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Dell Dimension 8400 CPU upgrade
New to this forum - any assistance would be appreciated.
I currently have a Prescott Pentium 4 540 CPU 3.2GHZ (SL8PY ??) with an OJ3492 motherboard and 925X chipset. I understand from reading previous posts I should be able to upgrade to any Prescott Pentium 4 6x0 series giving me then 64 bit operation, however when I look at the Prescott 6x0 series they say that compatible chipsets are 945G and 945P. Does this mean I am snookered or are they backward compatible?
I can't seem to find a P4 6x0 series compatable with 925X chipset. Or am I looking for the wrong thing?
Ron.
shesagordie
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Posted March 16th, 2012 14:00
munro284
Yes, they should be compatible,
I installed a Socket LGA 775, 660, 3.6Ghz processor in one of my Dimension 8400 with a 925x chipset, without issue.
Prior to installing the processor, check that you have BIOS Version A09 installed, when support for newer processors was added.
There's no need to upgrade the power supply, for a processor.
Remember to clean the heatsink's base and replace the thermal compound.
Bev.
shesagordie
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Posted March 17th, 2012 13:00
munro284
Ron,
You are welcome and good luck with the upgrade, please post back with results.
Bev.
I have a 3.2 cpu installed in a 8400 IF i install the highest speed cpu available will i see any difference in performance or is the difference to small to notice and therefore time for a new machine, i have installed win 7 32bit which runs ok but we all need more speed don't we.
shesagordie
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Posted March 25th, 2012 15:00
JIMPYS
You should see a small increase in performance, but may not be worth the cost of the upgrade, as only single core processors are supported by the 8400
Maxing out the RAM would be a better upgrade and maybe the video card, depending on what PCIe x16 card, that's installed now.
Bev.
JIMPYS,
Agree with Bev - there is a very small increase in performance but that is offset by the increased fan noise - see my post "Dell Dimension 8400 CPU upgrade - Success". The cost of the upgrade was just a couple of pounds but I eventually reverted to the original CPU because of the fan noise. Now looking for a 650 CPU that will give me 64 bit operations, or perhaps a new box.........
Ron.
shesagordie
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Posted March 26th, 2012 16:00
JIMPYS
You are welcome and upgrading to new system is a smart decision.
Bev.
shesagordie
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Posted March 16th, 2012 10:00
munro284
You can upgrade to any Socket LGA775, 5xx, 6x0 or 6x2 processor, with 90nm architecture, but not the 6x1 processors.
The 670 3.8Ghz is the largest.
Bev.