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Upgrading PC

Slasher

Slasher

Suck It
I've been thinking about upgrading my PC over the past few days.
I have no limits as far as money goes, I'm just looking for something reasonable.

The computer is alright in both the RAM and video card departments, but how else could I improve it?

I don't have the exact motherboard specs, but I want to upgrade the processor if at all possible. It's currently a 2.93ghz P4, and I want to upgrade it to a core 2 duo if I can.
Do all motherboards allow a processor upgrade? Are there any limitations?

Also, I was thinking, would upgrading the Power Supply Unit improve the performance at all?

Is there any other ways to improve overall performance?

I'll come back with exact motherboard specs, etc so maybe I can get further help. Thanks
 
Seth

Seth

MD Party Room
Is this a computer you build your self? Or is it from Hp,Dell ext....

And odds are if you did build this you cant upgrade your cpu to a C2D...You will need a new motherboard and with most cases new parts. About the only thing you can really reuse if you did build a new pc is your CD drive(unless it IDE),your HDD(unless it IDE),and your case...

You can build a really good system for under 600...
 
Slasher

Slasher

Suck It
I'm not huge in computer hardware, so I don't know a lot.

It's not a computer I've built myself, it's an emachine (insert model number here), I don't know the exact specs right now until I get back to my dorm room and inspect it further. I've upgraded both the RAM, and the video card, and was just looking/hoping to get a little more kick out of it. Would it be a possibility that I can just simply buy a new processor and stick it in?

I don't really want to make an entirely new computer
 
Seth

Seth

MD Party Room
Nope...
 
Greyone

Greyone

Funny Little Green Ghouls
Slasher said:
I'm not huge in computer hardware, so I don't know a lot.

It's not a computer I've built myself, it's an emachine (insert model number here), I don't know the exact specs right now until I get back to my dorm room and inspect it further. I've upgraded both the RAM, and the video card, and was just looking/hoping to get a little more kick out of it. Would it be a possibility that I can just simply buy a new processor and stick it in?

I don't really want to make an entirely new computer
Click to expand...
You can't really "upgrade" your computer. You have already upgraded about every upgradeable component. The most you could do is upgrade to a 3.0+ ghz pentium 4/ celeron D. And that would be practically useless.
 
Slasher

Slasher

Suck It
My main concern is the ability to upgrade to a core 2 duo. I guess this isn't possible to just buy a processor and stick it in my current P4?
What would I have to do/replace in order to do this? Buy a new motherboard?

I was also wondering (Because I'm pretty sure I've heard this somewhere), that if I were to upgrade my power supply to a more powerful psu, would that improve my computers performance and in turn make it faster?
 
ilyace

ilyace

Member
For the cpu, it really depends on the socket of your motherboard. I'm going to guess that no you can't upgrade to a core 2.

As for psu, it just depends on the other components, ex: do they need more juice? Can you find out how many watts your current psu has?
 
M

mohaas05

New Member
Unless you have a Pentium 4 released after 2006, you cannot upgrade further. You would have to get a new motherboard and since it probably would not work with your current case, you don't really have a choice but to get a new computer.
 
Seth

Seth

MD Party Room
Slasher said:
I was also wondering (Because I'm pretty sure I've heard this somewhere), that if I were to upgrade my power supply to a more powerful psu, would that improve my computers performance and in turn make it faster?
Click to expand...
It wont do much...

Hell you can build a more powerful pc for under 300 bucks...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135075
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023

And just reuse your HDD,Dvd Drive,mouse/keyboard,Case(if it fits) and there you have a basic quad core system that will meet most of your needs..
 
Slasher

Slasher

Suck It
mohaas05 said:
Unless you have a Pentium 4 released after 2006, you cannot upgrade further. You would have to get a new motherboard and since it probably would not work with your current case, you don't really have a choice but to get a new computer.
Click to expand...
Well the cut off date is July 2006, and my computer was bought right around that time (Summer of 2006 -> July/August/September), so I'm not totally sure. I'll come back here once I get back to my room and can tell you the motherboard information and whatnot. I hope it's possible to upgrade it w/out buying a whole new comp
 
twelve

twelve

I'm not dead
Vanden said:
It wont do much...

Hell you can build a more powerful pc for under 300 bucks...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135075
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023

And just reuse your HDD,Dvd Drive,mouse/keyboard,Case(if it fits) and there you have a basic quad core system that will meet most of your needs..
Click to expand...
1. There is no processor listed there.
2. A motherboard that has this on the listing isn't good:
Pros: None
3. Core 2 > AMD
mohaas05 said:
Unless you have a Pentium 4 released after 2006, you cannot upgrade further.
Click to expand...
It's an emachine. Even if it's LGA775 I very much doubt that it will support more than 1 core or have the necessary DDR2 slots.

Slasher, the minimum you're going to have to do to get a core 2 CPU is change the motherboard, CPU and RAM. If you also want to play games then get a Geforce 8800GT, which would probably require a Power Supply upgrade as well.
 
Slasher

Slasher

Suck It
twelve said:
It's an emachine. Even if it's LGA775 I very much doubt that it will support more than 1 core or have the necessary DDR2 slots.

Slasher, the minimum you're going to have to do to get a core 2 CPU is change the motherboard, CPU and RAM. If you also want to play games then get a Geforce 8800GT, which would probably require a Power Supply upgrade as well.
Click to expand...
Well I can tell you right now I've got 1.5gigs of DDR2 ram in it if that makes any difference lol... Also, I've got a Geforce 7300 GT running on PCI Express x16 which isn't quite as powerful as the graphics card you mentioned, but it's still pretty good.

If a motherboard change is needed in order to upgrade the CPU, than that's not a huge deal I guess - I just don't really want to have to buy everything else new as well :/
 
twelve

twelve

I'm not dead
Interesting.

If you can find out the exact model number of the PC then you might only need to buy a new CPU after all.
 
M

mohaas05

New Member
You can tell if its LGA775 by removing the processor. If the socket has pins and the processor has holes, its LGA775. If the socket has holes and the processor has pins, its Socket 478
 
Slasher

Slasher

Suck It
explosions said:
lol no.
That mobo sux eggs. I know from experience.

Just get a new mobo/processor.
Click to expand...
I'm just going off of what the specs states
Supports Intel Pentium 4 / Celeron D processors in LGA775 package
and
Supports up to Pentium 4 5XX, 6XX (EM64T) and Celeron D 3XX sequence processor.

Which I'm not entirely sure what the latter of the two means, but support for Celeron D (aka Dual core) seems promising, no?

What exactly do you suggest? Why should I buy a whole new motherboard? I don't totally know what I'm going to have to do with a new motherboard (bios?) in order to get it to work. And will all of my previous parts work with it?


EDIT - Wow, I'm stupid. It's CELERON D, not PENTIUM D. /facepalm
I guess the only option for me is to get a new motherboard then huh? Is it as simple as detaching the old motherboard and reattaching everything to a new one?
 
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