upgrading a dell computer

[bobyt1630]

Hi:
My father has a Dell computer given to him, It has a pentium 3, 450MHz.
He purchased some games which take a minimum cpu of 800MHz.
I would like to upgrade what he has but the dell website won't give me any information on the cpu or how high of a MHz cpu I can install. When I went to their tech support faq, It just says that it is not recommended to upgrade the mb or cpu. Searching the web for answers hasn't helped. I have found a pentium 3 1.0gHz cpu but don't know if it is compatable.
Before someone says why don't he just buy another computer, he's 78 yrs old and living on ss, And if I were to build him one he would not accept it, stuborn and self reliant, I'll be lucky if he lets me pay for the upgrade.
The computer is
A Dell Dimension XPS T450mhz Pentium 3
with 512k cashe

Thanks for any help
Bobyt

 

[PC Man Brian]

Dell is terrible. My friend wanted to do a few minor upgrades to his laptop and they called him saying "you added too many upgrades." So yeah Dell is garbage.

 

[Dark_Sniper*]

well its a dell and most of them the cpu and mobo are hard to upgrade i would think if you must upgrade this dell call them up dont look on thre site it sucks. Cpu and mobo you will have to get it from them it you buy one from somewhere esle it will not fix in there case just call them and tell them they will be able to tell you more hen the website as you said you cant build one.

 

[Hacp]

Tell me your product number. its a sticker on the back of your computer. I will find out for you.

You can probably get p3s that are 100MHZ fsb. THose go up to 1GHZ.

 

[macdude425]

God people, he already knows Dell sucks, he just needs a little help!

Since the only proprietary parts in Dell PCs are the PSU and Mobo, you should be able to upgrade the processor and RAM with no problem. Now an obligatory question: have you downloaded CPU-Z?

 

[Dean66]

One problem he might have is his current 450 mhz processor is probably the old type of slot processor. I just recently sold my old PIII 450 compaq and it used this slot processor as well, and I believe the 1.0 Ghz PIII switched over to socket type processors, which means he probably will need a different motherboard.

 

[macdude425]

I THINK the 512k cache refers to a slot style processor. I haven't screwed with one in two years, so I could be wrong. But look at product descriptions for slot processors and you see "256K" or "512k".

Just a hunch...

 

[Hacp]

Yal, make sure your pIII has LGA 370 written on the socket.

 

[bobyt1630]

Thanks to all who posted. It is a slot type cpu. I thought the little board that has the heatsinks etc. and cpu would allow me to change just the cpu. so this is not the case? I guess my next step would be to just find a mb & cpu that would just fit into his case, the old slot type cpu are not available anymore or just not fast enough for the games he bought.
Hacp the computer is at my dads house. I'll drop by and get the # for you. at least I would know for sure I can't upgrade it.

Thanks again to all.
Bobyt