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Dell Inspiron 570 Upgrade Questions
First of all, I'd just like to say that this forum (along with Tom's Hardware) has been a great help in finding upgrade ideas for my machine. Kisianik has made most of the posts that I've found, so these questions are aimed more towards his work, but I'd appreciate as many responses as I could get.
I just installed an HD 7770 GPU (which made an enormous difference over the HD 4200) and a CX500 PSU a few days ago, but I'm looking to upgrade the CPU as well. I've already purchased an AMD Phenom II x4 965 BE, a DeepCool 92mm Ice Edge 400 XT, and some ArtiClean thermal/cleaning compound, but I have a few questions I'd like answered before they arrive in the mail.
1. My machine was purchased in 2010, so I still have the A02 BIOS. Will I need to update this to A06 for the CPU to work? And is updating the BIOS dangerous? I've never done it before, but I've heard many horror stories about flashes causing permanent system damage.
2. Before I installed my new GPU, I monitored my CPU temperatures for a few days. I've noticed that my current CPU (Athlon II x4 630 2.8 Ghz) idles around 45-50C with only 4-5 tabs open in Chrome. I don't know much about CPUs, but this seems really hot to me. The temperatures are consistent and I can only assume that they've been this high since I got the PC 3 years ago, but I don't really know. I'm worried that the Ice Edge 400 XT cooler won't be enough to compensate for the extra 30 watts of the new CPU. Is this something I should worry about and address before installation or should I just monitor it afterwards and make sure its not overheating? I'm basically asking whether or not I should buy extra fans.
Some notes to consider:
- I will be using the original 570 case and will not be changing it unless I buy a new motherboard (which I don't want/plan to)
- I live in Wisconsin and have heating and air conditioning. The temperatures in the house are always around 22-26C
- I don't use the PC for heavy gaming as I mostly play things like emulators, Minecraft, Dark Souls, and indie titles from Steam
Any help, answers, or suggestions are much appreciated!
rdunnill
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May 30th, 2013 19:00
I have a Hyper 101 cooling my x45 945 and the temps are acceptable. Under load they go into the low fifties and then the CPU fan increases RPM.
The AMD quad-cores seem to run hot.
Ghoison
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May 30th, 2013 19:00
Oh, I forgot to add something. I do not plan on overclocking the CPU. The only way I will overclock it is if I've forced to upgrade the case due to cooling issues with the original one.
kisianik
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June 2nd, 2013 14:00
1. Update at least to BIOS A05 (mine is most likely required), no ot os not dangerous, just follow the instructions as written, do not improvise and you will be fine. Since downgrading BIOS is almost impossible, do not upgrade to A06 straight, just in case.
The existing Dell CPU cooler is just enough to pass with light load, after market similar coolers are much more efficient. IceEdge is most capable from 92mm coolers to do the job, it is not that easy and simple, more fans will be required, long story.
Ghoison
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June 17th, 2013 19:00
This is just going to be an update to help anyone out who might want to do the same thing as me.
Shortly after I installed the Phenom ii x4 965, I had to uninstall it because the temperatures in the stock i570 case were tremendous. I know I seated the IceEdge correctly, and the CPU still got to 65C within 60 seconds of running Prime95. Since I was already like $115 into the build, I just said screw it and bought a new case (a HAF 922) and some new equipment.
This is what my current specs are as of now:
Case: HAF 922
CPU: AMD Phenom ii x4 965 BE (not overclocked yet)
Cooler: Hyper 212 Evo (w/ extra 120mm fan in push/pull setup)
GPU: AMD Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 Ghz Edition (OC’d to 1100 clock and 1300 memory)
PSU: Corsair CX500M
Syba PCIe x1 USB 3.0 adapter (# SD-PEX20139) w/ slot for HAF 922 internal USB 3.0 header
NZXT Sentry 2 fan controller with 7 fans connected (both CPU fans on 1 connector and both exhaust fans on 1 connector using Y cables)
Intake Fans: 2 - 200mm CM Megaflow, 1 - 140mm Corsair AF140 Quiet Edition
Exhaust Fans: 1 - 200mm CM Megaflow, 1 - 120mm CM Blade Master
CPU Fans: 1 - 120mm Hyper 212 Evo fan, 1 - 120mm CM Blade Master
Stock Dell 04GJJT mobo (w/ A05 BIOS), 1tb HDD, 6gb RAM, memory card reader, and optical drive
The CPU idles at around 26-28°C (1-3 degrees above ambient). And after running Prime95 for 6 hours, my max CPU temp peaks at 47°C w/ all fans set to 60% on the fan controller. It’s actually a lot quieter than I expected as well--it sounds similar to a ceiling fan set to low. I can clearly hear someone whispering to me from across the room.
Overall, I am very happy with all of these purchases and I’d strongly suggest any of the products above if you’re looking for a nice upgrade. Also, a big thanks to Kisianik for the mobo backplate removal guide. Once I knew where the paper/tape was, it was easy to get the plate off after about 4-5 minutes of prying.
Here are some pictures:
http://imgur.com/a/MhHiz
Ghoison
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June 17th, 2013 19:00
Oh and I forgot to mention, there's only 1 "problem" with the build. Since the front panel, the CPU fan, and the exhaust fan connectors are absent from the mobo, I get 3 alerts on start-up.
"CPU fan failure" "front panel not connected" "system fan not connected"
These aren't a problem since they can be skipped using F1, but I just wanted to let anyone know, just in-case having to press F1 on boot would be a problem for you.
kisianik
893 Posts
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June 18th, 2013 07:00
Great upgrade! Now you can safely overclock to at least 4 GHz! I recommend use of AMD OverDrive to prevent CPU voltage problems. Use driver backup I recommended to avoid looking for drivers.
If you still have original case, remove front USB/Audio connector and plug this to motherboard - this will remove one of the BIOS errors for front panel not been detected.
Regarding CPU fan. I think you did not connect CPU or EHXAUST fans to motherboard, so you get error message? Am I correct here?
Ghoison
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June 18th, 2013 12:00
Thanks :) I'm still a novice at OCing, so I'm not sure when I'll try that out. I don't have a non-Dell copy of Win7 64 bit home and I also don't have another HDD. I could probably grab one off of one of the other desktops in the house if need be, but that'd be such a hassle. So I may just stick with the stock clock speeds for awhile.
I do have the original case still, but I never tried plugging in the USB connectors. It's probably not worth it to go dig those out of storage because of the CPU/system fan errors though. Do you think the errors would go away if I cut the ends off of the old fans and then connected just the 3 pin connectors (w/o anything attached) to the mobo? Or do they have to be active and working?
Yes, you're right. I just wanted to have more control over my CPU and exhaust fans. I noticed that after i switched to the IceEdge in my first test, the fans never went over 50% even at extreme heat. So I wanted to make sure I could control them manually from outside of the case. I hooked the 2 CPU fans together with a Y cable and plugged them into a fan controller slot. That way I can control both at once or even just set them to auto on the controller. I did the same with the exhaust fans. The only things that are no longer connected to the mobo are the cpu fan, the exhaust fan, and the usb 2.0 connectors (and like 3 pins next to the power, HDD led, etc).