A quicker CPU

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Habbakuk wrote: »

Thank you. Your suggestion to would be a good one if I were an IT tech. But the helpful information you provided above and needed to make an informed decision when purchasing is simply beyond the average member of the public such as myself. But thank you in any case regarding this particular machine.

Mobo= motherboard there are several levels of motherboards that will have many different features to them. the more fetaures the more expensive.


socket=processor socket size processor 754 for eg will fit a motherboard with socket size 754.


DDR= type of memory module, there are different version of DDR memory, DDR was fitted in old type desktop pc's.
DDR=very old. DDR2=old but faster than previous modules. DDR3 is currently used in new machines. DDR4 is set to make an appearance sometime this year.
each DDR module operates at a speed measured in Megahertz (MHZ) lower the MHZ lower the speed, very old ddr run for e.g 800mhz. DDR2 run as fast as 1333mhz, DDR3 runs as fast as 2400mhz or higher for example.


a motherboard specification sheet will last the maximum MHz in which its capable of running in memory speed, it will also tell you what type DDR DDR2 DDR3.


different brands of motherboard makers give their motherboards a model number or a name and model number, for e.g asus (the manufacturers) p5q (the model number)within this p5q model range there will be many types of features, so a p5q PRO mobo will have less features than a P5Q PRO TURBO mobo for e.g.


exactly like a car menaufacturer like ford, you get basic models of fiesta and high spec models of fiesta, fiesta Encore, fiesta finesse, fiesta ghia, fiesta ghiaX fiesta titanium and fiesta titaniumX, its the same model but each model in the range has different levels of specifications.

almillar

Ok, back to the earlier questions...
How much ram do you have?
How much free disk space?
What operating system are you running?

We've already worked out that this system isn't really worth upgrading - £50-£100 will get a much better system, and OP isn't a system builder.
Here's one within 20 miles of you, £40, saving £20 in postage. Importantly, includes an OS.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-OptiPlex-755-80-GB-Intel-Core-2-Duo-2-2-GHz-2-GB-/261400778301?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopPCs&hash=item3cdcb3563d

Cycrow

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

The system my wife had had no sata connection I plugged my SSD in via a controller installed all the drivers and the system simply would recognize the fact it has a SSD in it it simply wouldn't boot up once the ssd was plugged in unplug it the system booted, tried allsorts of things that I research thnat came up and finanlly got my new build companants and completed the build and it works fantastic.

sounds like the controller simply wasn't compatible with the SSD, doesn't mean you cant get a controller that would work.

one of my pcs has an SSD boot drive thats run off a SATA controller, and it works perfectly fine.

kwikbreaks

From memory installing an old XP install to a SATA drive was fraught because you had to frig around and install drivers before you could get the install to work.

Anyway all that is pretty much irrelevant. As I said several posts back that machine simply isn't worth upgrading - you could buy a secondhand one dirt cheap or even get one off freegle that would be a whole lot faster than any sensible upgrade. IMO the only bit worth saving from it would be the kettle lead.

Habbakuk

almillar wrote: »

We've already worked out that this system isn't really worth upgrading - £50-£100 will get a much better system, and OP isn't a system builder.
Here's one within 20 miles of you, £40, saving £20 in postage. Importantly, includes an OS.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-OptiPlex-755-80-GB-Intel-Core-2-Duo-2-2-GHz-2-GB-/261400778301?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopPCs&hash=item3cdcb3563d

Thank you almillar. Would this system be ralatively easy to upgrade in future? Thanks.

PS Thanks atrixblue.-MFR-. for your technichal explanation.

esuhl

kwikbreaks wrote: »

From memory installing an old XP install to a SATA drive was fraught because you had to frig around and install drivers before you could get the install to work.

In that situation it's a lot easier to slipstream the drivers you need into a customised installation CD. Microsoft supply their own instructions for doing this, but another easy (easier?) way would be to use nLite.

http://www.nliteos.com/nlite.html

Johnmcl7

Habbakuk wrote: »

Thank you almillar. Would this system be ralatively easy to upgrade in future? Thanks.

PS Thanks atrixblue.-MFR-. for your technichal explanation.

It depends what you want to upgrade - because it's a SFF case (Small Form Factor) it's more limited as it can't take a full size graphics card (only half height), one optical drive and I think only one hard drive. If you want more flexibility, Dell offer the Optiplex 755 in a tower case as well which would take full size graphics cards and PCI cards plus should have more space for hard drives.

In terms of the processor, there wouldn't be much in the way of upgrades although that's pretty much the case with most Intel processors, they don't tend to support much in the way of newer processors.

I certainly agree that getting a cheap Core 2 Duo machine is a good idea, the Optiplex GX620 (the machine that the Optiplex 755 replaced) used to be our main machine at work and they've been very reliable - some of them are still in 24/7 constant use and ave been for several years yet there's been very little in the way of failures.

It may still be worth upgrading your original PC just to try it out as it's not really a loss if you have any issues, I've had a quick look on ebay and a socket 478 Prescott Pentium4 is about £3 with free delivery:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SL7E3-Intel-P4-Pentium-4-HT-2-8-GHz-1-MB-1024KB-800-MHz-Socket-PGA-478-Processer-/261116839825?pt=UK_Computing_CPUs_Processors&hash=item3ccbc6c791

I'm not definite but if any of the Pentium4's are going to work, I'd think it would be the first three on this list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Pentium_4_microprocessors#Prescott_.2890.C2.A0nm.29_2

The SiS 661MX apparently supports the faster 800Mhz FSB (your current processor is running at 533Mhz) but that's not definite. As I've said though I'd still aim for a Core 2 Duo or similar as a proper upgrade as the Core 2 Duo processors have two cores each of which is more powerful than the Pentium4 processor.

John

Habbakuk

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

It depends what you want to upgrade - because it's a SFF case (Small Form Factor) it's more limited as it can't take a full size graphics card (only half height), one optical drive and I think only one hard drive. If you want more flexibility, Dell offer the Optiplex 755 in a tower case as well which would take full size graphics cards and PCI cards plus should have more space for hard drives.

In terms of the processor, there wouldn't be much in the way of upgrades although that's pretty much the case with most Intel processors, they don't tend to support much in the way of newer processors.

I certainly agree that getting a cheap Core 2 Duo machine is a good idea, the Optiplex GX620 (the machine that the Optiplex 755 replaced) used to be our main machine at work and they've been very reliable - some of them are still in 24/7 constant use and ave been for several years yet there's been very little in the way of failures.

It may still be worth upgrading your original PC just to try it out as it's not really a loss if you have any issues, I've had a quick look on ebay and a socket 478 Prescott Pentium4 is about £3 with free delivery:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SL7E3-Intel-P4-Pentium-4-HT-2-8-GHz-1-MB-1024KB-800-MHz-Socket-PGA-478-Processer-/261116839825?pt=UK_Computing_CPUs_Processors&hash=item3ccbc6c791

I'm not definite but if any of the Pentium4's are going to work, I'd think it would be the first three on this list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Pentium_4_microprocessors#Prescott_.2890.C2.A0nm.29_2

The SiS 661MX apparently supports the faster 800Mhz FSB (your current processor is running at 533Mhz) but that's not definite. As I've said though I'd still aim for a Core 2 Duo or similar as a proper upgrade as the Core 2 Duo processors have two cores each of which is more powerful than the Pentium4 processor.

John

Thank you for the information. Regarding the Optiplex 755 in a twoer case....do you mean one like this?:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-core-2-duo-E7500-2-93ghz-/261400877881?pt=UK_Computing_CPUs_Processors&hash=item3cdcb4db39

Is this one at a reasonable price?

almillar

Habbakuk - Johnmcl7 speaks a lot of sense in his post, and I WOULD agree with him if you were the kind of person that liked taking computers apart but I suspect you're not.
This is not the most upgradeable system, but it'll suit your needs just fine. What you would want to do first is stick 4GB of RAM into it, IF it gets slow. I would also note if you need plenty of storage that the HDD is small. Maybe your current computer has a bigger one and you could swap them over from the start.
Graphics cards? Forget it. This is a £40 computer people. It'll be used for a few years, and be replace with a much faster £40 computer. Bargain basement computing!

Habbakuk

Thanks almillar. The only thing I'm concerned about with this machine is the lack off HDD space. My current computer has an 80 GB HDD and also a second one which I added of the same size. I've got a lot of videos on the second disk.