66GHz
YG8MC Wolfdale Dual Core E5200 2.50GHz
K151N Wolfdale Dual Core E4700 2.80GHz

 

[Mike64]

I have a Dell Vostro 220 that is my daily machine left on 24/7. Most likely 8-9 years old if i had to guess

My how time flies... if it came with Windows 7 pre-installed, it can't be older than just about 6 years...

According to Dell, that PC supports [...]

With Dells (and probably other companies' pre-builts), you have to check the specific motherboard in the box (or via the service tag.) They use the same overall system model numbers for different configurations that may have motherboards with different capabilities. Some versions of my Dell model, for example, can take a Core 2 quad-core, but mine can't, and it's also limited to 4GB RAM...

 

[T2urtle]

Be aware of cooling a higher performance chip... I upgraded my old Pentium D 2 or 3 CPU steps, and with the Dell CPU cooler it couldn't take it.

Another concern of mines. As it will be running 24/7, maybe i'll get a newer cooler:whiste:

My how time flies... if it came with Windows 7 pre-installed, it can't be older than just about 6 years...

With Dells (and probably other companies' pre-builts), you have to check the specific motherboard in the box (or via the service tag.) They use the same overall system model numbers for different configurations that may have motherboards with different capabilities. Some versions of my Dell model, for example, can take a Core 2 quad-core, but mine can't, and it's also limited to 4GB RAM...

I just found the service tag on this, 2008. Its a vista machine. I remember i bought it for someone as a bottom of the barrel type of machine, maybe $500 at the time.


I've pretty much locked it down to a E8500 for around $9 since the E8600 seem to going for $22. Yea i know i'm splitting hairs on both price and performance but small chance in the back of my head that Dell did something weird. Also given the age of this computer, other parts could go at anytime. I just need the PC to hold me over as long as possible for as cheap as possible.

I think this dell was weird with ram too, needed low density ram to work. I forget as i bought the upgrades like 5+ years back. The video card was normal PCI-E.