Gaming World Forums
General Category => Technology and Programming => Topic started by: Feldschlacht IV on September 17, 2008, 11:18:23 pm
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I'm PRETTY SURE I made this topic earlier today and it's gone now for no reason and/or notification to me, so I'm making it again.
How do I upgrade this? Is it upgradable? How much does it cost? Give me some information because this isn't my forte and I don't know too much about this.
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The amount of GHz in your computer is determined by your processor, which is typically upgradeable. You need to know either what kind of motherboard you have or what kind of socket is on that motherboard and also what the maximum Front Side Bus (FSB) speed your motherboard supports is.
I assume this is a prebuilt computer since you don't know these things, so can you tell us some about your computer, the model perhaps?
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This is the model number.
KJ384AA-ABA SR5410F
It may be worth noting that I bought and installed a Nvidia Geforce 9600 GT video card.
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Okay, your motherboard specifications are here (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01386897&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=3686678&lang=en). Now those numbers may not mean much to you so let me tell you what the important ones are. Under CPU/Processor, your Socket is where you stick a processor on a motherboard. Each processor is designed to fit into a certain socket number. In your case you have a socket 775, which is the standard Intel socket for all of their current processors. In this regard you could get any Intel processor and put it in there, but each processor is also rated for a FSB speed. In your case, it says your motherboard supports up to 1333 MHz, which is enough for any Intel processor except the newest Core 2 Extreme.
From that glance, everything looks okay, but there is one last thing to consider and that is whether your BIOS supports newer processors. To find this out I would suggest calling HP and asking them if the BIOS on your computer supports the new Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad processors. Since it is an MSI board, the answer is probably yes. If HP cannot answer, call MSI (http://www.msi.com.tw/) and ask them the same question but instead of the HP model number, instead give them the motherboard model listed next to "Motherboard description" on the link I provided above.
If all that checks out you will be good for upgrading to whatever you would like. I can help you select a good processor if you tell me your budget.
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Hey man, you're really helping me out here, thanks! How much do upgrades usually run for? Give me some numbers and I can give you how much money I'm willing to spend.
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To be more specific, your specifications already say that the motherboard supports the E7000 series Core 2s, but what you will want to know is whether it supports the E8000 series since that has the FSB speed of 1333 which translates to them being better processors.
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How much do they generally cost?
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Anywhere from $200-400CAD for the duos and $300-700CAD for the quads. I'm not sure where you live, but you may be able to get an idea of prices from that.
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Hey man, you're really helping me out here, thanks! How much do upgrades usually run for? Give me some numbers and I can give you how much money I'm willing to spend.
Upgrading to the newest Core 2 Duo will be at least 160$, the E8200 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115038), which has 2 cores at 2.66 GHz (compared to your 2 cores at 1.8 GHz)
The newest quad cores start at 200$, the Q8200 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115055) and have 4 cores at 2.33 GHz.
It is important to note that two cores are sometimes better than four as software has to be able to use all four cores to get an actual boost in performance. Most games now typically use two cores, and many are not even optimized for that, so your best bet is probably to get as high a clock speed (GHz) rated dual core as you can. The middle of the road is 3.0 GHz, the E8400 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037), which is $170, and the best two you can possibly get are either the E8600 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115054) with 2x3.33 GHz for 270$ or the Q9650 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115130) with 4x3.0 GHz for 550$.
If your motherboard does not support the E8000 series, then you still have a number of options: the E7300 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115132) with 2x2.66 GHz at 140$ or the Q6700 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115027) with 4x2.66 GHz at 270$. Your last option is a Pentium D 950 (http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-BOX-INTEL-PENTIUM-D-950-3-40GHz-4-800-DUAL-CORE-LGA_W0QQitemZ250295993248QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item250295993248&_trkparms=72:1205|39:1|66:2|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14) which will run about 150$ and has 2x3.4 GHz but only 800 MHz FSB speed, meaning it is nowhere near as good as the E8600 mentioned earlier even though it has a higher clock speed. The motherboard stats page at HP already indicates that you can use these, but the ones I mentioned before (the newer processors) are substantially better if you can use them, so I would recommend you call and find out.
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buy extra gigahertz at the gigahertz store
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i need gigahertz and bytes. also a bus LoL
btw im not sure why you want to upgrade your "gigahertz". it wont do anything. get another gig of ram or an external drive dont waste money on a processor unless the one you have sucks, and even then dont get a 160 dollar processor.
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My guess was that some program said he didn't have a good enough CPU to run it but worded it really poorly
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I don't know shit about computers.
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I don't know shit about computers.
Are you not happy with how your computer is performing? A new CPU (depending on the game) will increase your FPS anywhere from 1 - 20 on average. If you're using this for editing and file converting, you'll absolutely notice the difference. Also, your PC might start up a bit faster.
Normally I'd suggest you try to find the name-brand equivalent to that motherboard and flash it, but after you said "How do I upgrade my computer GHz?" I'm afraid to tell you what flash means... And no, it does not involve clothing. :)
Edit: Nevermind. You have an OEM windows install. I'm not sure if flashing the board to a different BIOS to something that's really the same board but with a different name will screw with your windows install.
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If you really aren't that knowledgeable about computers, and the thought of doing the install yourself concerns you, you can take it to a PC shop and let them do the installation for you. If you order the cpu online it will be much cheaper, then you'll only be paying them for labor, instead of their insane price for it.
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change another one
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i need gigahertz and bytes. also a bus LoL
Man I usually don't laugh at computer puns but this one was seriously pretty funny!