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Dell Dimension 3000 upgrade?

Discussion in 'Other Hardware' started by duet_mimas, Mar 28, 2008.

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  1. duet_mimas Newcomer, in training

    Alright, I was thinking about getting a new computer but I'm on a budget. Right now I have a demension 3000 which is getting kinda old and out of date. It's slowing down on me on the simple processes. And frankly I'm wondering if it's going to crash on me soon. But I knew that i could probably salvage it a little bit. If the hard drive is wiped. But, I would also like to do a parts upgrade. I know I would like a bigger hard drive (80 gb at the moment) and more ram (512 mb currently) and I was wondering if that would be enough. I would really like to get into some video editing and this computer handles it ok... just well with it's celeron processor that's that only thing that it will be doing. I was wondering if i could upgrade the 2.40 Ghz celeron processor to something that's still intel...

    Or should i just say forget it and get a new computer all together?
    duet_mimas, Mar 28, 2008
    #1

  2. Matthew TechSpot Editor, Community Manager

    Exactly how tight is your budget?

    Your current motherboard supports up to a Pentium 4 3.2GHz with HT and 2GB DDR 400MHz RAM (only has two DIMM slots though).

    You could upgrade the CPU to a Pentium 4 3.0 GHz with HT (this doesn't come with a heatsink) and buy a 2 x 1GB DDR 400MHz kit. That would give you a nice performance leap and it probably wouldn't crack $160-170 after shipping and an after-market heatsink.
    Matthew, Mar 28, 2008
    #2

  3. BishopLord Newcomer, in training

    If you're serious about upgrading the CPU, make sure you visit Dell's support site for the Dimension 3000 and download the BIOS update (A01 to A03). This update enables the PC to accept the larger CPU's. Visit either Ebay or Ewiz.com for the best CPU prices. If you're on a budget and don't want to spend a lot on the CPU, then don't bother with the Hyper-Threading CPU or the newer Norwood chips. Research on Prescott vs Norwood (HT and non-HT) shows that there isn't a significant increase in CPU speed, probably so small you wouldn't notice Click here for article

    Also, considering that you're wanting to do video editing, upgrade your video card (PCI, not PCI-E) to a card with at least 256mb. A 128mb card will work, but for a few dollars more, take the leap, it'll be worth it to you. Plan on spending upwards of $50 for a "good" PCI card. Click here for a GeForce 6200 at Newegg.com - it's only $45.99.

    As suggested by Zenosincks, upgrade the memory to 2GB. I'm not sure if you have a Fry's Electronics near by, but they always have weekly specials for 2GB. Right now they're something like $79 for two sticks and comes with a $50 rebate - so it's only about $29 total. Or you can buy from Ebay, as they're always is good prices there, but you have to be careful and read the auctions as I seen some auction for DDR 3200 memory that wouldn't work in the Dimension. I was wondering why the price was so low and nobody was buying them. You have to watch out.

    If you reformat your HDD, add 1GB of memory (plus use one of the 256mb sticks), and upgrade the video card, your system would be significantly faster than what you're used to now. I just got bought a Dimension 3000 off Ebay for $116 and I'm quite surprised at how fast these 2.4Ghz Celerons are, but my current PC at work and home were much slower (2Ghz P4 and 1.7Ghz P4). Computers are so cheap now, you can buy a lowly P4 2Ghz or slower for less than $100 and use that for web surfing and file storage and then use the faster PC for "real" work.
    BishopLord, Jul 1, 2008
    #3
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