Can I change my CPU without buying a new motherboard?

farrentodd

Posts: 9   +0
i have a dee optiplex gx 280 and i have 8 gb ram and a navida quatro 1 gb video card and seagate 500 gb harddrive i put in liquid cooling and a bigfoot 1gb enternet card got 2 sony dvd rewriters and the stock power supply just need to know if i can upgrade the cpu i like the pc it is working fine just would like to make it all it can be im running windows 7 ultimate and got good scores on proformance test
processor: 4.2
memory (ram): 5,2
Graphics: 5.9
Gaming graphics:4.7
primary hard drive:5.9
what would help othere then buying a new pc please help
 
What's your motherboard model and what CPU do you have at the moment?

Also what do you use the PC for?
 
You would not be able to do any substantial CPU upgrade on that system with the existing motherboard. It has a Intel 915 chipset which only supports Pentium 4 (prescott) and Celeron D processors. If you have a Celeron you could upgrade to a Pentium 4 (prescott) if you already have a P4 upgrading to one with a slightly higher clock speed won't do much for performance but will make the system hotter and draw more power.
 
Not worth it.

I don't mean to crap on your parade. But why would you liquid cool what you have in there now? Liquid cooling is really for an enthusiast market rather than for a Dell business machine (aren't the optiplex's marketed as business boxes?).

Your processor is your weak link in the WEI score, but your gaming graphics and RAM aren't real high. In fact a 4.4 is achievable with 1st gen DDR RAM.

I would just be happy with what you are using now, and just save more until you can build a new system. If you've already done upgrades to your current system, building a new one from scratch isn't much more difficult.
 
They will fit, but I wouldn't recommended it. The case is pretty old, and lacks a lot of the cooling options that come with newer cases. You might have been able to use it for a more modern machine if it were an Optiplex 780 or the like, but as it stands, not worth it.

A new case shouldn't cost you too much either; the Cooler Master Elite is a great one, that will cost you between $25-50, at most.
 
It is possible but then it will slow down your computer. The better way to upgrade would be to replace the PROCESSOR, not the motherboard. Get a processor with a higher clock frequency and more on-die cache. It will vastly improve performance versus replacing the motherboard only.
 
It is possible but then it will slow down your computer. The better way to upgrade would be to replace the PROCESSOR, not the motherboard. Get a processor with a higher clock frequency and more on-die cache. It will vastly improve performance versus replacing the motherboard only.

The motherboard he has won't support a newer processor. Intel 915 chipset supports Pentium 4 (Prescott) and Celeron D (not a dual core as the D would suggest). He already has 3.0ghz P4. While there are P4s with a higher clock speed (I think Prescott's were available in 3.6 or 3.8 GHz) but the Prescott is very inefficient and a poor performer so there would not be a major performance benefit but heat and power would be a concern. For a more modern CPU the motherboard would need to be replaced and given the age of the system a complete rebuild / new system would likely be the best option.
 
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