Computer Upgrade Questions

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mr.science

New Member
I have a Dell Dimension 8400 with two pentiums 4s running in synch at 3.2 gigahertz. I recently realized that even this isn't enough for high end games. I just downloaded gamespace light off of the interweb anfd I created a polygon sphere with almost 10000 infividual faces. It completly drained my RAM and my CPU and my computer completly locked up. I had to bring up the task manager to kill every process. My page file usage was up to 2 gigabytes, and that's probobly why.

Needless to say, I could use a better processor if I plan to use this for things that other people could only dream of. I need a processor that will eat any game that challenges it alive. I need a top of the line processor. The Intel Quad Core Extreme.

Now, realizing that my computer is an older rig, I'm rather cautious before jumping out and buying a 1k CPU. I need to know other things. What else would I need to buy for instance? I have a feeling I would need a new motherboard, even though my current one supports X86 socket processors. The reason this is is because mine has two CPUs in it, and I would have to buy another Quad core, but I'm not sure eather way. Would it be fine if I left one of the CPU sockets on the motherboard empty? Tha would cut down on my costs. What about a heat sink? A processor with four cores running at 3.2 gigahertz...I'm wondering there too. And what about an upgrade in RAM? This CPU is litterally making en effort to suck in data as fast as it can, and spitting it out at light speed with little effort. With this in mind, I'm wondering if I need more RAM to handle data.

Ultimatly, I'm wondering about how much extra stuff I'd have to buy, and I'd greatly appreciate it if anyone can answer this question. Thanks for reading (and hopefully answering).:)
 
First off, Dells are hard to upgrade, if you say, "before" you drop 1k, you have to realize that quad cores, are about 900$ alone. Also DX 10 is coming out (for newer games) and you would have to spend 400-600, on the video card alone. If you wait until the mid months of summer, the prices should drop some, and you can get a lot better of a computer and the new 8 series video cards will be out. I'm not sure what ram you have, video card etc, so if you would tell us about that it would help, thanks.
 
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I highly doubt you have dual processors. It more likely just has hyperthreading. Anyway, X86 is not a socket type, it's a processor architecture. Yes you would need a new motherboard that is socket 775.
You would also need new (different) RAM (DDR2), and you only have to worry about 1 processor and 1 socket, since that's all regular consumer motherboards have, for now.
The stock Intel cooler would be sufficient, but it would probably be a good idea to buy a better cooler.
 
Styrak said:
I highly doubt you have dual processors. It more likely just has hyperthreading. Anyway, X86 is not a socket type, it's a processor architecture. Yes you would need a new motherboard that is socket 775.
You would also need new (different) RAM (DDR2), and you only have to worry about 1 processor and 1 socket, since that's all regular consumer motherboards have, for now.
The stock Intel cooler would be sufficient, but it would probably be a good idea to buy a better cooler.
Click to expand...

It's a CPU architecture, but there are socket types on motherboards designed to support that architecture, hence, they are also called socket types refering to the type of architecture it can support. Also, I so have two individual processors on my computer, both clocked at 3.2 gigahertz. I typed in "systeminfo" in the command prompt and it told me specifically I had two individual processors installed.

Thanks for the help though.
 
mr.science said:
It's a CPU architecture, but there are socket types on motherboards designed to support that architecture, hence, they are also called socket types refering to the type of architecture it can support. Also, I so have two individual processors on my computer, both clocked at 3.2 gigahertz. I typed in "systeminfo" in the command prompt and it told me specifically I had two individual processors installed.

Thanks for the help though.
Click to expand...

No, no sockets are called x86. It's an architecture:
Directly from wikipedia
x86 or 80x86 is the generic name of a microprocessor architecture, first developed and manufactured by Intel. It currently dominantes the desktop, portable and small server markets, and has been used in personal computers since the 1980s IBM PC.
Click to expand...

As for the two processors, Windows just sees two processors because of the Hyperthreading. It's being "fooled" so that it can do pseudo-multitasking.
 
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