Dell Xps Gen 5

XPSMan159

New Member
I Have a DELL XPS GEN 5 that has pentium 4 3.20 Processer 1 GB DDR2 4200 RAM and a Nividia 6800 with 256MB memory. I have 2 160 GB 7200 RPM hard drives and a extra cooling system that I put in. What could I do to make it even faster then it is. It works fine but I just want to too how fast i can really get it.

I also have a 60 Gb 7200 RPM external hard drive

Please help me out.
 
Really nothing. Maybe add another gig of ram but thats it. It wouldnt be worth upgrading, most pre-built computers like those use the current top end stuff which usually gets outdate fairly quick and becomes un-upgradable.

You could possibly upgrade the video card since it is PCI-E, only problem is from what i read its only x4 PCI-E, so it pretty much sucks.

That chipset might support a Core 2 Duo...im not sure though. It says the chipset is the 955, so im sure it should.

So you could probibly install a Core 2 Duo in it. That would make it at least 2x faster.
 
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Sorry man, it won't support Core 2 Duo CPU's. The best thing is a Pentium D, or if you have money, the Pentium Extreme Ed. But the Pentium EE isn't worth the dough.

Here's your motherboard's specifications
http://www.intel.com/products/motherboard/d955xbk/index.htm

You may wanna leave it the way it is or build your own, obviously Dell just screwed you over, non-upgradable.

That P4 he has is the Extreme Eddition dual core according it specs.
 
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Oh so now you think that CNET is more reliable than Dell's website? Go look at the tech specs I just left. There is a number of them, CNET quotes what is majority of the consumer market, not what is manufactured.
 
What is the model off of your processor, it could be 541 or 640, and when did you buy this PC. The 3.2Ghz version of the Pentium EE is way old, the 3.73Ghz has officially taken over now.

According to the site i posted, it is the P4 EE 840 dual core. Either way, all the P4s are old and outdated, even the EEs. The EE isnt much better then a normal P4, just a fancy name and high clock speed.
 

That link doesnt help at all as it does not give an exact model on the P4 used. And to point this out more clearly it says "Intel P4 with HT or dual core".

Like i said, it wouldnt matter anyway the EE isnt much better then the normal P4 with HT. Just overclock any normal P4 (with 200mhz FSB) to the EE speed (whichever that may be) and you will have the same performance. Which isnt a whole lot compared to todays CPUs.

Pretty much like AMDs X2 and FX-60 and up series. Basically the same thing with a fancy name.
 
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That is very true.........but look at my system I am running a 541 P4 3.2Ghz and I figured the old P EE wouldn't go back as far as 3.2Ghz. He can't upgrade to a C2D so he is better of building. NOT supporting Dell, I will never buy a Dell PC again. 2 years ago my Dad bought a Dim. 3k and it had a
2.8Ghz P4 (non-HT)- I don't even think they make 2.8Ghz w/ HT tech.
256mb of RAM
a 17" CRT
low grade POS speakers
NO PERIPHIALS
Dual Drives-Samsung CD Burner & a CD-ROM
& a 40Gb HD

He paid $800 for basically nothing, it is way outta date and very slow.
 
That is very true.........but look at my system I am running a 541 P4 3.2Ghz and I figured the old P EE wouldn't go back as far as 3.2Ghz. He can't upgrade to a C2D so he is better of building. NOT supporting Dell, I will never buy a Dell PC again. 2 years ago my Dad bought a Dim. 3k and it had a
2.8Ghz P4 (non-HT)- I don't even think they make 2.8Ghz w/ HT tech.
256mb of RAM
a 17" CRT
low grade POS speakers
NO PERIPHIALS
Dual Drives-Samsung CD Burner & a CD-ROM
& a 40Gb HD

He paid $800 for basically nothing, it is way outta date and very slow.



I dislike Dell as well, my school uses them and they are crap. The school claims to have paid over $600 for them and i told them i could build a computer for $600 thats twice as fast. They are brand new and use 2.4ghz/133mhzFSB P4s with HT and have an X300 graphics card.

My current build only costed $380~.
 
OMG.......That's not right, us as custom builders, could blow the manufactured PC way off the market. 2.4Ghz for $600, thats ignorant, their IT people have no idea what they're are doing. I have the Dell's at my school and are 3.0HT. I have a question why don't they use E6300 or E4300, they may run at 1.86 and 1.8, but they would blow a P4 away at multitasking.
 
OMG.......That's not right, us as custom builders, could blow the manufactured PC way off the market. 2.4Ghz for $600, thats ignorant, their IT people have no idea what they're are doing. I have the Dell's at my school and are 3.0HT. I have a question why don't they use E6300 or E4300, they may run at 1.86 and 1.8, but they would blow a P4 away at multitasking.

Yea, our IT ppl at our school district are complete morons....its funny. They just bought these computers last year. Dell GX260s i believe.
 
Ours are the optiplex 400's or something like that and they suck. I know the main IT support guy at my school and I asked him why. He told me it was the way the inconsiderate school board wanted it, and of course the budget limited it. In our library we still have the Compaq Evo's 1.7Ghz P4, they are horrible. Here's my opinion, go to a local PC business and ask them what would be best for our applications, and have them build however many is requested.
 
Ours are the optiplex 400's or something like that and they suck. I know the main IT support guy at my school and I asked him why. He told me it was the way the inconsiderate school board wanted it, and of course the budget limited it. In our library we still have the Compaq Evo's 1.7Ghz P4, they are horrible. Here's my opinion, go to a local PC business and ask them what would be best for our applications, and have them build however many is requested.

Try running Photoshop CS2 on 1gb of SINGLE channel SDR ram with a crappy P4 at 2.4ghz/133mhz! lol. It completely sucks, the computers actually lock up quite a bit......

And they can only open 42 IE applications at once and then they lock up. My computer can open over 100.
 
my schools claims that they payed Dell $500 for a 2.4ghz Northwoods 256mb
Ram and a 40 gb HDD. 1 year old.

Northwood....best P4 core ever made! That was what my lucky P4 was. A 2.66ghz Northwood. The HT on it had been perminantly disabled. Never ran hot, not even on full load, max temp always stayed under 45c even at 3.45ghz with a 1.8v v-core! Amazing core, they can reach some pretty high clocks. Although i heard they reached a barrier with them and that is why they no longer used the Northwood and instead began producing Prescotts. Which got very hot even at stock speeds, then given the name "Preshot".
 
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