replacing cpu?

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dstevens

Well-known member
I've been thinking about replacing the processor on my pc, instead of looking at whole new computers.

I've added graphics cards, RAM, secondary hard drives, though I've never replaced a chip.

My understanding is I have to make sure the BIOS and the motherboard can deal with a new chip.

Assuming it is, has anyone had good or bad experienced attempting this?

I saw dual core 3.4 ghz chips for pretty cheap on newegg, certainly compared to a whole new machine.

I'm sure people have discussed this elsewhere, but besides higher speed = better and dual core = better, what would I look for in a new chip? If you could buy any new chip, what would it have?
 
It really all depends on your MOBO (Motherboard). Is your computer a custom built machine ?

What you want to do is find out what model and brand your MOBO is then hop on their website and see what

the highest chip that it will take is. Swapping out the chip is fairly easy IMO what can be hard (depending on

what socket type you have )is adding thermal gel and trying to get that Heatsink and fan back on.
 
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It's not custom, it's a Gateway I got on a clearance sale.

Basically, this would mean I'm using at as shell to construct my own. I started to price building my own computer from scratch, but then I figured I have couple old ones, why not cannibalize them and add what's needed. Obviously, I have no computer manufacturer to fall back on if I have a problem. But I'm comfortable with that.

Yeah, from what I understand the motherboard is the big question.

If it's not, is it worth it to replace that?
 
Dude

Don't ask technical computer questions on a filmmaking site. Would you ask a plumber to filet a fish ?

I'd highly suggest going into a specific forum for this matter
 
No it's not really worth it to replace. The computer is pretty much composed of :

Motherboard , CPU , Ram , Harddrive , Optical Drives , Video Card , and Power Supply

More than likely the Power supply in your machine is crap and big companies like dell and gateway don't generally have the MOBO manufactuer on the actual item. It usually will say their name making it a lot harder to find the full specs. In reality if I have to replace anything besides the harddrive , Video card and optical drive I generally just make a new machine. Eventually you will find yourself replacing all the parts in you machine and the only piece from Gateway is the case.
 
If you're trying to go dual core and you're not already dual core (especially Intel) I'd highly doubt that your current motherboard has the right socket for the dual core chip. Maybe you do, but I'd check into that rather heavily before making any purchases. Got a model number for that Gateway? You may also run into problems with the case itself. If it's set up for some special form factor that only Gateway uses then you can't replace the motherboard with another standard one. At that point it would be easier to just build your own. Let us know what model it is and maybe we can point out a few other things for you.
 
"Dude
Don't ask technical computer questions on a filmmaking site. Would you ask a plumber to filet a fish ?

I'd highly suggest going into a specific forum for this matter"


If you cant do Basic computer functions and upgrades....STOP and train yourself now
 
SalaTar said:
"Dude
Don't ask technical computer questions on a filmmaking site. Would you ask a plumber to filet a fish ?

I'd highly suggest going into a specific forum for this matter"


If you cant do Basic computer functions and upgrades....STOP and train yourself now
Click to expand...

I think that's kinda mean. I mean don't we ask business questions on this site ? Don't we ask legal questions ? But somehow he can't ask some technical question about his computer ? What if he was editing and his computer started blue screening and we tried to troubleshoot that , would that be wrong too? It's not like he's not trying to use the computer for filmmaking.

Or maybe it's it feels good to be able to actually have the answer for someone. Especially since it's not the typical 'how to I make my movie look like film" or "what's better a mac or pc" question.
 
Well, the computer is for editing, so it's not totally unconnected to filmmaking or videography.

Like the other poster said, being a digital videoista turns you into a IT person by default.

I also work in IT, albeit in software. Years ago I worked on a help desk and did some light hardware stuff. It's just replacing the cpu I know is a bit more involved than dealing with peripherals and RAM upgrades.

I hesitated putting the question on this site - but as we see, a couple people seem pretty knowledgeable - the power of DVXUser!

I take responsibility for whatever I do, no blame on anyone who offered help or advice. If the machine dies, that's my fault. I'm the one who decided to take off the cover and mess around with it.
 
Stevens, its not that tough to upgrade a computer. If you want to go dual core cpu. get a motherboard rated for the cpu, all the other parts are pull em out of the old, and put em into the new. Just play it smart, ya know like dont leave it plugged in whilst working on it. Also check your power supply. I had to upgrade from 500 watts to 650 becuase of dual video cards. Back up your files on that hard drive before hand. You may have to re-install windows. (I reinstall everytime I have a large upgrade like this) Also I have taken all my old parts and built a couple computers for my kids. Once you've done it a few times it becomes old hat.
 
SilverWolf said:
IEspecially since it's not the typical 'how to I make my movie look like film" or "what's better a mac or pc" question.
Click to expand...

No kidding! I was going to ask if White Balance had to do with Affirmative Action.
 
Anyways, I'm thinking now it may be more cost effective build one from scratch - I saw some dual core chips on newegg that were pretty reasonably priced.

Just have to calculate what I need for all the other myriad components.....

I went on the Dell site to see how much something with intel dual processor >3.0 ghz... 2 gb RAM, Nvidia geforce graphics card... I have external firewire800 drives, so maybe 160g hd would be enough.

The price on Dell seemed to be around $1,500.

I wonder if I could get all the components from newegg for less than that?

I also won't have to obliterate my current machine while I screw around trying to build one, lol.
 
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