Hey,

I'm no professional at building computers - best I've done is install a PCI TV Card, although I recently purchased an expensive desktop and for some stupid reason I didn't even think about intel core duo/ dual processor but it has a high spec without the matching processor I was wondering is a new dual processor easy to install or should I take it to a shop and let them upgrade it?

p.s. Would lose anything on my desktop software & files if I did get my desktop upgraded

more info please ,motherboard make and model number might help people help you with your question .

As caperjack said, more info would be better for us to figure out what to suggest. But it depends on your mohterboard really. If you are running a normal CPU then it may not be compatible with a dual core one. Also depending on the type of your OS also decides whether you loose out on anything else. If u have an OEM OS then u might have to reconsider changing CPU as it becomes void if u do such a system critical change(correct me if i m worng here guys!) You will have to get it reactivated after the upgrade or even worse get another copy.

I d suggest if you dont require your pc to run some fancy applications requirig lots of processing power then y upgrade it anyways? What would you be doing on your dektop though? You might just find the original CPU to be enough....but in any case let us know what CPU u currently have with motherboard specs, OS, also if u dont mind do put the applications or programs u plaanin for the pc.

Regards
Raj

Thanks for the replies guys below i have posted a Rough Specification aswell as the applications i would be using.

Specification:
Motherboard: ACPI x64
CPU: Intel Pentium dual cpu E2180 @2.00 Ghz 1.99Ghz
RAM: 1024MB
Graphics Card: Nvidia eforce 6200 LE
Wattage is 250V

Applications:
Adobe Master Suite Collection CS3:
* Adobe Photoshop® CS3 Extended
* Adobe InDesign® CS3
* Adobe Illustrator® CS3
* Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional
* Adobe Flash® CS3 Professional
* Adobe Dreamweaver® CS3
* Adobe Fireworks® CS3

* Adobe Contribute®
* Adobe After Effects® CS3 Professional
* Adobe Premiere® Pro CS3
* Adobe Soundbooth™ CS3
* Adobe Encore® CS3

note: anythin i have underlined would be the main packages in cs3 that i use

I d say your CPU looks good enough for the applications that you are planning to use. I have used the Photoshop, acrobat reader, Flash, Dreamweaver, fireworks, cooledit pro and quite a few more applications on my machine which was nowhere near to the spec u have got man. It worked absolutely fine. Dont really knoe much about indesign, illustrator, contribute, encore, after effect, premiere, soundbooth though. but the once i mentioned above were carried out on a single core amd athlon 2000 xp processor. that was about 1.4ghz. Yours is miles better and as far as i can say should do the trick just fine but then again you can always get it upgraded.

With the info you have provided you can get a 64 bit processor for ur machine but if you give the exact name and manufacturer/model of mobo then we may be able to suggest you what cpu u can use to upgrade the existing one on ur mobo. So if you provide the make/model then we can give u suggestions.

Hope it hels
Regards
Raj

I'm hoping you mean it plugs into a 240 volt wall socket.
If you mean your computer's power supply is only 250 watts, then you're sailing pretty close to the wind there (although you do have a 'low power consumption' setup I suppose). Just something that came to mind, a bit off topic though.

The programs you've listed are more RAM intensive than CPU intensive. If you have a free (unused) RAM slot on the board, adding another stick may be a cheap way to improve these applications' performance (photoshop especially).

Thanks for all your replies i think ill stick with it as it does do the job and ill just be a bit more patient - as for my power supply im sure its fine.. i hope

I statement that makes me think you are not really sure ,if its only a 250 watt ,it certainly not powerful enough ,as 250w were used in older,older really old p4s and Plll computer ,not the one you are using

really, now thats a oxymoron .lol watts kill not volts

True true. Here in Australia we use 240Volts instead of your measley 110Volts over there , so I think that's what lochii was referring to.

Only jokes, 110V and 240V is no difference, as you say it's the Amps (and therefore the Watts) that matter. Is Canada 110 or 240?

Suppose this thread's solved then?