Inspiron 570 CPU Upgrade options?

Hi  ASGTX,

Welcome to the Dell Community.

As you are thinking of upgrading the processor,  please check for few components 

• The power supply supported on this  computer is 300w . So please ensure to check the power supply compatibility.
• Please  ensure to check the power requirements for the graphics card that you are going to install.
• The two processors that you might want to check out are :- AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Model 9750, 95W ; AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Model 9450E, 65W which are
  recommended as per the the motherboard and chipset configuration
   These are mere recommendations though. You could  still opt for the one that is most suitable to you as Processor upgrades is a costly affair.

I am thinking of upgrading my CPU for light gaming. Currently my system specs are: Athlon II X2 240 2.8 Ghz, Nvidia Geforce GTX 460 1GB, 4GB DDR3, and Two 500GB SATAs. I can run most games like Call of Duty, La noire, Metro 2033, etc. on high, but there is a little lag due to the CPU bottleneck.  I have narrowed upgrade options down to either the Phenom II X4 955 3.2Ghz 95w, or the Phenom II X4 965 BE 3.4 Ghz 125w. However due to cooling issues with the 965 mentioned by a few members, I am hesitant about that CPU.  On Newegg there is a list I have narrowed down to: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006519%2050001028%2040000343%20600030236%20600005863&IsNodeId=1&name=Socket%20AM3  Thanks, and kisianik I hope you will post your computer images.

There is a good post by Dell-Chris-m from the link below,

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/p/19360199/19803342.aspx#19803342

@OCMusicJunkie, Haha I guess you would have been better off just building a PC at the time of your purchase, eh? Atleast you could have got a mobo with higher CPU capability.

@Robin Bredin and Manpreet, I am posting this thread after much research and reading previous dell community articles on the same topic. After seeing that OCMusicJunkie and kisianik and a few others had success with more powerful CPUs, I narrowed my list down. Frankly, the pre-verified CPUs by Dell for this set-up are not very good.

Well, after I see kisianik's pics I will decide the best CPU with regards to cooling and space.

Cheers

Much anticipated pictures below:

This is Rocketfish 92mm cooler re-branded by BestBuy from COOLER MASTER Hyper TX3, both are almost identical, but I used Rocketfish, because it was available around the corner.

Next is my fault, MSI 550 TI OC card, which I choose due to its exceptional cooling abilities, I should have get 560 TI, but it is too late now

A few pictures to show overall situation. Non modular PSU, well another fault...

Cable management, I hate it.

View from the back angle.

And now the INTAKE fans, yes, you heard it right. I managed to insert 2 80mm fans from inside of the front panel around on/off switch, those fans came from the old parts bin, pictures below shown 2 70mm fans, which I removed due to excessive noise. 80mm fans were mounted using 3 screws for 1 and I think only 2 screws for another (look at red markings), but holding tight, no vibration, here we go:

Front view

View from inside, actual shown are 70mm fans, which already replaced with 80mm (not shown):

Inside intake fan lower below:

Those are the most important images I have. If you place Ice Edge cooler from OCmusicjunkie setup, most likely you would not able to have pull fan or exhaust fan due to the size. I have 3 heat pipe cooler and OC has 4 heat pipe cooler, a bit fattier.

If you choose 95 watt CPU you avoid a lot of hassle with adapting cooler to Dell motherboard. Remember, Dell uses Intel LGA775 mount size with screws. Most if not all available options are similar to your existing one - top down cooling.

Also, remember another thing - you cannot manage fans speed with software due to BIOS limitations, only hardware, so I am running all fans on MAX, noise level is OK, however PC is on the floor.

Almost forgot. Your RAM is too small, you can easy go up to 8 GB (OC placed 16 GB RAM, but it is too much I think). BF3 is using about 3.5 GB of RAM alone, so here is your another bottleneck! RAM speed choose the highest from the manual (don't remember this info now) and use 2 sticks, so you can add another 2 later if you wish. We have Dual RAM, so we can use pairs of RAM sticks.

Anything else I missed?

Thanks a lot man! You're set up is quite innovative. One question though: Since you have two intake fans on the front, does that mean you run the pc with the front cover off? It does seem a bit obvious but I want to ask. One thing that I did to keep my Graphics card cooler is rip off the two pci covers in the side. That allows for more air intake by the GPU's fan. Im going to sort out a few ventilation issues and then choose my CPU.

Thanks guys!

Intake fans. No I kept front panel attached for the beauty of it, I was planning to drill holes in the front panel, however I was satisfied with overall cooling numbers so I left it alone (no holes). Intake fans not helping dramatically, however after the CPU stress test temperature dropping much faster with intake fans vs without. If you have already a problem with heat, I would recommend to go with 95 watt CPU. ! thing to remember, per AMD MAX temperature allowed for Phenom II X4 family is 62 C and this is important. I put my system through 1 hour stress tests using IntelBurn and my max T was 63.5, so I installed Core Temp utility, which allows first to monitor CPU temperatures and second, has automatic shutdown feature for overheat, I tested this and it is working as advertised.

And have you noticed your RAM issue?

Interesting. Well I'm not worried much about my RAM since I will not be playing such games such as BF3, Crysis 2. Also, my friend has a pc with a 1090T Phenom X6 CPU with same GPU as me and 4 gigs of RAM. His games run sweet and smooth. Sometimes while playing games I leave the case open. I know this isn't very wise, however I don't play for more than an hour or two at a stretch. I was thinking of buying a length of fine steel mesh, which I could measure and cut and then screw onto the case of the Inspiron. The outer sheet metal case cover would not be used, and the mesh would allow much better air intake. What do you think?

Have side basically open is a good idea, especially if you decide to go with top down cooling (95 watt CPU), also since intake fans do not produce desirable effect, there is no specific air flow inside the case - so the more air the better, so your idea sounds like the good one.

Yes. I think I will go with the 955. I don't want to compromise the CPU's health, seeing that their temperature range is about 10 degrees lower than the original 72* for Athlons. Thanks for your help guys, I'll keep you posted on my progress, problems, etc. Thanks again.

Cheers

@Kisianik- I actually did manage to rig the cooler with a push/pull configuration in the factory case, but if doing that, the rear exhaust fan has to be powerful enough to move all that air being rammed into it. The biggest boost in cooling actually came when I hooked up the stock IceEdge fan to a molex power adapter so it would run at 100% speed. Doing that rather than using the original power on the mobo made a ton of difference in how well it cooled. Also, FYI, I drilled three holes in the floor toward the front part of the case, using a 3/4" metal bit. I could actually feel air being pulled up through them when I put my hand under (huge tip- always, always use a "X" style stand under the case, even on a desk). I just retested for 1 hour last night, since I hadn't with my newest upgrades to the cooling that I'll post photos of today. It stayed at 48.5c max after an hour OCCT test, and it idles at 27-29c. =D

The biggest boost in cooling actually came when I hooked up the stock IceEdge fan to a molex power adapter so it would run at 100% speed. Doing that rather than using the original power on the mobo made a ton of difference in how well it cooled.

This is what i meant by running all fans at MAX RPM, hehe - all my fans are running at 100%, LOL

Also, FYI, I drilled three holes in the floor toward the front part of the case, using a 3/4" metal bit. I could actually feel air being pulled up through them when I put my hand under (huge tip- always, always use a "X" style stand under the case, even on a desk).

Where are the holes, can you make simple picture? And what stand you are talking about?

I actually did manage to rig the cooler with a push/pull configuration in the factory case

Take a look at first/upper picture above - you cooler is a bit wider and it still fit? I almost have no space left between pull fan and exhaust fan?!