Hey guys,

I'm upgrading my mom's computer, just because I can do so for really cheap. She currently has a 2.8ghz Pentium 4-HT with the floating pins (775 LGA socket). I figured I would try to find a cheap 3.0 or 3.2 ghz processor. I found a Pentium D processor (the first Dual Core processor), and it's dirt cheap, like $20 bucks... so I was wondering if I could put that in there. If the BIOS does not support Dual Core, will it make any difference at all, or will it simply just not use the additional core? It's a 3.0-ghz Pentium-D, otherwise I see a bunch of 3.2-ghz Pentium 4-HTs. They are all 800-fsb.

Thanks... it's going in a Dell Precision 370 Workstation which I gave my mom a while back.


EDIT: Here's the PDF of my mom's machine: http://www.dell.com/downloa...pec_precn_370_en.pdf


Thanks guys,

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Todd,
2008 Jeep Patriot Limited 4x2
2002 Ford Explorer Sport 2dr 4x2
2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX
1987 Pontiac Fiero SE / V6
1973 Volkswagen Type-2 Transporter

[This message has been edited by 82-T/A [At Work] (edited 04-05-2011).]

Thanks guys, never mind, did a bit more reading, and it looks like I can go up to a 3.6ghz Pentium D.

I snagged a 3.4-ghz Pentium D, 800-fsb, 775 LGA for $48 bucks, with thermal paste, and a sticker! hah...

should make a huge difference on my mom's machine.

How much RAM? Faster CPU but system is RAM starved = waste of money.

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave (It's also at the top and bottom of every forum page...)

quote Originally posted by theogre: How much RAM? Faster CPU but system is RAM starved = waste of money.

Yeah, she has 3 gigs of ram. I recently bought her two 1gig chips with a slightly faster speed (don't remember, maybe 5300?) She already had in there two 512k chips with a 3200 speed. So, I realize that the ram is probably ALL going at 3200, but figured it was still to her benefit to keep the extra 1-gig in there, for a total of 1 gig. When I come across another set of 1-gig chips at 5300, I'll swap out the 512ks. But honestly, all she does is surf the internet and use e-mail. It has Windows XP on it, and I just realized last time I was over there, that Hyper-Threading was disabled in the BIOS too. I don't understand why DELL automatically disables hyper-threading on all their machines they sell. My father in law owns a small business, and I was helping him out, and ALL 6 of his DELL Workstations had hyperthreading disabled! They all went noticeablly faster after I enabled it in the BIOS (and then confirmed the two open threads under processes).

I think with 3 gigs right now, she's probably doing ok in terms of ram. Ultimately, I'd like to have a full 4 on there. But now that she'll have a dual-core 3.4 ghz processor in the macine, I'll probably buy a copy of Windows 7 64-Bit and put it in there.

My wife's machine is a Dell 380 Workstation, which has a 3.2ghz Pentium D. When I upgraded from Windows XP to Windows 7 64-bit with everything else being the same, the performance difference was NIGHT AND DAY...

Get out slower RAM. That will hurt CPU performance. CPU and everything slow down to wait for slow RAM.
Using WinXP? 2gb RAM is good enough for most user. Even shut off swap file...
Using WinV or Win7, get 2 more 1g sticks.

It can't run 2 channel RAM mode... Need 4 match stick to run. (Match performance and size.)


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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave (It's also at the top and bottom of every forum page...)

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 04-05-2011).]

quote Originally posted by theogre: Get out slower RAM. That will hurt CPU performance. CPU and everything slow down to wait for slow RAM. Using WinXP? 2gb RAM is good enough for most user. Even shut off swap file... Using WinV or Win7, get 2 more 1g sticks. It can't run 2 channel RAM mode... Need 4 match stick to run. (Match performance and size.)

Well, interestingly enough... I kind of wish I hadn't spent any money...

Ogre, do you ever find that there's a massive drought, but then THE DAY you get your sprinkler system working (after replacing the pump, the timing box, or whatever), there is suddenly a torrential thunderstorm later that day?

Same thing here... after posting that message, I ask my co-worker if he has a spare SATA cable, and he takes me over to the "recycling" room where they dump machines that are broken to be picked up by this big white van which sends it all off to China. 9 times out of 10, the machines are easy to fix, but the policy kind of is, if it takes too much time to fix, it's not worth keeping, especially if it's a couple years old. I took home 4 thin clients from HP that all have Windows XPe on them, two Dell Optiplex GX620s (those ultra slim form-factor ones), one which was a 3.4 Ghz Pentium D, another which was a 3.0 ghz Pentium 4-HT, three of the larger Dell Optiplexes 755, a 745, and a 730. The 730 was a 2.8ghz Pentium 4HT which I junked because I used parts from it to get the other two working. The 745 was a 3ghz Pentium D, and the 755 was a 3 ghz Pentium Core 2 Duo w/ vPro. I don't have the power supplies for the thin clients, but I was able to get all the machines working. They kept all the ram sticks, and all the hard drives. I don't keep any crap around the house like spare ram or anything, so I figure $100 bucks on NewEgg and I can get all the ram and HDs that I need.

The company does this a lot, and I end up taking most of the good stuff, fixing it, and donating it. I've donated a bunch of machines in the past through my sister-in-law's girlfriend. She does charity work and encounters inner-city kids who don't have a computer, but are trying to make it in college, etc... so this is perfect. I can upgrade both my parents computers, even my wife's and then still have 3-4 decent machines to donate.

I also got an Asus mini which had an Athalon 64 X2 in it, but the computer was so nasty that I just stripped everything from it and junked it.