What an upgrade!

I recently acquired a DELL Dimension E520. This must have been the cheapest possible configuration with an Intel 'Prescott' Celeron D 346 CPU running at 3GHz, 512Mb of PC4200 memory, 80Gb hard disk drive and Windows XP Home.

However, as I was in the process of dismantling a system with an Intel Core Quad Q6600 CPU using the same Socket 775 I wondered about upgrading the DELL with it.

Even though DELL claimed that this processor was not supported in the E520 others had tried successfully. So, I upgraded to the latest 2.4 version BIOS and dropped it into the E520 and it booted.

To make the most of this better CPU, I was able to load Windows Vista Home on to the system. However this required upgrading the memory to 2Gb. I only had a couple of PC6400 DIMMs which again DELL said it didn't support. However, in they went and worked at the faster speed. Swapping the 80Gb drive for a 200Gb was the next step, followed by adding an old Radeon HD4550 graphics card.

Now the performance test using PCmark05. The original system struggled to 2,217 yet the same test gave 7,667 on the upgraded system. Quite a difference and well worth the double asking price. A really successful mid-life upgrade to a quality system.

THE BIG PC

The trend seems to be for smaller, power efficient, highly integrated PC cases these days. Even the 'old-style' micro ATX desktop cases are considered big by the buying public. Yes , it makes sense that compact cases can be used in a lot of situations for desktop, desk-side or media centres. However I'm particularly fond of midi desk-side or larger cases.

There seems to be skill in configuring a computer in a bigger case with powerful over-clocked CPUs with efficient cooling, plus a graphics card that allows you to view 3D games on on large, high resolution monitor(s), multiple hard disks and optical drives and extra sound or controller expansion cards. All with quiet, low speed fans that waft cooling air effectively through the case. Add a dedicated, energy efficient power supply and neat cabling gives a pride in design and construction.

It's an art that is declining from the major PC vendors and boutique builders. Left up to the individual to select components and build computers for a particular job.