Maximum upgrades for Dell Inspiron 530s (C2D)

[Remeca]

After it came up in conversation about another system, I was reminded of this PC I'm looking to get maximum performance from. It still gets daily use for light gaming, YouTube, and general browsing. This is the specs:

Appendix: Dell Inspiron 530s Series Owner's Manual

Mine has a Core 2 Duo E6600, although the motherboard (Foxconn g33m03) officially supports up to a Q9650.

https://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Foxconn/G33M.html

General W10 usage and web browsing is very slow. The games played on it run well enough, once they load. Roblox, Torchlight 2, and games with similar hardware requirements.

I know there are also some Xeon CPUs that can work in the system. What I'm looking to upgrade first is the boot disk, which is currently a very slow old HDD, to a 240gb sata ssd, and the CPU, which I think could benefit the general usage in W10. Memory is already maxed out at 4gb of 800mhz ddr2, and it has an R7 260X, which is good enough for the games it plays. I'm thinking a PSU upgrade might be needed too if I go to a quad core, with the default 250W it has already being less than the recommended for the GPU.

CPU Options:
Q6600 - cheapest and widely available quad core
Q9650 - best officially supported (non-extreme) CPU?
Xeon e5450 - Xeon I see used on my motherboard on userbenchmark
E8600 - fastest C2D (non Extreme)

I assume I would also need a better CPU cooler than the stock c2d Dell Intel one for a quad core.

@Retrorockit, this is the c2d system I was talking about.

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

Yeah SSD first definitely, but not being able to go past 4GB of RAM is rough, especially when you can't run a nvme drive and are limited to SATA 3g... I don't expect you will get that much out of a quaddy for just browsing, though might help for e.g video playback, definitely for games.

Though if you are considering changing out the PSU, I honestly think you should just consider an entirely new mobo/CPU/RAM set to go with it... Dunno what you can fit in that case but you might just be able to find someone nearby trying to get rid of some old mATX or ATX tower...

 

[ShiBDiB]

I would definitely look into if a BIOS update can let you bump you RAM amount up. An SSD isn't going to give you a ton of noticeable performance improvement, outside of boot times, if your system is hamstrung by running out of memory all the time.

https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Foxconn-G33M03/125107 is showing a bunch of bench's with 8GB of RAM.

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

An SSD isn't going to give you a ton of noticeable performance improvement, outside of boot times, if your system is hamstrung by running out of memory all the time.

SSD makes a crazy difference for loading programs and stuff lol, yeah if you don't mind sitting for a minute while Firefox or Chrome loads up go for it, keep your spinning rust, but most of the responsiveness you get out of a system is by it doing something when you click on it.

Not to mention even on 8GB you'll almost certainly be running into the pagefile left right and centre...

 

[Remeca]

Yeah SSD first definitely, but not being able to go past 4GB of RAM is rough, especially when you can't run a nvme drive and are limited to SATA 3g... I don't expect you will get that much out of a quaddy for just browsing, though might help for e.g video playback, definitely for games.

Though if you are considering changing out the PSU, I honestly think you should just consider an entirely new mobo/CPU/RAM set to go with it... Dunno what you can fit in that case but you might just be able to find someone nearby trying to get rid of some old mATX or ATX tower...

If it was my primary PC I would definitely straight up replace it, but it's the hand me down PC my kids use, and when it's time to do that, I'll get the new parts and they'll get my old PC. I don't mind spending a little money on the SSD and PSU because I can reuse them down the road.

 

[QuietBob]

From what I can see, the Core 2 Duo was the fastest CPU available on the 530s series. Higher SKUs may not be supported by your vendor-specific BIOS. I'd start by updating it to the latest version. If you find a Core 2 Quad for peanuts, you may try your luck with it. I wouldn't go for the Xeon though, the board is very unlikely to support it.

4 GB RAM is tight today, but you can get by on it by running a single app at a time. In any case, definitely get a cheap SSD. I would also strongly recommend downgrading the system to Windows 7. It's lighter on the resources, runs much better on older hardware and can still be used in a family PC.

 

[Remeca]

From what I can see, the Core 2 Duo was the fastest CPU available on the 530s series. Higher SKUs may not be supported by your vendor-specific BIOS. I'd start by updating it to the latest version. If you find a Core 2 Quad for peanuts, you may try your luck with it. I wouldn't go for the Xeon though, the board is very unlikely to support it.

4 GB RAM is tight today, but you can get by on it by running a single app at a time. In any case, definitely get a cheap SSD. I would also strongly recommend downgrading the system to Windows 7. It's lighter on the resources, runs much better on older hardware and can still be used in a family PC.

Core 2 Quads are officially supported up to Q9650. Multitasking isn't the worst, it can play Roblox and play 1080p YouTube in popup at the same time. The biggest noticable slowness is opening apps, and waiting for the web elements of apps to load. For example, Epic Games launcher takes forever (minutes it feels like) to fully load, and it can even take up to 10 seconds for the W10 notification panel to pop up after clicking on it when there are new notifications. As for Xeons, there are anecdotal reports of them working, and there are Xeons on that motherboard on userbenchmark. The BIOS I updated to the latest version when I thought about upgrading this to a C2Q a couple years ago (ended up buying a different PC.) I agree about W7, it may be worth going back to that. The main reason for installing 10 was I had an extra key and wanted to see how it ran. Not great, but also not my worst Windows 10 PC.

 

[eidairaman1]

Go as high with it as a quad or scrap it

 

[Remeca]

For about $30 CAD I could get a Xeon X5460 and LGA 771>775 adapter, which looks to be on par with the Q9650, if it works. Or for $70 I could get the Q9650, pretty much guaranteed to work. Or, for $100, a QX9650, which at 130W would almost certainly require a new PSU as well. The improvement in performance doesn't look like it's worth an extra $30 plus a new PSU. That leaves me with the X5460 or the Q9650. I guess the question is, am I feeling lucky?

 

[Retrorockit]

One mod you haven't mentioned is the old Q6600 tapemod (which is obsolete for C2Q) but works on the E7500 C2D for 3.67GHz 2 core performance. It bumps the FSB rom 266 to 333x11.
Sometimes the E7600 works ,usually it doesn't due to not enough Voltage. But that depends on the individual CPU. 333x11.5=3.83GHz then. Either one of these will spank a Q9650 in single thread apps. and games, and will be in the easily cooled 80-90W range. Intel actually sold some 80W, 3.5GHz 2 core Xeons, so it's not actually a huge stretch for that CPU.

Tape mod/BSEL mod intel q6600

ive been looking to see if i can boost the speed of this, and found this mod. I have an intel oem motherboard, so no overclocking. i wouldve much rather done that. Anyway, while reading up on doing this ive seen where you cover one pin, 2 pins, connect 2 pins, connecct 4 pins, and a bunch of...

forums.tomshardware.com

Yes it's that simple, and yes it works. It looks like that computer has the usual Dell 90W CPU limit. I don't think the Xeon swap is worth the trouble unless you can get the 130W X5470, and even that comes up short against the E7500 mod in many situations.
You can see a few OC E7500 at Geekbench. About 20% faster than normal.

E7500 - Geekbench 5 CPU Search - Geekbench

If I could find the Geeknemch 4 charts I could show one beating My X5470 swapped Optiplex 380 in single thread by about 10% They were the 2 fastest Opti 380s on the chart.
The mod would probably work on your E6600 also But might not equal a stock E7500. But the 45nm CPU runs cooler and has newer instruction sets.

 

[Remeca]

One mod you haven't mentioned is the old Q6600 tapemod (which is obsolete for C2Q) but works on the E7500 C2D for 3.67GHz 2 core performance. It bumps the FSB rom 266 to 333x11.
Sometimes the E7600 works ,usually it doesn't due to not enough Voltage. But that depends on the individual CPU. 333x11.5=3.83GHz then. Either one of these will spank a Q9650 in single thread apps. and games, and will be in the easily cooled 80-90W range. Intel actually sold some 80W, 3.5GHz 2 core Xeons, so it's not actually a huge stretch for that CPU.

Tape mod/BSEL mod intel q6600

ive been looking to see if i can boost the speed of this, and found this mod. I have an intel oem motherboard, so no overclocking. i wouldve much rather done that. Anyway, while reading up on doing this ive seen where you cover one pin, 2 pins, connect 2 pins, connecct 4 pins, and a bunch of...

forums.tomshardware.com

Yes it's that simple, and yes it works. It looks like that computer has the usual Dell 90W CPU limit. I don't think the Xeon swap is worth the trouble unless you can get the 130W X5470, and even that comes up short against the E7500 mod in many situations.
You can see a few OC E7500 at Geekbench. About 20% faster than normal.

E7500 - Geekbench 5 CPU Search - Geekbench

If I could find the Geeknemch 4 charts I could show one beating My X5470 swapped Optiplex 380 in single thread by about 10% They were the 2 fastest Opti 380s on the chart.
The mod would probably work on your E6600 also But might not equal a stock E7500. But the 45nm CPU runs cooler and has newer instruction sets.

That's a very specific thing I'd never heard of. Why is it obsolete on a q6600? E7500 is cheap enough I could do it just for the heck of it. Single thread performance was my thought when I suggested the E8600 (3.3ghz) as a possibility, but of course you'd know another way to OC a locked down old Dell. Thanks for the suggestion, I will definitely give that a try, first probably.

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[Shrek]

Inspiron 530, RAM limit, 8GB works - Dell Community

 

[Remeca]

Inspiron 530, RAM limit, 8GB works - Dell Community

I can't remember if I have 2 or 4 ram slots. I'll check after making breakfast, and grab another 4gb if I have the one with 4.

Well, good news and bad news. Bad news is my memory is terrible. Good news is this PC is running 4x1GB at 667, I thought it was 2x2GB at 800. I must have been thinking about my Pentium D PC (Dimension 5150), which I also upgraded the ram to 4gb on. So I will get 4x2GB DDR2 800. I already ordered the e7500. It is also running the latest bios, which I do remember updating to a couple years ago.

So, something like this should be a major improvement, in addition to the SSD and cpu:

Samsung 8GB PC3 12800U 2RX8 DDR3 1600MHz Memory RAM DIMM Desktop 240PIN intel 8G | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Samsung 8GB PC3 12800U 2RX8 DDR3 1600MHz Memory RAM DIMM Desktop 240PIN intel 8G at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.ca

I am confused by the specs I am seeing for the C2D e6600. Intel's website says 2.4Ghz with 4mb of L2 cache, my bios says it has 2mb of cache and is running at 3.06GHz. I think even though the sticker on the machine says C2D, this CPU is actually a Pentium e6600, not sure what difference that makes, if any.

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

C2D E6600 is Conroe, Pentium E6600 is wolfdale (same as C2D E7000/8000). Wolfdale is basically 45nm Conroe but with some minor config changes...

The memory looks expensive, I'd look around locally to find some..

 

[Remeca]

C2D E6600 is Conroe, Pentium E6600 is wolfdale (same as C2D E7000/8000). Wolfdale is basically 45nm Conroe but with some minor config changes...

The memory looks expensive, I'd look around locally to find some..

I am looking locally too, found 4gb of crucial (2x2gb)for $15 so far. I'm ok spending a little more to get matched pairs. This is only $20cad for 4x2GB 800, but they're random sticks.

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

JEDEC DDR2 should be easier to run in non matched sticks than XMP stuff from late DDR3 and DDR4 era... Mainly just make sure it's the same timings.

 

[Remeca]

JEDEC DDR2 should be easier to run in non matched sticks than XMP stuff from late DDR3 and DDR4 era... Mainly just make sure it's the same timings.

I pulled the trigger on the local 2 2GB 800 matched pair for $15, so I just need to find another couple. I could run 6gb until then, and it will all just run at 667 right?

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

It should, don't know what bios options you have, worst case you'd need to manually set it.

 

[Remeca]

Thanks for the input everyone. I'll update once I get the parts.

 

[Retrorockit]

The E6600 has the 266fsb, and 11.5 multiplier of the E7600, But they took out the SSE4 suppport. It supposedly has higher OC potential than the E7500. I would throw a piece of tape on it and see what happens. But yes they did recycle some CPU numbers.
If you has 2x4GB of Dell compatible DDR2 you would know it. They are very rare and very expensive. Vaya Memory had some DDR2 modules that were CL5 latency. You may have to call and ask. they're not listed on the site. In Intel only the X38 chipset supports them. Intel went with FBDIMMs for 4GB workstation modules, and the cheap AMD stuff won't work

 

[theFOoL]

I have the Xeon E5450 which is a Modded to work for 775 but for only certain chipsets. Please read after and see if your MB supports it LINK

 

[Remeca]

The E6600 has the 266fsb, and 11.5 multiplier of the E7600, But they took out the SSE4 suppport. It supposedly has higher OC potential than the E7500. I would throw a piece of tape on it and see what happens. But yes they did recycle some CPU numbers.
If you has 2x4GB of Dell compatible DDR2 you would know it. They are very rare and very expensive. Vaya Memory had some DDR2 modules that were CL5 latency. You may have to call and ask. they're not listed on the site. In Intel only the X38 chipset supports them. Intel went with FBDIMMs for 4GB workstation modules, and the cheap AMD stuff won't work

I will try the tape trick on the e6600 when I have it out for the swap. I don't have 2x4gb ddr2, it's 4x1GB 667 ddr2. 2GB is still the maximum size module that will be recognized by the motherboard I am pretty sure.

I have the Xeon E5450 which is a Modded to work for 775 but for only certain chipsets. Please read after and see if your MB supports it LINK

I'm still curious about Xeons, I may go that route if I'm not happy with the e7500. I see that CPU on my mobo on userbenchmark, but the link you sent me says my chipset (g33) is unsupported. It also has two versions, SLBBM and SLANQ, and I'm not sure what the difference is and if that matters on compatibility with my board.

 

[theFOoL]

Google is your Friend LINK

 

[Remeca]

Google is your Friend LINK

That post was just my initial reaction to the information. I was indeed talking to my friend Bing after posting that. Thanks for the link too though.

 

[Retrorockit]

The only reason I did the Xeon swap in my Optiplex 380 was it somehow supported the 3.3GHz 120W CPU, and the 2x DDR3 slots could support 2x4GB RAM. The 380 was a bottom feeder when new and only sold with 2 cores, and 4GB RAM. But the modded BIOS was hard to come by without Dell's Digital Signing scheme, and the socket mod took down the MB when I installed a Pentium E6500K CPU the wrong way. If you do the Xeon mod, notch the CPU, don't mod the socket. At 90W CPU limit there is no performance advantage to the Xeon swap.

The SLBBM is a CO stepping, and the SLANQ is an EO. In an overclocking environment the EO is better. But at base speeds there is no advantage.

I paid $20 for the Opti 380 with a Win 7 license just to get the Xeon swap under my belt. With a Dell t3400 PSU it ran a GTX1060 3 Gb GPU

UserBenchmark: Dell OptiPlex 380 Compatible Builds

I stuck another MB in it and am running a 65W Q9505S quad core that with my BTX cooling mods barely breaks 50* when running Prime 95.

For Dell RAM you will need low density x64 RAM. AMD had an integrated memory controller that could handle x128 high density modules. So you may see AMD RAM, and PC RAM.
Crucial modules have that x64 in the part #.