Can I buy a new CPU?

[fuzzypumpkins]

My computer is slow all of a sudden, not like it used to be when I first had it. I only have norton antivirus running in the system tray and itunes occasionally. I have a 2.53 celly. 1gbram. winxp w/ sp2. 40gb harddrive w/ 50% free. Nvidia geforce fx5500. I installed spyware/adware removers, and they say my pc is fine. The socket is 478, so can I just buy a P4 3.2ghz(for example) and drop it in and go? Am I missing something? Thanks.

[dcc]

Hi Fuzzy, there are several things that could slow down you computer, the number of process running in the back ground, upgrages and download while you're doing something else...

What are you doing when you notice that it is running slow?

Have you defraged you hdd recently?

How old is this machine?

What make and model/motherboard and CPU is your computer?

[fuzzypumpkins]

Well I got the pc at the end of december '05. So it is new. Some other forums recently told me about this quick lil program that disables programs running in the system tray. So currently, all I have running is avg free. I uninstalled some programs and also did the defrag and disk clean up. I see a difference. It is really quick to start up now. The internet is still not that fast, but it did speed up. For the mother board, I am not sure, but I think it is an intel. Here is the information I got from amibios scan.

SMBIOS info:
Manufacturer : Dell Computer Corp.
Product Name : 0CF458
Version :
Serial Number: ..CN7082159TA426.

Is there a certain way to see what motherboard I have? I also know it came with intel integrated graphics and it is socket 478.

[dcc]

Glad to hear that it's running faster, when your on line you are limited by the type of connection you have, dial up or broad band..., and then your connection is dependent on the specific sites traffic. Your computer could be one of the fastest, and still be slow on line.

If you want to find out what your motherboard is, and just about everything else you could think of, there is a freeware program called Everest Home Edition you can download from the following link.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

[fuzzypumpkins]

Ok, I have a dell de051 motherboard according to everest. Now what does this mean as afar as upgrading processors?

[dcc]

I googled your information and didn't find anything useful, in English that is. The infromation that came up for your computer was in German, and I don't have a means, or time for translating it, perhaps someone else here can help. With out more information I won't be able to find out what your motherboard will support. Perhaps soneone else here will be able to further assist you.

Where did you get this computer?

[fuzzypumpkins]

Ok I found out that 533 fsb is the most i can go. So how about this:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80656-1

Newegg also has it I believe.

Will I notice a difference? I hope so.

[dcc]

Let's go back for a moment, if your computer is still running slower and you have defraged it, cleaned out you cookies, then you should think about running a couple of scans to see if you have an infection. I know you have Norton, but there are some item it may not detect, for that reason I would suggest downloading and running the following freeware.

Spybot Search and Destroy.

http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10122137.html

Ad-Aware.

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

Ewido Security Suit.

http://www.download.com/Ewido-Security-Suite/3000-8022_4-10326287.html

Depending on your use, 40GB of hdd space isn't that much, after you have decreased the capacity to 50% it will be small enough that if you are backing up DVDs for instance it will start taking longer, so there is one other possibility.

In my opinion, if you are still bent on increasing the performance of you machine, I wouldn't invest in another CPU, I would replace the motherboard and the CPU to a 939 socket. But then you would probably need to purchase different RAM, and then off course, being a Dell you know that the PSU isn't going to beable to keep up with your new components (Dell skimps where ever it can, PSUs are one of them), and you can't go out and purchase a retail PSU, Dell has theirs built to fit their space requirements, so you would have to purchase one from them. If you have already used 50% of you hdd space, you are going to want to think about replacing it also, about this point you should be realizing that for the amount of money you're looking at you could either build or purchase another computer, which is what I would do.

One of the other questions I should have asked up front is what do you do with your computer?

[fuzzypumpkins]

I listen and download music and movies, internet, school reports, backing up stuff for my psp, and high quality games.

[dcc]

Did you download and run ther scans? If so, what did you find?

I should also mention that if you don't clear your cookies they will show up as mild threats in Ewido.

[fuzzypumpkins]

I didn't find any problems. All my scans are skweaky clean.

[chrisbliss18]

You mention that you like to play the latest games. Sorry to say, but your machine was not designed to run the latest games. At best, it was developed to do mostly non-graphically intensive productivity applications and older games or ones that don't rely so heavily on the GPU.

So if your main beef is that you can't run the latest games with a high resolution with all the options turned on, then there is little that can be done. If you want a high-performance machine, you need to do the research to ensure that what you get will fit what you want it to do.

As for your internet being slow even when there isn't anything running in the background, what browser do you use? And do you have any extensions, special plug-ins, or toolbars installed on it?

[fuzzypumpkins]

ie6 with google toolbar and just the basic macromedia, etc extensions on it.

BTW, I have made up my mind to buy a new pc this may.

Here are some possible specs:

amd athlon 64 x2 3800+
1gb corsair pc3200
80 seagate hd 7200 8mb
xion ii case
500w psu
asus a8n32 sli deluxe motherboard
i'll keep my dell flat panel 'cause it works fine
two geforce 6800 gs video cards
higher psu and better cooling down the road
and of course, overclocked a lil

So what do you think about this project? Will it suit my gaming needs? And its not extremely expensive either.