Upgrade a Dell?

[John R]

In a chat session with a Dell tech I was informed Dell does not recommend a
processor upgrade. All the pieces must fit and work together, he said. I
have a Pentium III 550 MH and would like to do better. Is it possible to
upgrade and what are the risks/rewards?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

In a chat session with a Dell tech I was informed Dell does not
recommend a processor upgrade. All the pieces must fit and work
together, he said. I have a Pentium III 550 MH and would like to do
better. Is it possible to upgrade and what are the risks/rewards?

It is likely less expensive to purchase a whole new system than attempt to
upgrade that one - because - in the end - you would likely want a modern
processor 2+GHz, which would mean a new mainboard, new memory, new
case/power supply....

 

[Bruce Chambers]

In a chat session with a Dell tech I was informed Dell does not recommend a
processor upgrade. All the pieces must fit and work together, he said. I
have a Pentium III 550 MH and would like to do better. Is it possible to
upgrade and what are the risks/rewards?

In general, there is no problem upgrading the processor, so long as the
new CPU is supported by the motherboard and its BIOS.

*HOWEVER*, a motherboard so old as to have a Pentium III CPU cannot
possibly support modern processors. For that sort of upgrade, you'd
need to replace at least the entire motherboard, and probably the RAM,
as well. Other components should still work, provided the new
motherboard has the necessary interface connections for the legacy
components.




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Bruce Chambers

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[CS]

In a chat session with a Dell tech I was informed Dell does not recommend a
processor upgrade. All the pieces must fit and work together, he said. I
have a Pentium III 550 MH and would like to do better. Is it possible to
upgrade and what are the risks/rewards?

The Dell tech is probably correct. When upgrading a proprietary
machine, which Dells are, more may be involved than just replacing the
CPU. I suggest you ask the same question in one of Dell's user
forums. Lots of good answers there and the folks that participate are
usually more knowledgeable than the Dell support personnel.

 

[FreeComputerConsultant.com]

You probably cannot find a processor available. As others have posted,
put the money into a new PC.

Dell has great values on original purchases, but they have a tendency to
nail you on upgrades anyway.

www.FreeComputerConsultant.com

 

[NoStop]

In a chat session with a Dell tech I was informed Dell does not recommend
a processor upgrade. All the pieces must fit and work together, he said. I
have a Pentium III 550 MH and would like to do better. Is it possible to
upgrade and what are the risks/rewards?

Install a Linux distro like Ubuntu and breathe new life into older hardware.
It'll end up giving you a new machine at no cost that will be running an
advanced operating system.

Cheers.

--
Linux is ready for the desktop! More ready than Windoze XP.
http://tinyurl.com/ldm9d

"Computer users around the globe recognize that the most serious threats to
security exist because of inherent weaknesses in the Microsoft operating
system." McAfee

 

[RHinNC]

You may want to check out the forums at Dell. :
http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In a chat session with a Dell tech I was informed Dell does not
recommend a processor upgrade. All the pieces must fit and work
together, he said. I have a Pentium III 550 MH and would like to do
better. Is it possible to upgrade and what are the risks/rewards?

Whether you can upgrade a processor depends on the motherboard. Every
motherboard has a limited range of what processors it can accept. Since you
haven't told us what motherboard you have, we can't answer your question
directly. Dell is the best source of that information.

However, even if you could upgrade, it would likely only be a small step up.
You couldn't put a fast modern processor in a motherboard as old as yours.
So that means you also need a new motherboard.

If you get a new motherboard, your old RAM probably won't work in it, so
you'll also need new RAM (and probably more than you had before).

Will the old power supply be adequate for the new motherboard, cpu, and RAM?
You may need a new power supply too.

How about your hard drive? If it's of the same vintage as your 550MHx PIII,
it's probably very small and slow. You probably should upgrade that too
while you're at it.

If you haven't yet seen where this is going, the real point here is that,
rather than upgrade anything, with a computer that old, it's probably best
to discard what you have entirely and buy a whole new computer. You can
probably keep your monitor, and Dell can sell you a new computer that will
run rings around your old one for someplace around $400 or so.