Upgrading Dell to 2.8Ghz Northwood from 1.8 Ghz

[ProfJohn]

I have a Dell Deminision 4500 running at 1.8 Ghz on P4 with a Geforce 4 MX
For $150 I can upgrade CPU to a 2.8 Ghz Northwood (fast as I can go with motherboard) and add a Geforce 6200 for another $50.

According to Toms hardware I should see about 30% increase in CPU power/speed and the new GPU will be a big improvement.

Does anyone know how well a 2.8 P4 will perform with games such as Farcry, CoD 2 and the other recent games?

I would hate to spend the $150 and 6 months from now be looking for a new computer. I could make the big jump for another computer now, but that $600 +/- is a huge jump.

 

[Makaveli]

Yes I would say do it, the cpu upgrade will be a nice improvement, but I would look at a better videocard. As for Far cry and COD2, the Cpu won't be the problem the Geforce 6200 will be a major bottleneck.

 

[ProfJohn]

I understand about the GPU and the bottleneck, but since it is AGP I don't want to spend much money on the system. Unless....

How much longer at AGP motherboards going to be around such as the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA, a conroe ready board with AGP.
I would spend more money on a nice AGP card if I can move it to a newer computer down the road, otherwise it is money down the drain when I move up.

 

[dexvx]

CPU Support:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4500/specs.htm#1101572

I look on eBay for P4 2.53 and 2.66 (didn't feel like searching for 2.8 since theres like 5 kinds of 2.8 CPU's). They went as low as $40shipped for the 2.53 and $50 shipped for the 2.66. Add in a decent AGP card, such as a Radeon 9800 Pro ($60ish) or GeForce 6600GT (FYI non-GT's are significantly weaker) and your net cost should be no more than $150, maybe $100ish if you spend the time looking around after you sell your replaced stuff.

 

[ProfJohn]

Thanks for the info Dexvx, I'll have to scan Ebay and see what I find. Don't think I'll be selling my stuff thought, a lot of work for little gain.

 

[dexvx]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
Thanks for the info Dexvx, I'll have to scan Ebay and see what I find. Don't think I'll be selling my stuff thought, a lot of work for little gain.

Feel free to mail it all to me!