Help me know if I Can upgrade my CPU

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LoLCashCow

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May 8, 2013
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A friend gave me a desktop that has an Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 2.5 GHz processor.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=DX4710-09-R

I was looking at the manufacturer's page and saw that it has other processors listed for it.

http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/DX/DX4710/DX4710sp2.shtml

Intel® Core™2 Quad processor
Intel Core2 Duo processor
Intel Pentium® Dual Core processor
Intel G33 Express chipset

I don't know if that is the total list of all the possible processors for the MB

I was wondering if it was possible for me to upgrade the available processor to something better? Without buying a new MB. I plan to use it to run a few virtual machines inside, and hook up the system to another monitor and run a movie in that monitor while doing other things in the original monitor.

I hope that makes sense. It would be awesome to play a game in one screen and try to watch a movie in the other; or have someone else see it while I play.... and also have a virtual machine in the background. Also, I would run a music program in the background.

Thank you all very much!


 
Solution
thismafiaguy
With that graphics card, you'll need every bit of the 350W. It should work, but it would be better to have some headroom. CrossFireX means pairing up multiple graphics cards, or GPUs, in one system. In order to run CrossFireX, you'll need a motherboard with at least 2 PCI-Express x16 expansion slots and a bigger power supply.
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Your system has a pretty old combo. If you want to multi-task with two monitors, you'll need a lot more power. If you want to upgrade your system, you should definitely upgrade the motherboard as well to accommodate modern, faster chips. Also, see what kinds of motherboard your case is compatible with.
 
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It wouldn't be catastrophic, but it wouldn't be very good neither. The Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors are more than 5 years old now, you will be much better off with a CPU on a newer platform. Maybe try AMD's new APU, the 6800k. What else do you intend to do besides watching movies and browsing the web simultaneously?
 
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I wouldn't recommend trying to upgrade a prebuilt because of the numerous roadblocks the builders put in there nowadays.


Like the above poster mentioned earlier, you should get a new build with the A10-6800K.
 
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Hi Everyone,

I did a test and hooked it up the system with two monitors and played games / ran a movie on the other screen. It was good in the sense that both ran but the game and movie had some skipping issue. game fps would sometimes drop and I was running it on lowest settings. The game was league of legends. Did not try playing music on the background.

I was looking at the list of CPUs for the Intel Core2 Duo processor and Intel® Core™2 Quad processor and the list looks to be big. Right now it has a Intel Pentium® Dual Core processor ... the E5200 which looks to be really down on the line for the Intel Pentiums. I was wondering why it would be a bad idea to upgrade the CPU into the next line of intel core2 duo which look to be faster? or even the intel core2 quad?

I also found the motherboard online with the specs for it:

http://www.ascendtech.us/gateway-g33m05g1-8eks-g33-4006259r-board_i_mbgat4006259rdm.aspx

Gateway G33M05G1-8EKS G33 4006259R Motherboard. Gateway Motherboard meets the current and future demands of high performance, power embedded computing, making it ideal for communications, transaction terminal, interactive client, industrial automation applications as well as for standard home use.

Manufacturer: Gateway
Part Numbers: G33M05G1-8EKSOD G33M05G1-8EKS 4006259R
Compatible Part Numbers: MB.G3209.001 MB.G2709.002 MBG3209001 MBG2709002 G33M0E3-8EKSOD G33M05G1-8EKSO
Compatible models: Gateway LX4710 FX4710 DX4710 GT5689j DX2710 Desktop systems

Specifications:

Supports Intel E6xxx, E4xxx, Q6xxx dual and quad core processors
Intel G33 + ICH9DH chipset
1333/1066/800 MHz front side bus
Four DIMM slots support up to 8 GB of dual channel DDR2 800/667/533 MHz memory
Integrated Intel GMA 3100 graphics
Integrated 8-Channel (7.1) High Definition Audio
Integrated 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet LAN
Four internal Serial ATA (SATA) device connectors
One external eSATA port
Four add-in card slots:
One PCI Express ×16 (graphics interface)
One PCI Express ×1
Two PCI conventional

If possible I would like to upgrade the CPU and not have to upgrade the motherboard. It can take 8gb ram is that no good? The FSB matches the speed on all the mentioned CPU by the manufacturer. Is there a relation between FSB and ram MHz speed?
 
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You might be able to put a Core2Quad in there and 8GB of RAM. But first of all, what kind of CPU cooler is in there? You'll need to beef up the cooling if you want to put in more powerful components. Second, what is the max output of your power supply? Some Pre-built machines implement upgrade blocks for certain components by giving the system the smallest power supply available, so if you add any big components like a dedicated graphics card, it wouldn't have enough juice. But anyway, what's your upgrade budget?
 
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Hi,

Sorry for not mentioning it before but I really want to try and spend less than $100 on the system to be able to do what I mentioned before. I'm not big on computers or games or movies it will be more for like casual use :).

I took a pic of the fan. It looks like the case needs some cleaning too.

4bfd.jpg


The power supply is 300 watt, but I saw an ad for a 350W Hec 80+ Bronze Certified Power Supply Free after $15 Rebate + Free Shipping and picked that up. It was free after rebate so I figured why not. 350 watt isn't much, but I thought it could be useful or at least a resale.

If 350 watt is not enough how much would I need?
 
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The antec 350W should be enough power. Do you have a dedicated graphics card? I can't really tell what that is at the bottom of the picture. If you want to add a graphics card later, you'll need more power. The Corsair CX430 is on Newegg for $39, $19 after rebate.
 
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With that graphics card, you'll need every bit of the 350W. It should work, but it would be better to have some headroom. CrossFireX means pairing up multiple graphics cards, or GPUs, in one system. In order to run CrossFireX, you'll need a motherboard with at least 2 PCI-Express x16 expansion slots and a bigger power supply.
 
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Solution


I have more experience with upgrades/repaires than anything else. Q6600's go for about $40 on ebay. This is more than twice as powerful as an e5200, and should run without problems. Your power supply isnt big enough to run that chip with a graphics card. It may run a small one to start with but will fail quickly. Your cpu cooler is stock intel and should handle aq6600 at normal clocks, but will be flat out try to pick up any aftermarket cooler to keep things quiet and get reasonable temps. The corsair 430w would indeed power the cpu and a useable graphics card nicely. This chip will play almost any game, but you might have to drop player numbers on some mmo's. There are only about 5 games it may struggle with .It would also make a powerful machine for general use.
 
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If you are not going to play serious games, use the power supply you got 'free'
and put in a q6600 it will be awesome for general use.
Graphics cards only use real power when playing 3d games. You can buy the corsair later if you still have the machine. Oh, and more ram wont help much, 6 is plenty for casual use.
 
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I agree with chriss000, you'll want a bigger power supply if you want to run a faster CPU with that 5670. I recommend getting the Corsair CX430($39, $19 after rebate), Hyper 212 Evo CPU cooler($35, $30 after rebate), and a Q6600 CPU off eBay. All that should fit nicely under $100 after rebate, and depending on what you can find on eBay.
 
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Thank you guys the suggestions sound great :). I'm glad that I can upgrade the CPU and keep the MB. I took a picture of the ram it had inside with the stickers.

6vfq.jpg


Since this is, I think, dual channel RAM does it matter in which way you arrange the RAM inside the MB? I see four slots and each one is color coded.

4006259R002.jpg


The way it was arranged was:

Blue Slot: 1GB
Yellow Slot: 2GB

Then on the other two slots:

Blue Slot: 1GB
Yellow Slot: 2GB

The color matches but each pair of slots have 1GB/2GB. Would it be best if it was 2GB/2GB and 1GB/1GB or does it not affect performance at all?

The ram is DDR2 800 so I guess that is the highest speed the MB can take. It is just missing 2 more GB of ram. Though someone said 6GB is more than enough I'll be more than happy to pick up a CPU!

Is the 5670 Vid Card a power hog? Is it still a good card to have at least for what I want it to do?
 
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You have the RAM sticks in the correct configuration. If your motherboard supports dual channel memory, then the color coding is supposed to match for each pair of RAM. It shouldn't affect performance very much, you may need to make timing adjustments in the BIOS to make the 1GB and 2GB sticks work together. Try it and see, I have personally never used two different densities of RAM in the same system.
 
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First off, the ram is what it is, and your board has dual memory channel capability hence the slots are different colours, It means the board can talk to the memory down two different pathways, and interlace the conversation.
It has to converse with it all through one channel in single channel mode..
When the pc starts up it will power on self test and you will see a line of print that says dual channel mode, or single channel mode. Dual channel mode will increase the memory performance by iro 8%. So it needs 3 gig on each channel..
If it says dual channel mode its fine.
If it says single channel mode, put the 2 gig sticks in the first two slots, and the 1 gig sticks in the second two slots.
That will total 3 gig on each colour.
2nd off, your graphics card is reasonably efficient power wise, with a maximum watts use of about 60.
Its also better for games than the one I use.
The Q6600 quad core cpu is rated at 105 watts.
This is a pair of E6600's (the chip I use) bolted together.
I use my pc for games and streaming tv , and talking to you, so at double the horsepower, you should find the setup i recommend faultless.
You mention the ram is 800 meg? it will either be running at 556, or 667 because that is as fast as the chipset can go. Dont worry about this because if its running at the lower speed the ram timings will be faster and 6 gig is huge. 4 gig is more than enough even with vista.
So, buy a q6600 (try to get a G0 slacr stepping version because it will run cooler at stock clocks), then buy any aftermarket socket 775 cooler (2nd hand off ebay?)and get the new rebated 430w corsair power supply as money allows.
 
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Hi Guys,

Thanks a lot for all the input. I messed with the settings for the virtual machine and the games that I was playing. I managed to reduce more of the skipping and lagging while running a movie on the second monitor. As is it almost runs flawlessly with lowest settings. I will definitely want to spend $40 or so for an upgrade on the CPU so I can turn up the settings. You guys have been a great help!

I also went into the bios and turned off the logo screen. It allowed me to see the RAM test? and it did say it was DD2 800 Dual Channel Ram. Not sure if it said mode, but this was after I saved the bios and restarted the system. So I guess the ram is aligned properly. Thank you very much :).

ABout the fan what do you guys think would be a better fan to get for this system in the aftermarket? I have no clue about fans at all.

I will also aim to find that CPU with the G0 slacr stepping version. I hope they have it listed in the eBay listing otherwise I'll have to ask every vendor I see.

After I get the fan and CPU I will definitely get the higher power supply. Would it be risky to run the system with 350 watt PSU? Do you think it could fail and damage the system?

I think this all will definitely fall within my 100$ budget :)


-Edit-

Well I had not seen this but the RAM says GDDR2 instead of just DDR2.

I was going to sell another system I bought a few months ago and I saw the ram. CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184

I tried to use these instead of the 1GB pair, but the MB just beeped like Crazy when trying to boot up. Are these not useable with the system? The ones in my system are GDDR2 while these are DDR2.

The other system also has a 600Watt PSU.

http://www.coolermaster.com/product/Detail/powersupply/extreme/extreme-power-plus-600w.html

Before I try to put in this PSU I want to know if it will not blow up lol. The other system is an AMD Desktop. I really wanted the ram to work. It is sitting right there.
 
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can you tell me whay the other system was?
 
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It is a desktop just like this one but it has an amd cpu.

AMD X2 Dual 3.0 GHz Processor
4GB RAM - Corsair xms2 DDR
30GB HD
NO MONITOR
1 GB NVIDIA GeForce 210 Video Card
600 Watt PSU: CoolerMaster eXtreme Power Plus
Motherboard - Biostar (MCP6P M2+)

I think this is the mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138111

The only difference I could see in the RAM was that the one in my system says GDDR2 and well the brand... maybe there are other differences I am unable to tell?

If I can get the ram to work ill get 8gb ram I think on my system
 
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