NOOB has a question... changing CPUs

[kaotikvizion]

so Im training to be in the IT (half way thru my A+ so far )field so I figured hey lets take apart the comp and hopefully not kill anything. I opened up my 2 yo Emachine to checkout my mobo. ECS Web Site there she is in all her beauty any ways Im running an intel celeron D 3.46GHz, 512MB of ram, Vista 32-bit... my question is in 3 parts.

I want to be able to do more & play games if I want to. if I change out the CPU for say... this Intel Pentium Dual-Core E6500 Processor - 2.93GHz, 2MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB, Wolfdale, Dual Core, Retail, Socket 775 at TigerDirect.com Would it work? & would it affect anything like my 32-bit vista negatively? I only see one P4power port willthis come in to play with me wanting a dual core?

I want to get a graphics card so I was thinking Galaxy GeForce GTS 250 Video Card - 512MB GDDR3, PCI Express 2.0, Dual Link DVI, HDMI, HDTV, SLI Ready at TigerDirect.com would it work & would it affect anything else negatively

and I want to up my RAM so i was gonna up it to two 1GB sticks, I know it needs to be DDR2 240 pin is there anything else I need to make sure of? I was thinking of getting Kingston 1024MB PC5400 DDR2 667MHz Memory at TigerDirect.com

Thanks for listening and helping if you can!:super_happy: oh and if you have any ideas please do tell!

P.S. One of the games I have started to play but quit was WoW. it would run ok untill I got to any city or if there were too many people on the screen. I dont want to lag at all is this possible witht this new setup?

 

[Baez]

Welcome to the Forums kaotikvizion!

For starters, never go with TigerDirect for computer parts. They're way overpriced and their service is subpar. Since you're in the US, is suggest Newegg for everything. Great prices and service.

Q1. Simple answer: No. The board you have is too old for the E6500. Your board only supports the 2, 4 and early 6 series (the one you're looking at is the later 6 series). Also, if you change your CPU, you need to repair Windows using your Windows disk.

Q2. The GTS 250 is a great card for gaming but with that processor it will be bottlenecked, basically meaning it won't run at its full potential.

Q3. Nothing else except for speed. Your board can't handle anything over 1066MHz which is pretty standard.



So... With all that said and done here's what I suggest. Spend some money on a new motherboard. That board is killing your potential setup.

Here is a good simple build:

Motherboard, Processor and Video Card: Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!
RAM: Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBNT - Desktop Memory

That'll take about $340 out of your pocket and it's a strong build that will last a good long time. Of course there are cheaper builds out there!

Hope the helps

 

[kaotikvizion]

Thanks Baez! great info. like I said Im starting the road to an IT career so I figured this little project could be some good at home low risk fun. the info & setup was great & I think I will do this once I save the money the one thing I have a question about is where you said if I change the CPU I need to repair windows with my disk... Emachines didnt give me a disk it was shipped with vista installed. so (A) how would I repair with out the disk & (B) how do I go about changing my vista from 32 to 64 bit?

 

[Slaymate]

The Vista setup program is probably located in it's own partition on your hard drive. So you would just need to set it's drive letter as the boot drive and the setup program should run at start-up.

If you want to go 64-bit you'll need to purchase the OS and then install it from the supplied installation cd/dvd.

 

[kaotikvizion]

Thanks alot!