Lucky me, I have a spare 650 Rocket Fish power supply. Do you notice any other problems with this CPU exchange? and also thanks for the quick responses!

I will most certainly update BIOS as soon as DELL driver & support section is available (it seems to be temporarily down) but... other than the BIOS update, do you foresee any problems with this upgrade?  

Bios version counts.  You should upgrade to the latest before trying to change the cpu.

May require a bigger power supply.  If you do not have a tower this could be a deal breaker.

"I would check to see which ones are validated for this model." - I'm confused.. how do I check it? I don't have any of the retail literature, just the actual CPU.

I would check to see which ones are validated for this model.

HU587 Conroe Kit, E4300, 1.80G, 2MB, 800FSB, L2
DX483 Conroe Kit, E4400, 2.00G, 2MB, 800FSB, L2
DX485 Conroe Kit, E6320, 1.86G, 4MB, 1066FSB, B2
DX484 Conroe Kit, E6420, 2.13G, 4MB, 1066FSB, B2
MP160 Conroe Kit, E6550, 2.33G, 4MB, 1333FSB
MP162 Conroe Kit, E6750, 2.66G, 4MB, 1333FSB, G0
MP628 Conroe Kit, E6850, 3.00G, 4MB, 1333FSB, G0
WM543 Conroe XE Kit, X6800, 2.93G, 4MB, 1066FSB, B2
MP626 Kentsfield Quad Core Kit, Q6600, 2.40G, 8MB, 1066FSB, G0
MP627 Kentsfield Quad Core Kit, Q6700, 2.66G, 8MB, 1066FSB, G0
UP673 Kentsfield Quad Core Kit, QX6700, 2.66G, 8MB, 1066FSB, B3
RX656 Kentsfield Quad Core Kit, QX6800, 2.93G, 8MB, 1066FSB, G0
PW016 Kentsfield Quad Core Kit, QX6850, 3.00G, 8MB, 1333FSB, G0
C863D Yorkfield Quad Core Kit, QX9300, 2.5G, 6MB, 1333FSB, M1
C864D Yorkfield Quad Core Kit, Q9450, 2.66G, 12MB, 1333FSB, C1
C865D Yorkfield Quad Core Kit, Q9550, 2.83G, 12MB, 1333FSB, C1
C299C Yorkfield Quad Core Kit, QX9650, 3.0G, 12MB, 1333FSB, C0
H786G Yorkfield Quad Core kit, QX9650, 3.0G, 12MB, 1333FSB, C1
X198G Wolfdale Dual Core kit, E7200, 2.53, 3MB, FD, 65W,M0
Y932C Wolfdale Dual Core Kit, E8200, 2.66G, 6MB, 1333FSB, 65W, C0
K905F Wolfdale Dual Core Kit, E8300, 2.83G, 6MB, 1333FSB, 65W, C0
Y935C Wolfdale Dual Core Kit, E8400, 3.0G, 6MB, 1333FSB, 65W, C0
Y934C Wolfdale Dual Core Kit, E8500, 3.16G, 6MB, 1333FSB, 65W, C0

Your Q6700 will work just fine. The G43 chipset will support the Q6700. However, you might want to get the latest BIOS in case your current BIOS version does not support the Q6700. 

It seems as if you are looking for more speed by upgrading from the E5400 to the Q6700. Did you know that you can hit 3.6 GHz on your E5400 by doing a simple "pad mod"? I did the mod on my Q6600 today, and I bumped it up from 2.4 GHz to 3.0 GHz. The pad mod was very easy, and this is coming from a person who has never previously touched a processor before. 

http://www.overclockers.com/intel-lga775-pad-modding/ 

You don't have to use conductive paint; I used simple electrical tape. 

Thanks for the reassurance, and I will certainly check out the link you provided me.  

Thank you :). Don't forget to Google "pad mod" in general. There are a least a million guides out on the Internet and nobody has ever reported permanent damage from a "pad mod." I visited at least a dozen sites before daring to attempt the "pad mod," and I pulled it off without a hitch at all.

Just wanted to let anyone reading this post to know that the processor upgrade was successful. Updated BIOS to most recent version prior to install and it was recognized with no problems and running smoothly. Increased my windows experience index, not as much as hoped; 6.5 to 7.2, Is there anything I should do after the install? Any tweaks or tests to make sure everything is running as smoothly as possible. Also, thank you to everyone who helped.

I assume you upgraded to the Q6700, right?

I don't particularly like the Windows Experience Index - it doesn't seem to be multi-processor aware. I ran the Experience Index tool on my 2.4 GHz Q6600, and I got a 7.1.

I then overclocked my Q6600 with the "pad mod" and disabled two cores on purpose. In essence, I had a 3 GHz dual core. I got a 7.1 score.

I then enabled all the cores on my 3 GHz Q6600 and ran the Experience Index tool again. I got a 7.2.

Surely the addition of 2 extra cores at 3 GHz would have more of an effect than a measly 0.1 points!

So that's why I don't particularly like the Windows Experience Index as a benchmarking tool. It doesn't seem to appreciate multi-core processors.

--

BTW - if you really want to squeeze out more performance from your Q6700, try pad-modding it. You won't see a big difference in your experience index, but you will see a big boost in performance in actual tasks. 

Here's a quick rundown of how:

1. Take the Q6700 out the socket
2. Turn the processor so that the gold pins face you
3. Rotate the processor so that little triangle on the corner of the processor is to your left
4. Look at the right side of the processor
5. Locate the 5th and 7th pin from the bottom right hand corner
6. Cut out a small piece of painter's or electrical tape. Actually, I suggest using a nail clipper to get a really small sliver of tape. 
7. Put the tape over the 5th and 7th pins
8. Re-install processor
9. Boot and run CPU-Z
10. Voila! Your Q6700 now runs at 3 GHz! 
11. In case it doesn't work, remove the tape and you are back to normal :).