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Upgrading Dell Vostro 220, need help!

I

infin|ty

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 20, 2003
Messages
1,139
Hey guys, I'm considering upgrading my Vastro 220 mini tower. I currently have upgraded the PSU to a TX650, the video card is an AMD Radeon 7850 and the ram is 4 gigs now. I was considering upgrading the CPU to a quad and that would require upgrade of the board and probably the case + HSF too.

Does anyone have recommendations for the best bang for my $? I'm trying to stay super chizzler but have decent increases in gaming performance. I feel as tho Diablo 3 is a little stutterly lately and there's newer games I'll be interested in dabbling with soon and want to be ready.

Any recommendations would be awesome. I've been out of the PC building light for a very long time and the CPU and mobos are utterly confusing.
 
If you're upgrading the processor, motherboard, and case, you're essentially building a new machine.

Please help us out by answering the sticky questions. That way, we can better tailor our responses to your needs.
 
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Web/email and heavy excel. Frequent HD viewing from online sources. Gaming especially (WOW, D3, BF3, newer games coming out)

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$350 before taxes and shipping

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

Boston MA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, Mobo, HSF, Thermal paste, case
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
5a. XFX Double D FX-785A-CDFC Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
5b. CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
5c. G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ
6) Will you be overclocking?
no
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
22" 1920x1080
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Nothing specific
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 7 legit 32 bit
 
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You're going to have to upgrade the ram as well. Any new motherboard is going to require DDR3.
 
infin|ty said:
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 7 legit 32 bit
Click to expand...

Hang on: Is your copy of Windows 7 from that Dell? If so, you can't reuse it for this new PC and you will have to buy a new Windows 7 license.
 
@infin|ty - Your local MC sucks. It seems to have a lot of stuff unavailable.

If you must buy everything in-store, I suggest the following:

$190 - Intel Core i5-3570K
$65 - Asus P8Z77-V LK (refurbished) (instant $40 discount when purchased alongside i5-3570K)
$55 - Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB DDR3 1600 DIMM
$35 - Thermaltake V3 Black Edition (refurbished model available for $10 less)
=====
$345 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

Everything hinges on the i5-3570K processor and (the availability of) the refurbished P8Z77-V LK motherboard. The "refurbished" board (most likely an "open box" returned item) may be a lemon, but if it works (and it has everything you need in the box -- check beforehand), you have one of the best "value" boards available. If you were to buy the same combination (both new) at either NewEgg or Amazon, you'd spend at least $100 more.

The RAM and case are MC in-store variants of what Sp33dFr33k offered in his build.

You never mentioned anything about the optical drive or the hard drive. Are you reusing those? If so, what (specifically, brand and model number)?
 
Thanks for all the info..Not sure what the brand model # is of the optical drives, they're the originals from the Dell Vostro 220. I would assume they would transfer over, however with my luck on what I've been seeing (needing to upgrade ram and OS) it probably wont. boo

You guys are great, thanks for clearing it up, I'm going to see what's the best route as of current.
 
The good news is that the cost of a new optical drive (especially if you bought one from Micro Center) is less than $20. The bad news is that you're spending at least $100 on a new OEM Windows license.

You may need to rethink your $350 budget, especially if you plan on playing more games in the near future.
 
An upgrade to Windows 7 x64 will be free - a simple reinstall with the same license key - and should give you an immediate boost by freeing up 0.5 GB or more of RAM.
 
Would like to further add that putting a high-end LGA 775 quad in there is the best option I can see. You will save a lot of money (keeping your current RAM you already upgraded, no new MB, and the CPU will cost less than a top of the line one). I was surprised to see there are "new" LGA 775 chips on eBay as well. If I were you I would go this route because it's easy, cheaper, and your 7850 will still bottleneck a QX9300 or better easily anyway, so you wont really have a whole lot to gain by going to new platform.
 
TheFlosser said:
Would like to further add that putting a high-end LGA 775 quad in there is the best option I can see. You will save a lot of money (keeping your current RAM you already upgraded, no new MB, and the CPU will cost less than a top of the line one). I was surprised to see there are "new" LGA 775 chips on eBay as well. If I were you I would go this route because it's easy, cheaper, and your 7850 will still bottleneck a QX9300 or better easily anyway, so you wont really have a whole lot to gain by going to new platform.
Click to expand...

Do you know whether or not the proprietary Vostro motherboard can support a quad-core LGA 775 processor?

While I agree with your concerns about the video card, the OP's budget makes a "good" upgrade (of both the processor and video card) next to impossible at this time.
 
TheFlosser said:
Find a new/used LGA775 quad core like a QX9300 or QX9775 and put it in.

Here's a new one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BRAND-NEW-I...T-P-/221233451397?pt=CPUs&hash=item33828a9185

Performance will be somewhere between Phenom II and Nehalem.
Click to expand...

I like the idea of just having to upgrade the CPU. I'm not trying to go too crazy, just want a little boost in performance.

This processor should work? Also, is the current HSF compatible with this chip? If not do I need a new one or will it come with one in the box?

Thanks
 
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infin|ty said:
I like the idea of just having to upgrade the CPU. I'm not trying to go too crazy, just want a little boost in performance.

This processor should work? Also, is the current HSF compatible with this chip? If not do I need a new one or will it come with one in the box?

Thanks
Click to expand...

What's the exact model number of the Vostro you have? When did you originally bought it?

It's possible, but there's no guarantee that you could upgrade the processor.
 
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The MB BIOS does support quads, since the 420 came with quads and the 220 later had quads available, and they all share the same BIOS. Something is mentioned about it in one of the first BIOS revisions. Later revisions (1.2.0) added more CPU microcodes (doesn't specify exactly). As long as your Dell is a 220 and not a 220S (slimeline), it's a pretty safe bet it can support quads and the official G45 express support list from Intel specifies that it can support a QX9650. http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Intel_(chipsets)/G45_Express.html

There are also posts of people performing the upgrade without a problem. The main limitations seemed to be relegated to marketing and the PSU. Since you upgraded to a TX650, there should be no problems at all. The latest BIOS for your MB is here:

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/DriverDetails?driverId=R272986&fileId=2731109787

[edit] Might as well add that if it doesn't support it for whatever reason, micro ATX LGA 775 MBs are on eBay for 20 bucks. Might be able to find one here on the FS/FT pretty cheap.
 
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Great news.

I noticed the quad core recommended was the QX9300...that is a Socket P and the Q9300 is 775..I'm assuming that is obviously different.

This is the link where I found that info http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/87...Mobile_QX9300_vs_Intel_Core_2_Quad_Q9300.html

So would I have to go with a Q9300 vs the QX version? Also, it's true that my video card bottle necks even something like the Q9300 and makes no sense to go for a faster CPU over that?
 
The QX9300 is a mobile CPU. You should look for the Q9450 or the Q9550, both of which are better than the Q9300.

Regarding performance bottlenecking, you have the information backwards. The more modern HD7850 card may turn your processor into a performance bottleneck, but to be honest, the HD7850 may struggle on its own whenever you play some of the newer games out now (e.g., Bioshock Infinite, Crysis 3, Far Cry 3/Blood Dragon).
 
tiraides said:
The QX9300 is a mobile CPU. You should look for the Q9450 or the Q9550, both of which are better than the Q9300.

Regarding performance bottlenecking, you have the information backwards. The more modern HD7850 card may turn your processor into a performance bottleneck, but to be honest, the HD7850 may struggle on its own whenever you play some of the newer games out now (e.g., Bioshock Infinite, Crysis 3, Far Cry 3/Blood Dragon).
Click to expand...

Sorry but a 7850 will struggle to bottleneck anything made in the last 4 years. It's a good match to an LGA775 quad.

OP: just find the best quad for the least price, either through eBay or the FS/FT section. I'm sure there is someone with a quad and MB they would let go for a song. If you do get a MB make sure it's mATX. If you look for an extreme edition, there was only one supported officially by the chip set you have. With a new MB there should be no such problems. Any concerns about that can be laid to rest through googling. Good luck with whatever route you take.
 
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