Upgrading Dell XPS 600

[Arjento]

Hi all,

Well I've had my Dell XPS 600 for quite a while now (2006!) and it's been very good to me so far. Only problem I had/have to some extent was the power supply which was replaced.

I'm not going to abandon my baby and shell out £2000 for a new PC. I would like your expert advice in what areas can I upgrade it in.

The only upgrade I have done was to get a NVIDIA GTS 250 card (which increased the pc performance for games incredibly). I did manage to install the card myself and it was a nerve wracking experience (http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107525).

I'm no expert, and I'm thinking maybe max out the memory (RAM) and replacing the actual motherboard/cpu?

I would like to keep Windows XP.

I use my machine mainly for games.

My PC Stats are:

Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.00GHz
XPS 600, PD, 830 (3.00GHZ) 2X1MB, EM64T
MEMORY DUAL CHANNEL 2048MB (4X512) 667MH
250GB SATA (7200RPM) HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTS 250

What would you advise me to get? (Bear in mind I will be fitting it myself).

Thanks.

 

[whitrzac]

Hi all,

Well I've had my Dell XPS 600 for quite a while now (2006!) and it's been very good to me so far. Only problem I had/have to some extent was the power supply which was replaced.

I'm not going to abandon my baby and shell out £2000 for a new PC. I would like your expert advice in what areas can I upgrade it in.

The only upgrade I have done was to get a NVIDIA GTS 250 card (which increased the pc performance for games incredibly). I did manage to install the card myself and it was a nerve wracking experience (http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107525).

I'm no expert, and I'm thinking maybe max out the memory (RAM) and replacing the actual motherboard/cpu?

I would like to keep Windows XP.

I use my machine mainly for games.

My PC Stats are:

Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.00GHz
XPS 600, PD, 830 (3.00GHZ) 2X1MB, EM64T
MEMORY DUAL CHANNEL 2048MB (4X512) 667MH
250GB SATA (7200RPM) HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTS 250

What would you advise me to get? (Bear in mind I will be fitting it myself).

Thanks.

more memory, better CPU...

 

[Crap Daddy]

Well you don't have to shell 2000 for a new system. For 5-600 you'd get a more than decent machine which would be far better than what you have. Basically I can't think of a worthy upgrade on your current setup. And Windows XP? It's time to move on.

 

[Dent1]

Hi all,

Well I've had my Dell XPS 600 for quite a while now (2006!) and it's been very good to me so far. Only problem I had/have to some extent was the power supply which was replaced.

I'm not going to abandon my baby and shell out £2000 for a new PC. I would like your expert advice in what areas can I upgrade it in.

The only upgrade I have done was to get a NVIDIA GTS 250 card (which increased the pc performance for games incredibly). I did manage to install the card myself and it was a nerve wracking experience (http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107525).

I'm no expert, and I'm thinking maybe max out the memory (RAM) and replacing the actual motherboard/cpu?

I would like to keep Windows XP.

I use my machine mainly for games.

My PC Stats are:

Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.00GHz
XPS 600, PD, 830 (3.00GHZ) 2X1MB, EM64T
MEMORY DUAL CHANNEL 2048MB (4X512) 667MH
250GB SATA (7200RPM) HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTS 250

What would you advise me to get? (Bear in mind I will be fitting it myself).

Thanks.

Put the computer to sleep, aside from the GTS 250 which is OK-ish the PC is knacked.

Put it on Ebay for a quick sale for £80. Spend £500 and build yourself a 6-core AMD system.

 

[Fourstaff]

Well, there is not much you can upgrade from this platform anymore which is worth your money. Possibly a better harddisk and/or a SSD? And maybe pick up some cheap 2x1gb ddr2. You can realistically shell out about £500 for a nice i3 rig though, and that would be the route I will take, if I have the funds.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

theres no point upgrading this rig

socket 775 is dead

extra ram would help but a pentium D performs like a single core pentium 4 90% of the time,

your rig is effectionately known as a legacy rig it has XP can play old games but isnt worth the dirt that forms an ant hill and even less worthy of upgrades.

$550-650 can build you a good gaming PC,

did a build just the other day

Athlon II x2 250
biostar 880g motherboard
4gigs DDR3 1600mhz
450w 80+ bronze psu
320gb Samsung F4 7200rpm hdd
Xigmatek Asgard II case
windows 7 64bit oem
samsung dual layer sata dvd burner

Total cost shipped came to $380 used an old 8600GTS i had laying around and sold it to the customer for $20 total cost $400 for a dual core gaming rig,

toss a quad on the build above upgrade the gpu and presto quadcore gaming box

quadcore would up the above price $60 and a gpu of worth would be $140 total cost $200 to the above = $580 for a quadcore gaming rig.

 

[Arjento]

Ok, it may be time to move on.

Any recommended sites (UK) that would build a gaming rig for a reasonable price?

 

[Dent1]

Ok, it may be time to move on.

Any recommended sites (UK) that would build a gaming rig for a reasonable price?

http://www.Ebuyer.co.uk - Recommended.

http://www.Overclockers.co.uk

http://www.Scan.co.uk

 

[Fourstaff]

There is a whole list of them, but the usual candidates are listed, along with Aria. Will dig up the list when I have time. Amazon is also not bad for peripherals but not components.

 

[Arjento]

http://www.Ebuyer.co.uk - Recommended.

http://www.Overclockers.co.uk

http://www.Scan.co.uk

There is a whole list of them, but the usual candidates are listed, along with Aria. Will dig up the list when I have time. Amazon is also not bad for peripherals but not components.

Ok thanks guys.

Well, there is not much you can upgrade from this platform anymore which is worth your money. Possibly a better harddisk and/or a SSD? And maybe pick up some cheap 2x1gb ddr2. You can realistically shell out about £500 for a nice i3 rig though, and that would be the route I will take, if I have the funds.

I think whilst I will look around for a reasonable gaming rig I might go for the quick fix and bump up my RAM.

I'm not sure how many slots for the RAM my XPS 600 can hold.

Doing a quick amazon search I came up with this one (http://www.amazon.co_uk/dp/B000JREMTO/?tag=tec053-21).

Anyone know the limit my system will be able to hold?

At the moment I believe it's currently holding:

MEMORY DUAL CHANNEL 2048MB (4X512) 667MH

Maybe remove my old ram then buy 2 sets or 4 sets (overkill)? of the Kingston DDR2's then plug 'em in?

Would it be as simple as this?

 

[Dent1]

Doing a quick amazon search I came up with this one (http://www.amazon.co_uk/dp/B000JREMTO/?tag=tec053-21).

Looks like an OK deal.

Anyone know the limit my system will be able to hold?

According to this website the DellXPS600s limit is 8GBs, 2GB per slot.

http://www.buycomputermemory.com/memory/DellXPS600MemoryRAM.html

Also remember that Windows XP 32-bit will only recognise around 3GBs.

Maybe remove my old ram then buy 2 sets or 4 sets (overkill)? of the Kingston DDR2's then plug 'em in?

Would it be as simple as this?

4 sets? 8 GBs of ram, you'd need a 64-bit operating system. On XP it's wasted anyways you should really be migrating to Vista x64 or Windows 7 x64.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

the extra ram will help but your cpu is really so old that a smart phone is probably faster by todays standards and im not even joking

an AMD E350 apu thats a 1.6ghz dualcore + ati 6310 integrated gpu would be faster then that Pentium D in most situations, and the above is a CPU IGP + Mobo combo thats $100 your really just better off saving your money completely for a new build and just leave the Dell as it is.

2gb of ram on XP 32 bit is all you really need, to be blunt an extra 2gb would help but not enough to really be worth the expense, and the money spent on the DDR2 would probably get you 2x2gb of DDR3 for a later build.

 

[whitrzac]

the memory you linked was for laptops...

A $30 intell E6300 + 2gb memory($25) would bring alot of life back into your system...


yes its old, but unless you want to play the latest games at max, anything more is not needed...

 

[Arjento]

the memory you linked was for laptops...

A $30 intell E6300 + 2gb memory($25) would bring alot of life back into your system...


yes its old, but unless you want to play the latest games at max, anything more is not needed...

The Intell E6300, I asume that's the processor. Easy to install?

 

[BarbaricSoul]

The Intell E6300, I asume that's the processor. Easy to install?

yes, search you tube for videos of processors being changed.

 

[Widjaja]

I vote processor.
Upgrade to a core2duo
I am uncertain if your motherboard would support core2quad.
If you are going to run XP 32bit it's pretty pointless to add more RAM.

Since you are planning on installing new a CPU on a 775skt motherboard, I recommend you be careful with the fail push pin design if your CPU has stock intel cooling.

 

[Dent1]

According a thread on Dell's website, the Dell XPS600 does not support the Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad. If this is true the E6300 is not a path for you. I think it's time to explore buying or better yet building a new rig.

http://en.community.dell.com/what-do-i-buy/f/3510/t/18220539.aspx

 

[WiseGuy1967]

Put the computer to sleep, aside from the GTS 250 which is OK-ish the PC is knacked.

Put it on Ebay for a quick sale for £80. Spend £500 and build yourself a 6-core AMD system.

I'll buy the motherboard from you for £80, on e-bay

 

[WiseGuy1967]

That's exlcuding any shipping costs you make. I'll pay that to