SillyDog701

[Cannibalshymn]

I am curious! I am new to this site, found it while Googling my question, and I feel that my best chances for help are here! My stats are below, and that is why I would like to be able to upgrade to a better processor by any means necessary or possible! This computer was given to me recently, and what I would love to do it just build a new computer and be able to get more RAM installed and go with a Quad! But, in the mean time, I would like to do with this one what I can! Can someone help?

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[Don_HH2K]

If the computer in question is the one in your signature, you might be interested in the Dimension 8400 service manual, which among other things has a spec sheet that you might find useful.

As far as upgrading your processor goes, your options are going to be fairly slim. This post on Tom's Hardware is pretty telling:

The 8400 supports only Celeron D (except 356, 347, 360, and 352 and all incorrectly labeled 400 series Celerons) and Pentium 4 Prescott CPUs of the 5xx and 6x0 variety. No dual core CPUs will work, not even Pentium D. This is do to a combination of BIOS restrictions, out-of-date VRM revisions, and chipset limitations.

Wikipedia has a long list of P4 CPUs, and given those restrictions it looks like the best you can (somewhat) safely go with is the 3.8GHz Pentium 4 HT 670. If you're currently on the Northwood-based CPU, you should get 64-bit support out of this, assuming your BIOS supports it; otherwise, you might not notice any substantially big differences between your current CPU and a new one.

The P4 HT 670 goes for about $100 on eBay, so it might not really be worth it to make the move.

The service manual I linked earlier states that your machine can take up to 4GB of DDR2-533. DDR2 memory is quite cheap nowadays, so this might be a quick upgrade for you that doesn't cost a lot, though without a 64-bit OS you probably won't get much out of it.

The GT 220 you already have is already more than on par with the performance of your CPU, so there isn't much room for improvement there.

In all, it might be more cost-effective to build a new machine from the ground up. I have a couple of friends that built pretty decent sub-$1000 Core i5 machines over the holiday.

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[Cannibalshymn]

Thanks for the info! Like I had mentioned before, I would like to build my own, I was just trying to get the best out of this one until the funds become available! I am satisfied right now...My only issue really was gaming, and that I am unable to play newer games, but it is fine, I still am able to play a wide variety of newer games that I was unable to do on my old PC!

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