Dimension 4600 upgrade options

Thanks for the quick reply!  What about changing the motherboard and processor?

Are there any viable upgrade options or is it better to get a another machine? Thanks

It would be better just to get another machine if you are looking for more speed.  Changing out the motherboard to support better processors would not be an option in the Dell case.  You could build a 775 socket computer with minimal cost if that is what you are looking to do, but forget about the 478 socket.  

Thanks for the quick reply!  What about changing the motherboard and processor?

 woody250

A Dimension 4700 motherboard could be installed in the 4600 Mitac case, as they have the same chassis, the 4700 supports a socket LGA-775 single core processor, but does not support any Core 2 Duo processors, or Dual Core anything.

The 4700 also, requires a 24-pin power connector power supply, the 4600 has a 20 pin ATX PSU.

The memory is completely different as well, you need DDR2 for the 4700; the 4600 uses DDR.

You cannot reuse a 4600 heatsink on a 4700 because of the totally different CPU type, and you'll need to buy a 4700 heatsink/shroud assembly.

Plus the 4700 only supports SATA hard drives, depending what's installed in the 4600, you may need to buy new hard drives.

Better and probably cheaper, to buy a new desktop.

Bev.

I wanted to upgrade my 4600 with a faster processor. I currently have 2.66Ghz with ram upgraded to 3Gb. Are there any viable upgrade options or is it better to get a another machine? Thanks

I think you'd be better off buying a new budget machine, cloning the 4600's hard drive over to it, and then selling the 4600 on eBay. The sum it fetches should easily pay for a good portion of its replacement. FWIW I bought a Foxconn mainboard with AMD triple-core CPU for about $100 shipped a few weeks back, and it rates better on the Windows experience index than my Studio 540s (which was no budget machine when I bought it last year).