Upgrading from Dell XPS 420 to Cooler Master Storm Sniper custom build.

About 10 months ago this client started complaining about his Dell XPS 420 PC inability to do multitasking and also heavy Adobe photoshop and video editing problems. He doesn't game really (couldn't on the account of the crap VGA), only on a very rare occasion. Turned out that the VGA he had was a very cheap and basic 30$ ATI card, which was surprising for me - this Dell model cost him almost 1400$ in 2008, where I could build a really nice and expensive gaming rig with at least one heavy gaming VGA and a quadcore CPU and good ram on that budget... So I replaced Dell's 2 GB of cheap-ass Hyundai RAM and got him 4GB of good Corsair RAM (XMS2-6400), although it didn't run to its full potential due to the mobo/BIOS limitations. Same with his Q6600 Core2Quad CPU - no option to OC with the Dell BIOS. I also feel like mentioning the fact the he had a FireWire port on the mobo burn out and kill his very expensive Sony video camera. Lame 350 Watt PSU did not promise good times either. I found him a nice little low-profile VGA, EVGA GT 240 512MB Superclocked Edition, which drew power from the PCI-e slot. I remember playing the Left 4 Dead on it - ran smooth as a mother... Now today the guy complained about his DVD burners dropping off the grid, and I knew both of them worked fine in another PC, so I thought that maybe it was time to ditch his mobo/PSU alltogether and build another system from scratch, but he wanted to reuse the CPU, RAM and the VGA. I was a bit limited in my choices, since we went straight to the Micro Center store, but I think we picked up nice parts :) Final outcome video to follow :)
P.S.
Comment, rate and subscribe already, would' ya :) !

Specs:

Cooler Master Storm Sniper Black Edition

Asus P5N-D motherboard

Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU

Thermaltake TR2 RX 750 Watt modular PSU

Corsair XMS2-6400 DDR2 800MHz 5-5-5-18 1.80V 2x2GB

Corsair A70 performance aircooler

EVGA GT 240 512MB Superclocked Edition

The only original part from his Dell XPS 420 is his Q6600 CPU...that is all.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Dell
• XPS
• 420
• Cooler
• Master
• Storm
• Sniper
• Black
• Edition
• Asus
• P5N-D
• motherboard
• Core
• Quad
• Q6600
• quadcore
• CPU
• Thermaltake
• TR2
• RX
• 750
• Watt
• modular
• PSU
• 2x2GB
• Corsair
• XMS2-6400
• DDR2
• 800MHz
• 5-5-5-18
• 1.80V
• A70
• performance
• aircooler
• EVGA
• GT
• 240
• 512MB
• Superclocked

[CrazyTechTime]

How much would you charge to upgrade my dell 540 and over clock it

[zver711]

@CrazyTechTime Sorry, I don't have the time right now, my full-time job is eating away most of my time + the family. I'm sure you will find someone who does it better then me.

[MistaMase102]

hi thanks for the video, im thinking of getting those corsair ram sticks, well double the amount actually lol (8gb in total) and i just read in the description, you said that it didnt run to its full potential cus of the bios? i was just wondering what it was limited to, was it the voltage, latency, mhz whatever etc ?

[zver711]

@MistaMase102 In all Dell PC's I laid my hands on the BIOS didn't allow to adjust anything for the RAM. Maybe on their overly expensive gaming models, but I have not handled those.

[MistaMase102]

@zver711 sure, im aware you cant change it in the bios, i was just wondering how the ram was restricted if you know what i mean, so if i buy those corsair sticks, will it run the full 800mhz with a cl5 latency or will it be less?

[zver711]

@MistaMase102 After this video was made, client picked up his PC and left the hulk of his Dell here, but I never done anything with it... to lazy to throw it out :) I don't remember really. I THINK it ran as 400 mhz with his 1600mhz Corsair sticks...

[UmbrellaGamingCo]

I dont get how a dell xps had a $30 GC

[MistaMase102]

@zver711 oh right, well ive done a bit of research and im pretty sure the dell xps420 can only take pc5300 or pc6400. and ive checked out some forums and a few ppl are running 8gb (4x2gb sticks) of corsair xms2 at 800mhz with no problems so i think it should work with my pc just fine. thanks for the support anyway :)

[zver711]

@J4K31 Yeah, 550 Ti is definitely better choice, however hoping it would handle ANY games in the next decade is a noble feat. When I play I'd like to max, or nearly max out the settings. I still have a P4 machine with a card (GeForce 4 4400Ti) that was pretty decent for its day. Those were my Battlefield 1942 days. But I definitely replaced it with another machine for gaming in '06. And that one in '09. Times are changing, so is technology. Lets hope 550 Ti holds you over for a couple of years.