Hello everybody,

I have a Dell Dimension 4300 to which I am giving a face lift. I have added a new 160 GB Hard Drive, 2 DVD-RW drives and a new AGP bus Nvidia 7600(from MSI) based graphics card. The only thing left to upgrade now is the CPU. I currently have a Williamette-based Intel Pentium 4 (1.6 GHz, 400 MHz FSB, 128 KB L2, and 1.75V core voltage). I would like to know if I could use a recently purchased Northwood-based Pentium 4 core (2.8 GHz, 400 MHz FSB, 512 KB L2, and 1.5V core voltage, S-number SL7EY). I see no problem inserting the CPU into the socket, but I am scared that since both use different core voltages, that the 2.8 GHz CPU will blow up. They are both Socket 478's.Can anyone advise me on whether or not the motherboard automatically adjusts the core voltage? I am sure everything else is in order to insert it.

Thanks!

PS: I tried searching for more information on this with Google, but failed to find anything on different core voltages. Also,even though Dell's documentation states that 2.0 GHz is the fastest processor that can be stuck in the motherboard, I have read reports that if the BIOS is upgraded, it can support higher speed CPU's.