I need some intel.

[Smithers 1st MRB]

Im looking into a new processor. I need a decently priced, preferably cheaper, but not sacrificing cost for quality processor. Some info on how to install as im computer tech illiterate.

I have a dell xps 410. my processor is a single core 1.8 something, I have an nvidea 9500gtx 1gb video card and im looking for a bit more in the processor department. any single tips can help me out thanks. Pm me or let me know here.Thank you gentlemen.

Smithers.

[Janke 1st MRB]

If you've got a single-core right now, then there's no point in just upgrading the processor, with a single core 1.8Ghz, the highest potential you have is a 2Ghz dual-core, and that's a generous estimation. With that set up, it's best to just buy a new computer, upgrading the processor won't do anywhere near as much for performance as getting a new rig.

[Dillon 1st MRB]

Janke's got a point here. I'd look at getting a case and power supply... you can find a decent un-pretty Antec one for ~$75. Then look at a motherboard, cpu, and RAM (you'll want DDR3). Start building a system that you can keep building on.

[Janke 1st MRB]

Ya, you'll want to get the universal parts first if you're building a computer in "instalments." It's best to start with the case, the DVD drive, and the Hard Drive, as those tend to maintain a generally steady price and compatibility. Then you'll want to get the power supply, but know what you want out of the rest of your computer. If you get a shitty power supply, then all of a sudden come into some money and want a dual-SLI setup, you're fucked. It's best to buy with a lot of room to spare when it comes to PSUs. The last things you want to buy are the Motherboard, CPU, RAM, and Video Card. It's best to buy these all at once, but if the MoBo comes with an integrated (but always shitty) graphics card, the extra graphics card can wait for a bit. Still, the MoBo, CPU, and RAM should all be bought at once, and it's best to do the video card too, as integrated ones are shit, and some MoBos don't come with integrated.

[Jasko]

Getting a new case won't get you any better performance. Smithers, you should buy a new cpu with the same socket type but dual core or better. It will do you some good. Then possibly get a video upgrade within your power supply range.

Multicore rendering, boom!

Edited November 29, 2010 by Jasko 1st MRB

[Janke 1st MRB]

Looking up the XPS410 I find that it was an early LGA775 socket that supported early Core2Duo models, the early Pentium D, and late Pentium 4, meaning processors dated by ~4 years. At this point, it's nearing the end of the useful life of the computer (~5-6 years), and is overdue of the useful gaming life of a midrange computer (~2 years). Upgrading may allow it another year, or if you're lucky 2, but by this point it's time to upgrade.

[Jasko]

You know is it a 775 he can get a quad core for his motherboard. These 22 processors fit that socket type. He doesnt necessarily need an entire new rig just new compatible parts. Every time some one has a problem I swear to god i see "buy a new rig" as the advice. Calm down and look at others options.

Edited November 30, 2010 by Jasko 1st MRB

[Janke 1st MRB]

You know is it a 775 he can get a quad core for his motherboard. These 22 processors fit that socket type. He doesnt necessarily need an entire new rig just new compatible parts. Every time some one has a problem I swear to god i see "buy a new rig" as the advice. Calm down and look at others options.

With the age of the motherboard, the Front Side Bus from the board can't support those processors, it's too old and slow. Just because it's the same socket, doesn't mean it supports all of the processors, as time goes by technology evolves, and sometimes they keep a same design, but improve the speeds for it. I'm fair certain his motherboard has, at most, and 800Mhz front side bus, and I'm also fairly certain that all quad-cores require a 1333Mhz front side bus. This is why I say buy a new rig, with the age there, he may be able to get up to an old Core2Duo at 2.8Ghz, or an old Pentium D at 3.6, but that was when dual-core architecture was in its infancy and not nearly as efficient, that, and those old processors aren't usually available in retail anymore. There's a lot more involved in the CPU and motherboard interaction than just the socket, and if you take a look at some motherboards for the LGA775, they even say it doesn't support old Core2Duos, or the Core2Quad/Core2Extreme series. Fore example, this motherboard lists the Core2Quad, Core2Duo, and Core2Extreme as it's only compatible processors, due to its 1066/1333Mhz front side bus, which doesn't support older Pentium D or Pentium 4 models, running an 800Mhz or 667Mhz Front Side Bus.

Checking this XPS410 documentation it says it has an 800/1066Mhz FSB, which I cannot find a Core2Quad processor for on Newegg.ca. The fastest clock I can find is an old Pentium D clocked at 3.2Ghz, but only having 3MB of cache, in comparison to the Core2Quad Q6600 I have with 8MB cache, but only a 2.4Ghz clock. Cache is a fast type of RAM kept on the processor, used to hold data on the CPU before it is processed, or to hold frequently processed data to shorten communication times between the CPU and RAM. Having more cache is quite beneficial, and while my CPU may have a slower clock, it has more cores on which to process.

I suggest a new rig because I've considered the other options, and they don't seem as beneficial.

Edited November 30, 2010 by Janke 1st MRB

[Goodwin 1st MRB]

I've got an XPS 410 with the same setup.

It's a dual core 1.895 or something-er-other, and actually performs quite well IMO. I also have a 1GB video card and feel as if my CPU is my bottleneck in my machine.

Personally, I can't justify spending the coin on a new processor (say, upgrading to 2.4, or a 3.0+ dual-core) when if you tried really hard, you could build a new PC (or hell, even buy a budget PC) capable of so much more for just a little more $$.

But I'll probably be playing this thing another 2 years before I upgrade.

Back on topic of the OP - As others have said, there are definitely processors that would fit your machine, and your budget. You (like me) are probably bottlenecked at the processor, and you'll notice pretty substantial gains from just a new processor alone. A nice video card won't be working anywhere near it's potential if you've got a processor that can't get things in and out fast enough to keep up.

Edited November 30, 2010 by Goodwin 1st MRB

[Jasko]

So he can buy a new motherboard and processor combo from newegg. he still doesn't need a new rig.

[Janke 1st MRB]

Not necessarily, but since he'd probably have to replace the RAM as well, replacing the core components of a rig is pretty much buying a new rig. That, and Dell has been known to have stupid custom motherboard form factors, and a new motherboard may not fit in the XPS case, meaning the purchase of a new case as well. With how much needs to be replaced, the only few things that can realistically be transfered from that old thing and be useful on the new one are the hard drive, GPU, optical drive, and maybe the power supply, and that depends on if the hard drive is IDE or SATA, if the ODD is IDE or SATA, and if both are how many IDE ports are on the new motherboard. I know I actually have none on my current computer, meaning I have virtually no legacy support for older hardware.

[Jasko]

Fuck it, just get a new rig. It's obviously the superior advice here. the only real reason for a new rig is the fact that it's a Dell.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Jasko 1st MRB

[Goodwin 1st MRB]

Not necessarily, but since he'd probably have to replace the RAM as well, replacing the core components of a rig is pretty much buying a new rig. That, and Dell has been known to have stupid custom motherboard form factors, and a new motherboard may not fit in the XPS case, meaning the purchase of a new case as well. With how much needs to be replaced, the only few things that can realistically be transfered from that old thing and be useful on the new one are the hard drive, GPU, optical drive, and maybe the power supply, and that depends on if the hard drive is IDE or SATA, if the ODD is IDE or SATA, and if both are how many IDE ports are on the new motherboard. I know I actually have none on my current computer, meaning I have virtually no legacy support for older hardware.

They're SATA drives, so it will play well with any newer mobo. Also the mobo not fitting is only limited by ones creativity or ingenuity. I mean hell, you can build a computer inside anything whether or not it has the proper 'mounting'.

I think buying a new rig is highly overrated IMO, and is clearly off topic from the OP. The OP was he wanted a new processor. It's very easy just to say "well, your shit is outdated, get a new rig", but if he wanted that option he would've asked for it.

He asked for some processors that would work for him, and for his rig, I can say with some assurance it will be an upgrade and he'll notice performance increases (assuming he also has a decent amount of RAM going on). Right now that is his bottleneck for his current system.

Even an 'outdated' system, can be made to run really damned well (if not as well as most 'recent' machines) if the user has tweaked it and gotten rid of said bottlenecks in the system allowing the unhindered flow of data from one place to another. That is typically the biggest reason people think their machines are 'outdated' before that's actually the case, they just lack the knowledge as to how to fix it, so they go buy a new rig and run into the same problem 2 years later.

The reason for a newer mobo? A 'newer' quad core processor? Realistically, there aren't that many taxing games that truly utilize all those cores anyhow. So there's money wasted on both the mobo & the processor just so he can say he has it, not that it will ever really be put through the paces, or really justified. RAM? Well, IMO, that ranks right up there with 'just to say he has it'. His current system can handle decent RAM that will play most games very satisfactorily. His HDD is Sata so no need for upgrade there, optical drives? Doesn't really matter. Power supply is probably fine.

So other than e-peen, what's the real reason for a new rig? Doesn't seem to be any real sound advice for it, especially given the OBVIOUS bottleneck in his current PC.

Yes, its always awesome to have the latest and greatest, but his is plenty capable of doing the job, and getting rid of the current bottleneck of his CPU, will probably give him considerable increases.

I like Intel based processors - that's just my opinion.

Lets try and be realistic - if he says he wants a new processor, then give some advice in that respects - anyone can just say "get a new pc with all the great e-peen specs"

[Janke 1st MRB]

Most new games nowadays are quite taxing on all of graphics, processor, and RAM. Minimum requirements for a game to run mean "you can run this at maybe 30FPS on all low," and while some people say that graphics doesn't matter, it can make a huge difference in the overall experience. Many new games tax even my Quad-Core for graphics, though it's mainly the outdated graphics card. Having used a computer to game for 6 years, and being unable to run the EP2 engine above 7FPS on it, I can say that minimum requirements are often bullshit, and usually you need at least the recommended to get anywhere near decent framerates on low-medium, and also that I personally never want to go back to gaming at 7FPS on all low, it's a terrible experience and truly ruins most games.

Quad-core nowadays, hell even 2 years ago when I got mine, is getting rather inexpensive and more and more necessary for gaming, and mandatory for physics and video rendering, which are both very processor-intensive. My entire quad-core computer was only $800, including video card, and to date you can get a better quad-core rig custom built for the same or a lower price. Quad is not just a thing to boost e-peen, it's vital for high-res gaming and leaving a lot of shit running in the background while gaming, which I tend to do for a number of reasons, one being laziness and another being convenience for when I alt-tab, which is another thing that tends to like to screw up of slower computers, alt-tabbing. On my old computer, I remember it taking up to 30 minutes to maximize a game after minimizing, and 10 to actually minimize.

The problem here is he had a mid-range computer when it was new, even with upgrades he won't be able to run anything from after 2008 on higher than medium at 30FPS, if he's lucky. An upgrade will help for a year or two for general use, but it'll conk out of reliable gaming in around another 2 quarters.

RAM, to an extent, is not just for e-peen. 4-6GB is justifiable, depending on if your computer supports dual or triple channel RAM, as games tend to use around 70% of my 4GB on average. Realistically, no computer should have less than 2GB if it's running Vista, the OS requires (realistically, and from mine and my friends' experience) 1GB to function properly, leaving gaming on 1GB out of the question. Hell, games even tell you to have at least 1.5GB on Vista, sometimes 2GB.I would recommend for gaming at least 3GB of RAM, though for optimization if you have a dual-channel supporting motherboard it would be better to go with 4GB.

Though you are right, he did ask for a new processor to aid him, and I should have, while stating my opinion about the situation, also gone and accommodated his request.

Checking Newegg.com, and referencing the FSB limitations of your motherboard, there are a number of processors available for you. I'd personally recommend this Pentium Dual-Core:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819116371

It's fairly quick, only $100, should be compliant with your motherboard, and should also come with a heatsink.

There are a list of other processors using a 1066Mhz front side bus here and a number on the 800Mhz front side bus here, all of which are cheaper, but feature slower clock speeds and generally less cache.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Janke 1st MRB