wish to upgrade?

[chrisf-1]

Hi everyone I am a new member and have recently bought a new to me computer and wish to upgrade my old one for my wife to use. the computer is a Dell dimension 8300 with 200gb hard drive I intend to start by upgrading the processor to a dual core or better (suggestions please) I have been looking at one on eBay but it seems I must first identify my motherboard (HOW?) or might it be better to get a motherboard and processor complete if so are the fittings universal or is there something I need to know about that thanks everyone Chris

[Trippy]

Hi Chris

I just upgraded an old (2003) Dell Precision workstation with an original P4 processor to good effect. Now running Vista home premium but with a much improved (3gb) RAM capacity. If your system has a 200gb drive I would guess that your system is far more recent than mine and that the processor is not going to be the main issue.

 

If you post a full spec of your system here you will get some great advice from the Tech Members as I did :) but they will need the information on your system to be able to help you properly.

 

Trippy

[Match]

Hi I'm no expert in hardware, but I've had a quick look round and if im right your machine specs are :-

 

Dell Dimension 8300 Review Specs in Desktops Reviews at ZDNet.co.uk

 

which would mean with a socket 478 your available choice of cpu's is going to be limited, and yet for the price of the cheapest 478 CPU that I can find you can replace the Motherboard and CPU, but that would also mean throwing the old SDRAM and would mean buying new DDRII which just happens to be quite cheap at the moment

 

But first off we need to confirm your machine if you can find the service tag number the techs here will be able to advise you better

 

or if you go here you should be able to find the info and post it for us

 

Dell System Information / Dell Warranty Extensions & Upgrades / Dell Warranty Status

[chrisf-1]

Thanks Trippy and Match for the replies I will power it up tomorrow and get the full spec

[chrisf-1]

Hi again every I Tried to power up the computer and it decided not to boot but i got the spec from set up page, here goes

Dell dimension 8300

Intel pentium 4 2.66 GHz

level cache 512 integrated

bios A01

service tag H95QQ0J

system 512k ddr sdram

memory speed 333 MHz

system memory channel mode dual

agp aperture 128mb

CPU speed normal

bus speed 533mhl

processor id f27

clock speed 266GHz

cache size512k

Well I hope that gives enough as it would not boot up saying hard drive disconnected I looked inside and could not see anything obvious but I am beginning to think it might be better to get another system complete please let me know your opinions or if there is anything worth salvaging from it thanks Chris

[kevh]

Hi

 

Looking quickly at your post , i personnally would just add some extra ram to 1gb or more within reason.

 

Crucial supposedly supply dell so try there scanner : SDRAM, DDR2 and DDR RAM memory upgrades from Crucial.com

 

 

Then some housekeeping with unused files/programs etc. (maybe even reinstall windows) and youll be surprised in the differance :D

 

Else get a new low end pc with win 7 :D

 

Cheers Kev:cool:

Edited November 26, 2009 by kevh

[Tootech]

Full spec here

 

Dell System Information / Dell Warranty Extensions & Upgrades / Dell Warranty Status

 

It all depends on how much you want to spend, dropping another 512MB of DDR memory in there, and tidying up as kevh described would make a difference.

 

Using a good defrag tool such as Diskeeper or O & O Defrag will round things up nicely and give you a bit of a performance boost. It won't however bring it up to modern standards.

 

Maybe changing your security package would help - something like Eset Smart Security has a small footprint and works well on older machines.

 

Don't bother looking for a CPU, the offerings that will fit your board are a waste of money.

 

Its also important to note that changing your motherboard etc could work ok, but you won't be able to use the Dell Restore CD's, or Recovery Partition if you have one. I wouldn't bother due to the hassle factor on that age system.

[chrisf-1]

Thanks for the replies everyone and after viewing them I think that I wiil scrap it and use the drives etc Chris