Upgrade advice needed

[Melvin]

Greetings gents.

This is what I'm running:

Vostro 200
Pentium Dual E2140 @ 1.6GHz
Intel G33/31 Chipset
300W P/S
2 Gigs DDR2 RAM
I believe the bus is 800MHz

So I want to upgrade some parts. I checked at the Dell forum and came up with this:

Wolfdale E8400 Dual core @ 3.00 GHz
GeForce 8600GT card. (Although I searched and could only find 8400 series)

I'd like to stuff a couple more gigs of RAM in too. And I understand that I'll have to upgrade BIOS to v1.0.16. for a processor upgrade.( Which may be done already, I haven't checked.)


So what do you guys think? Will this work and is it worth the ~$200 bucks it'll cost?

The guy on the Dell forum claimed that 300 watts would handle these upgrades.

Due to Dell's use of a proprietary wiring harness, the only way to get a bigger PSU is to get one from an XPS, or some other Dell and shoehorn it in. Can this be done?

Throwing more than a couple hundred bucks at this thing isn't an option.

Any and all advice or suggestions is greatly appreciated.

<S> Melvin

[Ghosth]

My biggest concern would be trying to run a modern video card on a 300 watt power supply.

That is pretty much a recipe for disaster right there.

[Reschke]

+1 Ghosth

Basic update/upgrade for you.

Go check out a 750W or better power supply from Newegg or anywhere else along with one of the new nVidia 400 series card.

For the money you want to spend the nvidia cards just took a price drop since the new 500 series cards came out.

[Melvin]

I would be fine with getting a new PSU, but I was under the impression that Dell uses a proprietary wiring harness, and that any old 750 watter will not work. It has to be a Dell.

They don't offer any PSU upgrades for the Vostro 200, so I'd have to find one from a different Dell model and see if I could modify the case to get it to fit. I think the form factor for this model is ATX or Micro ATX, I'll have to check.

If the PSU upgrade falls on it's face, could someone recommend a CPU/ Vid card combo that I COULD get away with using?

This life of stuttering around the new towns and in furballs has got to stop.

Thanks again folks. <S> Melvin

[Reschke]

I have seen some psu's that fit into the Dell cases and are higher wattage than what you think you can get away with. If it comes down to it you might be able to get away with a new case el cheapo just for now type case and just transfer everything over into that to help you accommodate an easy upgrade.

[BaldEagl]

You might get by on a 300 W PSU with an 8600 video card.  It's not that powerful a card and combined with an E8400 the video card will be your new bottleneck.  For sure an 8400 won't need a new PSU.  In fact, I'd skip the CPU upgrade and try the video card on it's own but don't expect much.  It's not like your going to suddenly be able to turn on all the eye candy but you may be able to turn it up a little or improve your frame rates with your current settings.  The video card will give you the biggest bang for the buck.  The CPU might add a little more but the bang for the buck probably makes it not worthwhile.  Pretty much thte same with the RAM unless your running a 64 bit OS.  Then it may be worthwhile.  Save your extra pennies for a new machine.

[guncrasher]

i had an 8400 nvidia card with a 350w ps on my old compaq computer.  the ps wasnt enought to power it.  difference was like day and night when I upgraded to a 450 ps.  but it's your choice.

semp