Whats the fasest CPU I can drop in this box?

[dippindivin]

I have a Dell XPS 420.

The cpu is:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600

Mainboard

* Chipset type Intel X38 Express
* Data bus speed 1066.0 MHz

Whats the fasest CPU I can drop on that motherboard? Can I upgrade from what I have without swapping the mobo out?

Thanks!

 

[obsidian86]

qx9775 i do believe but it was never worth its price and still isn't so get the q9550/9650

 

[dippindivin]

What socket type is that CPU?

 

[obsidian86]

socket 775 the qx9775 was the fastest 775 cpu released

 

[dunklegend]

I have a Dell XPS 420.

The cpu is:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600

Mainboard

* Chipset type Intel X38 Express
* Data bus speed 1066.0 MHz

Whats the fasest CPU I can drop on that motherboard? Can I upgrade from what I have without swapping the mobo out?

Thanks!

The CPU you have right now is not that bad, why do you want to change it?

 

[englandr753]

I would keep that system in tact as it is and use it until it blows up. Don't waste your money on upgrading that rig when its perfectly capable of doing most anything you want.

What's the reason you want to upgrade?

 

[dippindivin]

Well I just bought the HD 5970 and I was debating if I should upgrade any bottlenecks I might have in my rig. Do you think my CPU wont bottle neck the card?

 

[dippindivin]

typo - clearly i meant i bought the 5870 =)

 

[englandr753]

Can you overclock that cpu on that board? If so then do that and you will be fine. OC to at least 3.0ghz and you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[myriad46]

That card is a bit overkill for that system. You may want to think about a new system, if you are looking for a substantial system boost. Or return/sell the 5850 and get a cheaper card. I doubt you'd be able to utilize that card on an x38/1066mhz setup.

 

[jitpublisher]

The "Dell" part of your system is the bottleneck, and yes a Q6600 at stock 2.4 ghz is a huge bottleneck for a high end gaming card. It would be a bottleneck for a 3870. The only reason the q6600 was such a great processor is because it would easily clock to 3.0ghz, and beyond. That made it a great gaming processor. At 2.4ghz, it is too slow, well too slow for most gamers anyway.
And as for upgrading the CPU's everyone is tossing out at you, I say they most likely will not work. Your Q6600 is older 65nm technology. The CPU's people are suggesting are 45nm, and not all 775 boards will support them. Many would with a BIOS update, but not all. You have a Dell, which means the BIOS in your system is bare minimum, CPU upgrades on a Dell are extremely limited. Before you spend money, you are best advised to contact Dell and find out what you can and cannot do.
My advice, you should part with the Dell and build your own if you are looking to get great gaming performance.

 

[Scotteq]

Can you overclock that cpu on that board? If so then do that and you will be fine. OC to at least 3.0ghz and you shouldn't have any problems.

On a homebuilt rig, I'd agree absolutely. But in this case it's an OEM (Dell) system - The chances are pretty overwhelming the Bios is locked and he'll be unable to change the necessary params.

 

[dippindivin]

Yeah the BIOS is locked so I can't over clock the mobo.

I think my next upgrade will be a new mobo/CPU/Ram/SSD and an additional 5870 to run crossfire.

 

[dippindivin]

Or actually, would it be a good idea to just get a new motherboard and CPU fan? That would allow me to overclock the stock CPU to 3.0 ghz...

What's a good motherboard to buy that would support my chip and is recommended for overclocking?

Thanks guys!

 

[rand_79]

what kind of dell has a powersupply that can run that videocard... and processor is my question

sell that computer to someone

go build a whole new one.

 

[englandr753]

I would buy a new mobo for 60-80 bucks and OC. I figured the BIOS was locked as most prebuilt systems are, i know.

Your cpu has great potential with the right motherboard...

 

[ryohei]

well you could get a 9650 and oc it, thats probably the most cost effective thing to do

 

[jennyh]

Would be better off buying a phenom II 940 and am2+ mobo. I have both that and a q6600 @ 3.4ghz, the difference in gaming between each is starting to get more and more noticable.

When I'm playing WoW, the Phenom II plays better with a 4770 than the Q6600 does with a 4870. PhII at 3.6, Q6600 at 3.4 and the difference is unbelievable. The q6600 was great but now it's just old.

Note - I had the same systems for the last year, except I had two 4770's in my phenom2 rig. I sold one of them and i have not seen any difference in performance (in wow). It must be the q6600 just not being good enough and wow is a cpu intensive game much more than gpu.

 

[englandr753]

I have had the Q6600 and the Phenom II 940. I never noticed a huge difference between the two and at the most there would be maybe a 10-15% performance difference at the max. I have the Q9550 which is on par with the 940, the only reason I upgraded the Q6600 to the Q9550 is I sold the Q6600 for almost what I paid for the Q9550. Not a huge difference but there is small difference that later can be of more value to your gaming abilities.

The 940 and a good motherboard will total around 300.00. A good overclockable motherboard to go with your Q6600 (80.00-130.00). The only question is will your recovery cd work with the new motherboard. If not then you are going to have to spend at least another 100.00 to upgrade either way.

Personally I would get a motherboard that supports all of the 775 socket quads and keep the Q6600 and OC the heck out of it unless you have plenty of money to do otherwise.

Then I would suggest you ditch the prebuilt system overall and keep it in tact to use as a backup pc and build from scratch with all new stuff...

 

[chrisjanice]

I have had the Q6600 and the Phenom II 940. I never noticed a huge difference between the two and at the most there would be maybe a 10-15% performance difference at the max. I have the Q9550 which is on par with the 940, the only reason I upgraded the Q6600 to the Q9550 is I sold the Q6600 for almost what I paid for the Q9550. Not a huge difference but there is small difference that later can be of more value to your gaming abilities.

The 940 and a good motherboard will total around 300.00. A good overclockable motherboard to go with your Q6600 (80.00-130.00). The only question is will your recovery cd work with the new motherboard. If not then you are going to have to spend at least another 100.00 to upgrade either way.

Personally I would get a motherboard that supports all of the 775 socket quads and keep the Q6600 and OC the heck out of it unless you have plenty of money to do otherwise.

Then I would suggest you ditch the prebuilt system overall and keep it in tact to use as a backup pc and build from scratch with all new stuff...

Hi,

I just purchased an Intel Q9550 at a low price to upgrade my Dell XPS 420's Q6600 CPU (4gb with Nvidia 8800GT).

I still have the Q9550 in the box because I'm just uncertain that it will work. I'm hoping that your upade from the Q6600 to the Q9550 was accomplished on a Dell XPS 420? If so, this is great news. If that is the case do you know if you can up the memory to 8GB DDR3?

Might you have an other suggestions (pro or con) I can do the system for improvement(s)?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[saaiello]

You can not upgrade to ddr3 memory in a ddr2 system it simply wont fit you should just do a new build if you want performance and flexability you will never get what you want with a dell they are great computers for someone that knows nothing about computers and just needs an internet box that will run a couple games. BUILD YOUR OWN if you want performance.

 

[chrisjanice]

Saaiello,

Thanks for the info on the DDR3.

My next PC will not be a Dell but I would like to stick with what I have for this year.
Do you know if the Q9550 will work in the XPS 420? I'm aware that my present Q6600 is 65nm and the Q9660 is 45nm.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[englandr753]

Its not worth the upgrade even if it will work. Save your money and put that toward a new system later. I know what I'm talking about as I have both cpus...

 

[englandr753]

Hi,

I just purchased an Intel Q9550 at a low price to upgrade my Dell XPS 420's Q6600 CPU (4gb with Nvidia 8800GT).

I still have the Q9550 in the box because I'm just uncertain that it will work. I'm hoping that your upade from the Q6600 to the Q9550 was accomplished on a Dell XPS 420? If so, this is great news. If that is the case do you know if you can up the memory to 8GB DDR3?

Might you have an other suggestions (pro or con) I can do the system for improvement(s)?

Thanks,

Chris

And no, it wasn't ungraded on a Dell. Sorry...