1st post, not very pc savvy.

Howdy all you denizens of circuitry. I need advice on upgrading my Dell XP, memory, processor and video card. Here's the current specs.

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer Dell Inc.
System Model Dell XPS710
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 2 GenuineIntel ~1861 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. 1.4.1, 5/7/2007
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)"
Total Physical Memory 2,048.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 250.20 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 3.85 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

What would be compatible? Thanks.

 

Your best bet would be to check the Dell site for information on your computer:

http://support.dell.com/support/index.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn

I don't suggest buying any upgrade parts from Dell, though . . . you can find better deals on the internet.

You can also download a program called Everest right here from Major Geeks that will give you tons of information on what lurks inside your computer. Essentially, the better the board the more information Everest will provide. There are other programs here that do the same.

Two of the best (and easiest) upgrades you can make to a computer is more RAM, and a modern video card (especially if you are using on-board video). It looks like you have a decent amount of RAM already. Perhaps buying an add-in video card with a decent amount of on-board RAM is in order.

CPU upgrades are a little more involved - and unless you can go to a higher buss speed in addition to increasing the CPU rating at least by a gigahertz or more, you won't see that much of an improvement in my opinion. Most boards do support more then one processor with the same socket type - you may have to look at the motherboard itself and find a model number, then search on line for more info on it. Not sure if the Dell documentation includes CPU support.

Hope this info gives you a place to start. Welcome to Major Geeks!

 

Welcome to Major Geeks, jim.

You have 2G of RAM.

It is almost certainly in what is known as dual channel and this is the max you can run in this mode.

You could replace one only of the 1G modules with a 2G one but you would see no performance benefit unless you are an avid photoshopper using more than 20 layers on your edits.

You cannot replace both with 2G modules as your system cannot see more than 3G of RAM.

Is there a Intel celeron or P4 sticker on the case?
If you upgrade the processor you will need to change the RAM to suit the increased speed.
You could go to about a 2.8GHz P4, but the cost may make the project prohibitive.
You can get second hand processors for this quite reasonably, but get some help replacing or you are likely to simply cause damage.

The graphics seems quite basic, but what is your application need for the change?

Is this a slimline version of the XPS? If so the power supply will not be up to powering a power hungry modern graphics card - even the big case version may be underpowered.

 

OK, thanks for the info guys.

I did some reading in the manual, something that comes in handy rolleyes, and I found that it disclosses more info.

I found the max. mem. possible is 8GB of 533 and 667 MHz unbuffered SDRAM. 4 connectors, capacities 512 MB, 1 GB or 2 GB non-ECC
The chipset is a NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP clocked at 1066-MHz
Expansion BUS type PCI 32 bit, PCI express x1 & x16
PCI
Connector 3, connector size 124 pins, data width (max) 32 bits

Intel is inside.

I have replaced a processor befroe and the manual is pretty good in this regard. I have mechanical abilities, it's just the lingo of the system which throws me off. I know from experiance that everything within the console has to play nice with each other or things will be bleak. Who gets along with whom is my concern.

BTW, this upgrade is for nothing more than being able to play a game on full switch once it comes out. Kind of silly really. The game will be Silent Hunter 5. Thanks.

 

I'll leave others to make recommendations but my question is what did you have running when you gave those first specifications? Looks like you were using quite a bit of RAM at that time.

 

Silent Hunter 5 eh? I haven't looked the link here yet, but register at the link provided in the first post for your spec needs. I see them talking about needing a 3GHz CPU plus a good video card and I don't think you can upgrade your current machine enough to play this game.

Let us know the minimum/decent specs needed for that game and we can take it from there. Anyways, it's never a good idea to buy a machine for a specific game, as there's always another down the line that needs better specs.

 

Since Windows ME I haven't been able to figure out which processes I need to shut down, or can for that matter. So it's whatever Dell has decided I need to have enabled from the factory. One reason why I'd rather not buy anything else from Dell. Who nows what junk is resident in their hardware? Besides the prices that is.

 

This is the rumored specs of the game.
projected configuration to run the game very well (with all graphic options enabled, in 1280*1024) is:
dual core at 3 GHz (quad core is appreciated but not mandatory)
2 gb of ram
nVidia 8800 GT 512mb (ATi 4850 512mb)

512mb on the video card is a minimum to play the game with every option checked. We're trying to make the game to fit into 256 mb of video memory (with the lowest settings).

I bought this PC with the assurrance it can be upgraded. Used car salesman working for Dell? Hmmmmm.:crap

 

Let me repeat unless you have a 64bit operating system you will not be able to use more than 3G of RAM.

 

OK so what's involved in building this thing up to 64 bits?

 

You need a 64 bit version of Windows 7, Vista or XP.

Talk to Dell. They also have a list of dell computers that can run these operating systems.

However the problem with 64 bit systems is getting 64 bit versions of other software. Will the game of yours run on 64 bit?


Also look again at the evaluation in my first post. If you go 64 bit and add a fancy video card will the power supply be up to it?

 

My power supply is 750 watts. I had the machine built for a later upgrade and knew from experiance that power could be a problem. But I was more of the mind to upgrade the processor and add memory, as the salesman said, I could have as much as 8Gigs of ram. But now you say it's not going to do anything but sit there because the rest of the pc wouldn't know what to do with it? Processor upgrade for speed, memory for, well, memory and a video card because they change like the weather lately. These are the 3 areas I discussed with the man on the phone, but now you're telling it it just aint so. This throws everything into a cocked hat, the best laid plans of mice and men and so forth.

I've got another issue with this machine that's soured me to Dell, and now this inability to upgrade, a contingency I thought I had well prepared for. Ah well, can't afford another pc anyway, even a HP.:cry

 

Future proofing is difficult and with the pace of progress /continued decline in hardware prices fewer upgrades make financial sense.

But do you really need a 64 bit system? Dell in particular push them. But have a look at this thread for a server.

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=208516

For your information 32 bits = 4G, the maximum that 32 address lines can reach. So this is the theoretical maximum that any 32 bit system can use.
However many 32 bit systems do not recognise the final 1G so are limited to 3G in practice.
The same is true of 64 bit systems - they can only recognise part of the full 64 bit space, AMD '64 bit systems' for instance can only do 48 bits to date.

The other comment I made about memory was dual channel v single channel. Did you understand that?

 

No I really don't need 64 bit, as far as I know. But I know I'll need more speed in the processor and more memory for the next generation of sims.

As for the question of dual channel, it's my understanding that dual channel is the same as a 2 lane highway as oppsed to a single lane, more traffic is possible at one time. Hence more information can be moving at any given time.

So if I were to ask you what CAN be done with this machine. To upgrade it would I need to strip it down to the case and the power source and start from there? Replace the motherboard, processor (Newegg sells them as a set), video card, and more memory. I'd like to reuse the memory I have and add more to it, so I suppose the motherboard would need to be compatible with the type of memory I have now. That might save me money, which this the whole idea behind trying to buy a PC today that can be upgunned tomorrow.
I hate waste, and this comp. is less the 4 yrs old, which I know is old in comparrison to the rate of advances, but it 's also getting old having to buy a whole new unit for every new game that comes down the pike. So I'd like to salvage what I can of this unit, even if it's just the oversized case and my wattage. Oh yeah, the cooling fan is pretty hurkie too.
Yeah, there's a bit of Scot in my family.

I'm editting this to add that, after looking at the games req. again, it looks like I can get away with 3 gigs of Ram comfortably. It'll be the processor's speed that will become the bottle neck.

And to conclude the matter of the RAM upgrade, what your saying is that 32 bits can only use 3 gigs max, so the other 5 gigs they advertise this pc can physically hold on it's MB is only a selling point meant to sucker in a person such as myself who doesn't know any better. As I said, used car selling points.

 

dual channel is to to with speed, pure and simple.
The system can use one part of dual channel whilst the other is working, so the time between reads and writes is reduced.
Since this happens every read and write 2G of dual channel are usually faster than 3G of single.

The downside is that the two halves of the dual channel have to be matched
(size type etc)

So if you introduce say 2 + 1 you automatically break the dual channel and the machine reverts to 3G single channel.

The use of the extra memory comes into its own if you run programs that hold alot of data in memory.

I suggested worthwhile upgrades in my first post. Your Celeron processor runs on a 400mHz bus so your memory will be this type. Any upgrade processor will need to be able to use this.

I definitely recommend against putting a non Dell motherboard in Dells have proprietary non standard mounting arrangements.