Dell Dimension E520 CPU Upgrade

good

Hi Neil,

I've just ebay'd myself a 'new' E520 as an upgrade from my Pentium 4 @ 3Ghz Dimension 3000.  The 3000 is still going strong but it wont run Windows 8.1 so I've decided to bite the bullet and buy my next £60 system!

Your posts on here have been a huge help in deciding what to buy and how to upgrade it so I just wanted to say thanks...

Thanks.

As for the reinstall issue, the problem with cloning, or re-imaging, as proposed by the other respondent to this thread, is that this copies the OS as well, which you don't want if you are upgrading the OS to 64 bit.

A clean install will archive an existing install, and the archived install can be deleted if not needed.

Glad to have been of use....:emotion-1:. let me know how the upgrade goes.

It goes slowly.  I haven't got the beans to compete with other ebayers on Q6*00 CPU's at the minute.  Still, I'm hanging in and moving other components such as SSD drives and RAM, up the list.  Which brings me to a question:

Which SATA are the ports on this thing?  I've done some reading and it looks as though both SATA 1 and SATA 2 may be present depending on the age of the OW864 mobo.  Do you know if this is true or not and how I can tell for certain?

I know I could probably just use SATA 3, but I'm keeping this system for at least 4 years (until it dies) and I don't want to unnecessarily throttle higher-end components if I can get the same performance for less money.

Cheers...

@jmichae3

You bring up some good questions. Here's the CPU-Z Validation for my Dimension E520 which will answer some of them: http://valid.canardpc.com/wbjqi2

I have been running this rig with the Q6600 for the past year with no problems to report whatsoever. It does seem to run a little hot (48 degrees Celsius) so I may need to install an aftermarket cooler if I wish to bring the temp down.

I have seen similar success in installing Q6600, Q6700, and Q8300 CPUs in my Dell Optiplex 330, 360, 745 and 755 computers as well. Heck, I've even installed 3 Xeon E5440 Quad Core processors in my Optiplex 330 and 360 rigs.

For what it's worth, you can view the CPU-Z Validation for my rig here http://valid.canardpc.com/lb6zhp

I have searched all over the web and have found the answer to the SATA question in the data sheet for the P965 and G965 chipsets (Intel ® I/O Controller Hub 8 (ICH8) Family) published in 2007 that I downloaded from the Intel Ark website http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/io/intel-io-controller-hub-8-datasheet.html

The data sheet states:

"The ICH8 supports the Serial ATA Specification, Revision 2.5. The ICH8 also supports several optional sections of the Serial ATA II: Extensions to Serial ATA 1.0 Specification, Revision 1.0 (AHCI support is required for some elements)".

Translated, this means that the E520 SATA ports support most if not all SATA II features (SATA Revision 2.5 was released in 2005 and the E520 came onto the market in 2006) but not SATA III, which didn't come onto the market until 2009. Having said that, both SATA II and SATA III devices are backwards compatible with SATA I ports, so you won't have any difficulty running the devices. I have three SATA III hard drives (2 X HDD and 1 X SSD) in my E520 and they all run perfectly. Whether they are being throttled by the speed of the SATA ports on the mobo I have no idea, although I am still getting a Windows Experience Index of 7.7 out of a possible 7.9 for my primary disk drive.

I hope the foregoing is helpful.

That's pretty much as I expected but I've been unable to source early SATAs anyway so my query is redundant.

I have managed to bag a Q6600 which is humming along nicely although I've noticed since installing it that during POST, the '1234' lights are doing a magical dance.  That didn't happen before but it doesn't appear to affect the post-POST operation.

Upgrades so far:

1) Q6600 (previous = E6300)

2) SanDisk 120GB SSD (WD 300GB SATA1, 7400RPM HDD)

3) Team Elite 4GB 800Mhz RAM with room for 4 more as and when... (1GB 667Mhz)

4) XFX 450 Watt PSU (Dell 305W) ready and waiting for:

5) MSI HD7850 GPU - uk.msi.com/product/vga/R7850-2GD5-OC.html - which is in the post.  Some saw and drill hackery required to remove the 2nd Slot.  I haven't decided yet whether to mod the card or the case.  The original ATi x1300 doesn't work with Win8.1 due to a lack of support so I'm currently running sans GPU.

WinSAT (8 & 8.1's version of Windows Experience) with 64bit OS is currently @ 3.2

1) CPU = 7.1

2) Disk = 6.95

3) RAM = 7.1 (4GB (2x2) 800Mhz and 1GB (2x512) 667Mhz. Score drops to 5.1 with the 1GB removed)

4) Graphics = 3.5 (Dx9 = 3.2 = Final Score)

The actual real world results are incredible.  I have a PDF archive for research (several hundred files) which opens in its entirety in less than 10 seconds.  I was happy with my old Dimension 3000 (and the pre-upgrade e520) which would barely open 1 item in that time, i.e my computer is several hundred times faster than it was!

Some very effective mods there; well done. With the GPU, I am running an Afox HD7850 single slot, which at the time of purchase late last year was the most powerful single slot graphics card on the market. It fits into the E520 case with no modifications at all to either the case or the card (http://www.afox-corp.com/en/products_details.asp?proid=208). Regarding the light show on POST, have you upgraded the BIOS to the latest version (2.4.0)?

At £115 plus 10 mins with a saw, the Afox couldn't compete with the MSI. I haven't seen it for less than £200 anywhere.

Bios was the very first thing I updated. I've swapped the CPUs a couple of times and the issue is only with the q66.  I might give the Bios another flash today while the q66 is in, just to make sure, but operation doesn't appear to be affected so I'm not too fussed.

_____

EDIT: I've re-flashed the Bios with the Q66 installed but still the same light show.

_____

By the way Neil, while I was looking at suitable cards, I noticed these links to Galaxy single-slot cards:

http://www.techpowerup.com/165510/galaxy-readies-single-slot-geforce-gtx-670.html

http://www.techpowerup.com/163134/first-single-slot-air-cooled-geforce-gtx-680-taking-shape.html

some light reading suggests that if they are available, it will be in the Asian perhaps specifically the Chinese or Korean market only.  Have you heard anything on this?

Son Of A B....

There are troubles and then there is upgrading a budget computer on a budget!

My MSI HD7850 2Gb video card arrived and I was grinning form ear to ear, imagining the games I could finally play, the distributed network projects I could take part in and, well that's it really, maybe a little CFD for a laugh.

But then I unpacked and tried to fit it in the case... oh dear.

The MSI's cooler is huge.
The Dell's heatsink shroud is awkward.

Both, have combined to make this simple task a pain in the rear.  The easy solution would be to return the card and opt for a lower-profile card, but this will mean a drop in power, by quite some margin, or a 100% price-hike, also quite a margin.

A second, less simple but more satisfying solution will be to fix the problem without returning the card or voiding its warranty.  I'm thinking of having the Dell shroud re-designed and 3d printed with the bottom-right-hand screw replaced with a space saving lug, and the bottom wall of the shroud razor thin...

Thanks for the info but I'm determined to sleep in the bed I've made.

I've just purchased one of these - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00FHR5BKK/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - in order to fix my problems without voiding warranties or Dremel-ing my case.  Along with some packing foam, a single-slot bracket, a vga/vga adaptor and a short cable, I'm going to make a bed on the floor of the case/

I was pleasantly surprised to easily fin a single slot Radeon HD6450 2gB card in mine.  While not a hard core gamer and unable to provide experience along those lines, it may be an option for you.

$75 before $20 rebate was a good price at Micro Center, too.

I've removed the entire cooling assembly from the MSI card slotted it in and rested the fan on top!  It fits snugly beneath the CPU heatsink shroud.  The next plan is to modify (cut down) the MSI cover to fit in the available room, only a very small mod is needed here, but I'll try my previous idea before modding warranties.  Fingers are crossed.

Windows experience scores are 8.4 for graphics and gaming.  This is WinSAT in windows 8.1 so the maximums are 9.9.

Resting the fan on top was not a good idea.  When the fan speed up it took-off inside the case!  It is now screwed down.

Here's some pics: