Just bought a used Dell PC off Ebay, and wanting to upgrade its CPU to a four-core model. I think Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 will work, but wanted to check here to make sure before I buy it. Are there better CPUs that don't need modding to make them fit, or BIOS fiddling to make them work? Also, will upgrading the CPU require any other changes (more fans or whatever)?
Question Upgrade CPU for Dell OptiPlex 960 MT?
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VirtualLarry
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No offense, but unless it was free, if you bought a Core2-era PC (recently, as in, 2019 or 2020), honestly, anything before Ivy Bridge or Haswell; you made a mistake.
Edit: The Planet thanks you for your sacrifice, to keep an older system running.
Thing is, even if it works today, PCs that old may have shorter lifespans than newer refurbs. Plus, isn't Core2 just kind of slow these days?
What CPU is in there now?
Edit: The Planet thanks you for your sacrifice, to keep an older system running.
Thing is, even if it works today, PCs that old may have shorter lifespans than newer refurbs. Plus, isn't Core2 just kind of slow these days?
What CPU is in there now?
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potato masher
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Don't forget the socket 771 xeon chips. If you can get one cheap, I've had good luck with them in old Dells. You need the conversion "sticker" thing, and you need to razor blade the notches off of the 775 socket. Its pretty easy. I do bios updates as standard operating procedure, so I couldn't tell you if it works without it.
Larry's point does stand.. these things are getting really old. I'm actually posting this reply on one of my old converted dell workstation running the sticker with a quad xeon. It also has 8 gigs of ram even though dell would tell you max is 4. I had to find some older ram with low density chicklets but it works fine. It was super slow before with the duo, now its merely acceptable in speed.
If you're going to spend like ten or twenty dollars, I'd say go for it. If you're looking at dumping more than that, just save it towards a newer used system. FWIW I've bought old xeons for less than five bucks on ebay.. and old used ram is cheap. So you can upgrade these for absurdly low money.
I've never had a problem with the stock coolers doing cpu upgrades on duo era dells. I think they use the same dell coolers on quads as they do on dual core chips.
Larry's point does stand.. these things are getting really old. I'm actually posting this reply on one of my old converted dell workstation running the sticker with a quad xeon. It also has 8 gigs of ram even though dell would tell you max is 4. I had to find some older ram with low density chicklets but it works fine. It was super slow before with the duo, now its merely acceptable in speed.
If you're going to spend like ten or twenty dollars, I'd say go for it. If you're looking at dumping more than that, just save it towards a newer used system. FWIW I've bought old xeons for less than five bucks on ebay.. and old used ram is cheap. So you can upgrade these for absurdly low money.
I've never had a problem with the stock coolers doing cpu upgrades on duo era dells. I think they use the same dell coolers on quads as they do on dual core chips.
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potato masher
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What do you want this computer to do? If its not going to do it even with the quad and max ram, then there is no point..
VirtualLarry
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When you can get complete SFF Ivy Bridge quad-cores (i5-3470) w/8GB DDR3 and a 500GB-1TB HDD, AND Windows, for $100 or occasionally less, in my mind, there's not much reason to go with anything lower-end. YMMV, though, according to budget, and perhaps you like the fixer-up/modding aspect of getting an older Core2-era / Xeon workstation and modding it.
You can also get cheap MT (MiniTower) models, with Sandy/Ivy/Haswell, sometimes as low as $100 as well, though generally not "complete" systems, at that low of a price for the MiniTower models. Expect to drop $30-50 on an SSD, and maybe max out the RAM to 16GB.
There was one I posted for around $230, that was a Haswell MT quad w/SSD + HDD, and 16GB DDR3, that would keep you set for a good while, and you can just drop in a GTX 1650 and make it a somewhat respectable gaming PC.
If OP is not in the USA, though, then I can see taking what one can get for cheap, as prices aren't always as good as they are here, nor surplus PC availability.
Edit: That was really the other problem with those older Core2-era systems, they tended to max out at 8GB of RAM, whereas, I consider that a minimum standard these days, for "ease of computing", and really, if you're a power-user, you'll want 16GB (even on older Sandy/Ivy/Haswell DDR3 platforms), and maybe 32GB on DDR4 platforms like Skylake/Kaby Lake/Coffee Lake.
(I use 32GB, 4x8GB Trident Z RGB RAM in my Ryzen R5 3600 rig these days, and I can't imagine going with anything less. But I'm a bit of a "browser power user".)
Edit: And even for "gaming on the cheap", I would recommend Ivy/Haswell quads, over Core2-era quads, they just have that much more performance. Your min FPS is going to be horrid on Core2-era PCs, even with a quad, IMHO.
You can also get cheap MT (MiniTower) models, with Sandy/Ivy/Haswell, sometimes as low as $100 as well, though generally not "complete" systems, at that low of a price for the MiniTower models. Expect to drop $30-50 on an SSD, and maybe max out the RAM to 16GB.
There was one I posted for around $230, that was a Haswell MT quad w/SSD + HDD, and 16GB DDR3, that would keep you set for a good while, and you can just drop in a GTX 1650 and make it a somewhat respectable gaming PC.
If OP is not in the USA, though, then I can see taking what one can get for cheap, as prices aren't always as good as they are here, nor surplus PC availability.
Edit: That was really the other problem with those older Core2-era systems, they tended to max out at 8GB of RAM, whereas, I consider that a minimum standard these days, for "ease of computing", and really, if you're a power-user, you'll want 16GB (even on older Sandy/Ivy/Haswell DDR3 platforms), and maybe 32GB on DDR4 platforms like Skylake/Kaby Lake/Coffee Lake.
(I use 32GB, 4x8GB Trident Z RGB RAM in my Ryzen R5 3600 rig these days, and I can't imagine going with anything less. But I'm a bit of a "browser power user".)
Edit: And even for "gaming on the cheap", I would recommend Ivy/Haswell quads, over Core2-era quads, they just have that much more performance. Your min FPS is going to be horrid on Core2-era PCs, even with a quad, IMHO.
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You need to check what that Dell PC is called, or check the motherboard model name. Even though it's LGA 775 there's no guarantee it will work, and even if it does, you might have to update the BIOS.
If using Win10, you'd really want at least an Nvidia or AMD DX10 card for hardware acceleration (preferably newer but mentioning these as lowest case).
If you could fix this PC for 10 USD it might be worth it, otherwise I'd also recommend a more modern PC instead.
If using Win10, you'd really want at least an Nvidia or AMD DX10 card for hardware acceleration (preferably newer but mentioning these as lowest case).
If you could fix this PC for 10 USD it might be worth it, otherwise I'd also recommend a more modern PC instead.
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the only thing that's guaranteed to work with the board is the CPUs that originally were on offer with that system from dell. usually the help pages on dell's website had a list of what CPUs were offered. if multiple power supplies were offered (i'd say rare), you may need to consider a different supply as well. but at that point you'd be spending so much money you might as well go with a newer refurb like the ones virtuallarry suggested.
potato masher
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Even the 2010+ era sandy bridge dells still can game fairly well. Worlds better than this -2009 stuff. And dirt cheap. E3-1230 8 thread cpus swap fine into i3 dells and are cheap as dirt. No sticker, no razor. Or just get a used i7 box to avoid a cpu swap.
I'm all for using up classic hardware, but it is getting to the point where the i7-2600 and i7-3770 are so inexpensive, there is zero reasons left to actively shop for anything older.
I'm all for using up classic hardware, but it is getting to the point where the i7-2600 and i7-3770 are so inexpensive, there is zero reasons left to actively shop for anything older.
For the last three years (it died end of November) I had a Dell OptiPlex 755 I got from Ebay for $129. It worked fine for exploring the internet+Darknet, watching movies/TV shows, running Linux LiveCDs, etc. This 960 model is an upgrade already. Just want to find a 4-core CPU to make it even better...one that fits and does not require fiddling with.
Arkaign
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Dell Optiplex 960 SFF Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz 8GB RAM 2TB Hard Disk Win 7 Pro | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Dell Optiplex 960 SFF Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz 8GB RAM 2TB Hard Disk Win 7 Pro at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
Someone has successfully ran the 9550 in it (in the SFF case lol) so it seems the thing can do it just fine. It's a Q45 chipset, so part of the final S775 range along with stuff like the G41, X48, etc. ICH10 driver set.
Any of the Q8000/9000 will be fine outside of the exotic stuff given the cooling limitations. The 9400 is probably a good idea because they're really cool running.
Just make sure your BIOS is updated to the final before any swap.
PC has not arrived yet. As said I just ordered it a few days ago. All I know about it is what little seller said:
SUPER FAST Dell Optiplex 960 Tower, Core 2 Duo 3.0-3.3GHZ, 256GB SSD,Win 10/7/XP | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for SUPER FAST Dell Optiplex 960 Tower, Core 2 Duo 3.0-3.3GHZ, 256GB SSD,Win 10/7/XP at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
Unfortunately none of the models you mention come with XP Pro pre-installed, so not relevant. I use XP Pro, and starting to move towards MX Linux. The public libraries (and copy shop pay-for-play computers) already forced Win7, Win8, and now the uber-crappy Win10 on me. I'm sticking with what I like.
Besides, I already ordered the 960 model, and that is the subject of this thread. I'm wanting to upgrade its CPU without modding.
Arkaign
Lifer
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Which Browser Is Most Secure on an Old Windows XP System?
What's the most modern browser that still works on Windows XP? Here are the best web browsers for Windows XP, compared.
www.makeuseof.com
I understand not liking the new OS situation. Please read that, as it will give you an idea of the least bad option for having it online. Also, the built-in XP firewall and UAC are completely busted and useless now, only causing irritation while fully exploited by attacks. Disable them and use Comodo Firewall Free + your choice of Comodo AV, AVG, Panda, or Avast. This combo will minimize your potential to be silently infected and becoming a zombie point for attacking others.
VirtualLarry
No Lifer
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@Arkaign , I like that article. Nice and pessimistic towards XP. Which browser is best for XP? Answer: NONE, they're all outdated and have no security patches anymore.
I noticed that they didn't mention Brave, I believe it's a privacy-oriented browser, based on the Chromium open-source browser engine, and I think I possibly remember mentioning support for XP. (I could be imagining that.)
brave.com
It does have a 32-bit download! (Look at the highlighted link text in the paragraph under the download button.)
I noticed that they didn't mention Brave, I believe it's a privacy-oriented browser, based on the Chromium open-source browser engine, and I think I possibly remember mentioning support for XP. (I could be imagining that.)
The browser that puts you first | Brave
The Brave browser is a fast, private and secure web browser for PC, Mac and mobile. Download now to enjoy a faster ad-free browsing experience that saves data and battery life by blocking tracking software.
It does have a 32-bit download! (Look at the highlighted link text in the paragraph under the download button.)
potato masher
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You'll have to forgive, I always assume use is gaming when its not mentioned. You'll be fine. I am on similar, like I said. I run this quad box and an x5270 dual box in the fleet.
Just as a point of reference, this one does seem faster with a quad and 8gb versus the old dual and 4gb before I updated it. So you're on the right track imo. Carry on.
Just as a point of reference, this one does seem faster with a quad and 8gb versus the old dual and 4gb before I updated it. So you're on the right track imo. Carry on.
Which Browser Is Most Secure on an Old Windows XP System?
What's the most modern browser that still works on Windows XP? Here are the best web browsers for Windows XP, compared.
I understand not liking the new OS situation. Please read that, as it will give you an idea of the least bad option for having it online. Also, the built-in XP firewall and UAC are completely busted and useless now, only causing irritation while fully exploited by attacks. Disable them and use Comodo Firewall Free + your choice of Comodo AV, AVG, Panda, or Avast. This combo will minimize your potential to be silently infected and becoming a zombie point for attacking others.
Good advice for them that don't know. One of the first things I do with XP Pro is to install XPlite, and knock down the OS to about 987 MB size. All the bloatware, M$ spyware, corporate malware, and maybe even some TLA backdoors get flushed...including the firewall. I use Agnitum Outpost 2009, in conjunction with the hardware firewall of my MikroTik router. In the last three years I was never breached, other than three PUPs, which were quickly sent to the pound for some euthanasia.
I would be a poor choice for being a zombie PC. I have a computer tech do a housecall every three to four months to scan for nasties and do whatever I don't want to fool with, plus the PC is turned off when not in use. I have yet to hear of a blackhatter control a PC that has no power.
By the way, I started with the guides at blackviper.com:
"Black Viper's Windows XP x86 (32-bit) Service Configurations"
...and added to them from various sites. All of which only tell you waht to disable, and not what you can uninstall, which is a whole other undertaking. Using XPlite to whittle down XP from 1.5GB to 987MB results in a very different OS.
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@Arkaign , I like that article. Nice and pessimistic towards XP. Which browser is best for XP? Answer: NONE, they're all outdated and have no security patches anymore.
I noticed that they didn't mention Brave, I believe it's a privacy-oriented browser, based on the Chromium open-source browser engine, and I think I possibly remember mentioning support for XP. (I could be imagining that.)
The browser that puts you first | Brave
The Brave browser is a fast, private and secure web browser for PC, Mac and mobile. Download now to enjoy a faster ad-free browsing experience that saves data and battery life by blocking tracking software.
It does have a 32-bit download! (Look at the highlighted link text in the paragraph under the download button.)
You are imagining it:
...as is the herd imagining the imminent demise of XP Pro, and how awful it is to use, and how insecure it is, and blah, blah blah.
The browsers for XP Pro are Mypal, Basilisk, Slimjet & SRWare Iron. Some version of crappy Firefox (and slightly worse Chrome) also work.
EOL, security patches, and all that is as meaningless as the Y2K hysteria...only difference is that with XP, the endless stream of disinformation and propaganda is easily traced to source.
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No problem. I went through my pinball wizard and video game craze like thirty years ago. The current crop of computer games has no fascination for me.
So do yo think the Intel Core2 Quad CPU 9400 will fit the OptiPlex 960 MT without modding, and work without BIOS fiddling? I'd like to upgrade to a quad CPU, but not if I have to pay the computer shop to coax it to work.
VirtualLarry
No Lifer
- Aug 25, 2001
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You do realize, that the whole reason that Y2K was looked back upon as "hysteria" was because someone patched the software.
Yes, a patch blown all out of proportion...it is one thing to announce a security vulnerability or upcoming problem in order to get it fixed, another to turn a molehill into a mountain, and fan the flames til it is near hysteria. And yes, at one time it was exactly that. Acquaintances took their money out of their banks, and hide it around the house, out of terror it would evaporate.
The place I worked at the time had all the patching, data migration and validation done a couple years before 2000. It was a non-issue.
Arkaign
Lifer
- Oct 27, 2006
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Haha one of my email addresses, I think even the one I'm registered here with, starts with : solarisy2k, because at the time I was doing infrastructure validation for clients running Sun Solaris in mixed platform environments. So things like weird little timeclock machines, proprietary manufacturing computers, magnetic passcode entry readers, etc that were connected to their networks we would investigate and validate.
It was actually surprising to find quite a lot of things that weren't 4 digit year compliant. Then began the process of sourcing solutions, seeing if hiring a Cobol coder was possible to patch them or piggyback an enhanced ROM onto the PCB, whatever necessary including replacement of the particular hardware with something else that could integrate into the overall environment. When you're talking about a 'computer' that has no GUI or display that runs a $400,000 custom assembly line automated system, originally built in the early 1970s, it can get real interesting, when a contemporary replacement might run into the millions.
Heh, started my career as a COBOL 'janitor' for the lack of a better term. I suppose I could come out of retirement and make some money with my COBOL skills, but I'd rather drop heavy rocks on my feet all day than wrangle with that ever again.
potato masher
Member
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I didn't even read thru this thing but I think this has what you want in it.
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