Dell Dimension 9100 processor Upgrade?

[matt526]

I have a Dell X8582 Motherboard in my Dell Dimension 9100
with a 3.00 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4 HT
Bus Speed : 800 MHz
Socket 775 LGA

Is there any way to upgrade using this Motherboard and does anyone have any suggestions?
-Thanks

[clocker]

Your motherboard's chipset (Intel 945) supports CPUs in this range:

LGA775-based Pentium 4, Pentium 4 EE, Celeron D, and Pentium D processors

Looking through the Dell user's forum, lots of folks asked/talked about upgrading to a Core2Duo but no one provided proof that they had successfully done it.

The folk(s) who said they did it claimed that upon boot they got an "incompatible CPU" warning but hitting F1 bypassed it and POST completed.

Personally, I don't know.

If you wanted to try, I'd think that you'd have to be prepared to also purchase another motherboard with a compatible chipset.

So I guess it depends on how invested you are in the PC whether the attempt is worth it.
Since you already have a 3GHz CPU there isn't much higher you can go in the Pentium range and I doubt you'd see much real world improvement if you did.

[matt526]

Thanks clocker.

would a CORE 2 DUO 2.0GHZ E4400 W/2MB CACHE 800MHZ LGA775
be better then the 3.0GHz HT that I have now
assuming that it was compatible.

[clocker]

Oh, no doubt.
BUT...keep in mind that the CPU needs to be supported by the chipset and your current chipset is rather limited.
Furthermore, you will never get any BIOS support from Dell.

Personally, were it me I'd just go for a new CPU and motherboard (not a Dell mobo) and use what I could from the existing PC.

[matt526]

one more thing
I have read through some of the dell forums and found that my best bet for an upgrade would be:
INTEL PENTIUM D DUAL CORE 3.4GHZ 4MB 800MHZ FSB 945
I could probably get this for under $100
does this seem worth the money

Thanks

[clocker]

Assuming it drops right in and works, yes.

[matt526]

how much better is the:
Intel Processor 930 Pentium D Duel Core
3.00GHZ/4M/800 SL8WR (LGA 775)

Then the:
with a 3.00 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4 HT
Bus Speed : 800 MHz
Socket 775 LGA