Upgrade CPU P4 3.2

[jmt]

I have a Dell Dimension 8400. It has a Pentium 4 540J 3.2 mhz socket 775 Prescott processor. The mother board is a Dell with an Intel Alderwood i925X chipset Southbridge 82801. I would like to know if I could upgrade to a Intel Core 2 Duo E4700 2.6 ghz CPU. If that would work how much higher could I go and still have it make sense?

 

[Ratman6161]

Its unlikely that a chipset that old is going to support the newer processors even though its socket 775. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think you need at least a 965 chipset.

 

[waffleironhead]

with the 925x you are stuck with the p4 series, those are not even pentiumD capable.

the good this is that you can get a mobo/cpu/memory for cheap and upgrade.

 

[Denithor]

Looks like you need a full system upgrade. Fortunately you've got one of the Dell boxes that has an mATX motherboard instead of mBTX, which are much harder to find replacement options. If you have 2GB DDR2-533 or faster memory you can just reuse it. If you have less than 2GB and/or it's the slower DDR2-400 memory get the kit listed below as well as a new cpu/motherboard.

e5200 (2.5GHz, 2MB cache) $84
Foxconn G43 mATX motherboard $65AR
Crucial 2x2GB DDR2-800 $20AR

Altogether you're looking at about $175 for a system that will be about 4 times faster than your current setup.

 

[jmt]

Originally posted by: waffleironhead
with the 925x you are stuck with the p4 series, those are not even pentiumD capable.

the good this is that you can get a mobo/cpu/memory for cheap and upgrade.

Do you know if the mobo in a Dell Dem. 8400 is upgradeable? If so could you recommend one? Also if I'm going to upgrade the mobo I can get an Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8 GHz for the same price as E4700

 

[jmt]

Originally posted by: Denithor
Looks like you need a full system upgrade. Fortunately you've got one of the Dell boxes that has an mATX motherboard instead of mBTX, which are much harder to find replacement options. If you have 2GB DDR2-533 or faster memory you can just reuse it. If you have less than 2GB and/or it's the slower DDR2-400 memory get the kit listed below as well as a new cpu/motherboard.

e5200 (2.5GHz, 2MB cache) $84
Foxconn G43 mATX motherboard $65AR
Crucial 2x2GB DDR2-800 $20AR

Altogether you're looking at about $175 for a system that will be about 4 times faster than your current setup.

Thanks for the great suggestions. Could you tell me if a regular size ATX board will fit or must it be a micro ATX?