Converting My Pentium 4 Desktop to a Core 2 Duo or Dual Core

Can someone give me a general guess as to what's involved in regards to costs & parts to "convert" my desktop to either a Core 2 Duo or Dual Core. I currently have an HP Pentium 4 Medium center computer, XP, 120 GB hard drive.

I'm figuring to go to either a Core 2 or dual core, I have to buy a barebones system with the applicable fan unit, power supply, RAM, processor, motherboard & case. The rest of what is in my HP m260n Computer can be transferred into this new system, right? I want to keep XP as my operating system.

I figure getting someone to do this will cost $150 for their labor & say $300 for the barebones system or is that too little? Would appreciate anyones input.

Note, I'm using this computer as my second computer & my main computer a Toshiba Tecra Notebook is a Core 2 Duo.
 
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ThatGuy16

VIP Member
Are you sure its a "260n" i can't find it anywere or do you have a link to the specs? we need to find out what socket your motherboard is depending on what you can upgrade to. And i would do it yourself its really simple, and if the motherboard isn't able to upgrade though it probably is you wouldn't want a barebone kit they are rip offs. If you were to go that far you might as well go ahead and build a whole new system. (replacing the motherboard any would require you purchasing a new copy of Windows XP) thats around ~$115.
 

apj101

VIP Member
Are you sure its a "260n" i can't find it anywere or do you have a link to the specs? we need to find out what socket your motherboard is depending on what you can upgrade to. And i would do it yourself its really simple, and if the motherboard isn't able to upgrade though it probably is you wouldn't want a barebone kit they are rip offs. If you were to go that far you might as well go ahead and build a whole new system. (replacing the motherboard any would require you purchasing a new copy of Windows XP) thats around ~$115.

not true; if you call microsoft and tell them that you have upgraded the system mobo and cpu they will re-activate the xp or vista copy for you.
 

lovely?

Active Member
Can someone give me a general guess as to what's involved in regards to costs & parts to "convert" my desktop to either a Core 2 Duo or Dual Core. I currently have an HP Pentium 4 Medium center computer, XP, 120 GB hard drive.

I'm figuring to go to either a Core 2 or dual core, I have to buy a barebones system with the applicable fan unit, power supply, RAM, processor, motherboard & case. The rest of what is in my HP m260n Computer can be transferred into this new system, right? I want to keep XP as my operating system.

I figure getting someone to do this will cost $150 for their labor & say $300 for the barebones system or is that too little? Would appreciate anyones input.

Note, I'm using this computer as my second computer & my main computer a Toshiba Tecra Notebook is a Core 2 Duo.
pal i would do it for soooo much cheapper, just because it doesnt take much time at all. mby 40$ TOPS
 
I'm very confused. So I'd appreciate someone giving me a more detailed answer. To begin with, you can not just swap a core 2 processor and put it in a Pentium
4 computer by just removing the CPU, correct? You are going to need at minimum a new motherboard, new fan/cooling unit, new RAM & new power source, correct? Is there anything else I didn't include?

To do that, you would then have to transfer the other parts of my HPm260n
(hard drive, DVDRW, CD Drive, etc., into the new core 2 computer that is being assembled). This doesn't seem to me something that someone would just charge $40 to do.

Any insight would be appreciated.
 

oscaryu1

VIP Member
I'm very confused. So I'd appreciate someone giving me a more detailed answer. To begin with, you can not just swap a core 2 processor and put it in a Pentium
4 computer by just removing the CPU, correct? You are going to need at minimum a new motherboard, new fan/cooling unit, new RAM & new power source, correct? Is there anything else I didn't include?

To do that, you would then have to transfer the other parts of my HPm260n
(hard drive, DVDRW, CD Drive, etc., into the new core 2 computer that is being assembled). This doesn't seem to me something that someone would just charge $40 to do.

Any insight would be appreciated.

If your motherboard is an LGA775 and has Core 2 Duo support, you can convert.

If your motherboard will work with an Core 2 Duo all you'll need to replace is the CPU fan. Otherwise, the Motherboard, Memory, CPU, CPU Fan, and possibly the power supply.
 
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