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What should I upgrade to make my computer quicker?


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#1
heat123

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I have Windows XP Home Edition. I have maxed out ram with one gb at ddr of 400. I have a 320 gb. hard drive. I do defragment and disk cleanup etc. I was just curious if you would recommend a new motherboard or what. I want the internet quick, lot of programs open at the same time, and for everything to be quick. I don't watch movies or videos so I don't want a top notch video card or anything like that. It is a Dell Dimension 2400. I want to know what I should buy or do to make my computer quicker. I do have money so can upgrade a lot of parts.

Edited by heat123, 02 November 2008 - 03:35 PM.

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#2
Samm

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Hi there

To be honest, it doesn't look like you can upgrade it much further than you already have. The cheapest & most effective upgrade is usually ram but you've already maxed that out. I doubt the processor will be upgradeable by much & probably not worth the trouble anyway. The only thing I can suggest is to backup anything you want to keep, wipe the drive and do a fresh installation of Windows - this always speeds things up at least for a while!

Apart from that, you're looking at a new computer. Dells tend to be fairly proprietry so won't be easy to replace the motherboard & keep the case for example. Also, once you upgrade the mobo, you're looking at new memory, new processor & probably new video card/PSU & possibly even hard drive. So basically, a new computer...
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#3
heat123

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Hi Samm,

I just had a quick question. I was curious if I could upgrade my processor and how I would find out how to do that? How much money are you looking on spending. Also how would I figure out the best and fastest processor I could get?

Thanks,
heat123
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#4
Samm

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According to Dell, the fastest processor that was supplied with the Dimension 2400, was the P4 3GHz running at 533MHz base frequency. So in theory at leastm this processor should be supported by your system (assuming that Dell only made the Dimension 2400's with one specific motherboard).

Although Dell don't mention this, I'm assuming that this means your processor is a socket 478 (due to the fact that the motherboard has an Intel 845GV chipset). This means your best bet of getting a cpu is probably second hard from Ebay or somewhere similar. Unfortunately, Dell don't specify which cores are supported at this speed but it's probably the Prescott.

If you want to upgrade the processor to anything faster than this, then you're looking at a new motherboard etc etc
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#5
heat123

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Oh ok thanks for the information. I've have decided that I don't need a processor based on what you said. Thanks for helping me.

Thanks again,
heat123
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#6
Samm

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You're very welcome
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