Upgrading a 2 year old Dell system

[Poncherelli]

My parents pc is a Dell Dimension XPS T500. 500mhz pIII, 256 pc100 ram (i think its pc100), turtle beach montego II sound card, and ATI rage pro graphics gard. I'm wondering what kind of upgrades are possible for this machine because i'm really not sure what kind of motherboard it has. Can i get a 900-1000 mhz pIII chip to put in here and then maybe add a gf2 or kyro2 to make this system a little speedier and better with games?

 

[dawks]

Slot 1? Or Socket?

Look inside, if its a big cartidge thingy, then its a Slot 1. That will make all the difference in the world. If its a Slot 1, your gonna need a new Motherboard too. If its a socket, you should be able to get a 900MHz PIII (I think)

Im in the same sort of boat. I have a PII 400 on a slot 1. Im thinking of changing over to a duron system..

 

[Vegito]

I have several of the same, max you can go is 850 unless you can find the secc2 900 cpu.. 850 p3 is around 156. There is AGP slot so you can put geforce3 also.. It's a intel reference motherbaord..

 

[Poncherelli]

its a long cartridgy one

 

[Poncherelli]

would it be worth it for me to get an 850 and a kyro2? or will the difference not be worth the money?

 

[Vegito]

better off with a geforce.. but i just dont know enough video card... dont know how good kyro drivers are... yeap, the slot 1 secc cpu

 

[mrbios]

The board that you would have in there is an Intel Seattle 2 motherboard, and a 440BX chipset. Know that from experiece. The Seattle 1 would only accept a P3 450MHz. The highest upgrade you could get is a P3 1GHz, but those may be harder to find nowadays. Frankly, I'd go with a Kyro 2 if you wanted to upgrade. Cheap, and excellent performance.

Russell "Mr.Bios" Sampson

Edit: Just realized I was now a Senior Member

 

[thraxes]

Go for socket P3 with 100FSB on a slocket (perhaps even go for the 1GHz @ 100FSB version). That should work with the BX chipset. I don't know how the Bios will like it though, you may need the coppermine microcode revisions i.e. newest BIOS.

As for AGP anything will go... GeForce2 pro is kinda like the sweet spot at the moment.

EDIT: typo

 

[Amused]

Your Computer has a Slot one PIII with a 100FSB. It is capable of taking a slot 1 1GHz 100FSB PIII. You CAN still find 1GHz Slot 1 100FSB processors around , but they're getting rare. Googlegear.com has them for $209.

Googlegear link to Slot 1 PIII 1GHz 100FSB Processor

Ignore the "only tested in server" warning on the box. They work in Dell XPS-R and T computers, I have one in mine, and hundreds on the user boards at Dell have done it too.

You can get advice on this VERY POPULAR and always sucessful upgrade here at the Delltalk message boards http://delltalk.us.dell.com/

And you can find detailed info on Dell processor upgrades here: Dell Dimension Processor Upgrade FAQ

BTW, there are no FC-PGA 1GHz 100FSB processors. The highest socket PIII with 100FSB is the 850MHz.

Go with the Slot 1 PIII 1GHz 100FSB. It's as easy as popping the old one out, and putting the new one in. Just remember to plug the fan on the heatsink of the new processor onto the motherboard. Also, you need to make sure you have Dell BIOS A09 or later (You most likely do). If not, go to Dell and d/l the latest BIOS revision and flash it.