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[Laminar]

Data analysis like calculations? Processor-intensive stuff?

You can pick up a Core 2 Quad LGA775 processor for $23.

The C2Q absolutely smokes the Pentium D in multithreaded applications. Even with its lower clock speed it beats the Pentium D in single-thread performance.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare...830/1040vs1127

The mainboard provides four 240-pin non-ECC DDRII 800*/667/533 DIMM slots and
supports up to 8GB system memory

http://static.highspeedbackbone.net/...ies_Manual.pdf

You can get 2x2GB sticks of RAM for about $24. Add that to your current 2GB and you'd be at six total. Or buy 4 sticks of that RAM and toss out your current memory to max out the board at 8GB.

Kingston 240GB SSD for $40, its SATA II 6Gb/s connection is backwards compatible with your board's 3Gb/s connection.

In the end, you'd have a pretty hott PC for 2008.

A new Ryzen 3 processor runs about $100 and achieves about 11 times the PC mark score of your PD, and at least 3 times the score of the C2Q I recommended. If you value your time at all, I'd get a more modern processor. You could put together a Ryzen 3 PC for $300-400.

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[Laminar]

An old PC seems like a good place to learn. Check out some YouTube videos. The datasheet I linked to says you have an LGA775 processor socket, and that's an LGA775 processor. That's as much research as I did. Pull the CPU cooler off (probably four screws). Lift the old processor off, set the new processor down. Apply the tinest amount of thermal paste. Like, a tiny dot. Clean old thermal paste off the CPU cooler, put it back on. Bam, processor installed.

The SSD has a SATA port, same as your existing drive, it should plug right in.

[subego]

Originally Posted by And.reg 

Thing is, I have no idea how to do soldering, what to screw or unscrew, or whether or not I can do a simple swap or if I have to reassemble the logic board connections, I'm not really a "hands on" learner, at least not without someone there in the room showing me how to use my stuff. I just know how to open the door and reposition the RAM, and maybe add a hard drive. So, would that CPU work?
And can I just swap the hard drive with that SSD with the same connectors or do I need a new hard drive data cable for the newer SSD drive?

I’ve called building a PC “LEGO for adults”.

There’s a little bit of exaggeration there, but not much. A CPU and its socket are two LEGOS. They don’t stay together with friction like normal LEGOS, so there’s a third LEGO, the cooler, which gets screwed onto the socket and keeps everything in place.

By far the most difficult part of the procedure is not overdoing the thermal paste between the CPU and the cooler.

[P]

In order of priority:

1) Max out the RAM. DDR2 RAM is expensive if you buy it new, but you can troll eBay to see if you can find it used.
2) SSD. Still the best upgrade you can make.
3) CPU - but check exactly which CPUs are supported by that motherboard. A quick google showed this list:

http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-MSI/P9...(MS-7235).html

which indicates that no CPU with a 1333 MHz FSB will work, but also that very few of the quads seem to work. There are some that are marked green, but the Q6600 (which is the one that usually does work) is marked red, so I suspect that none of the quads will work.

Replacing the CPU is easy enough. Remove the cooler - it is either screwed in place, or there are pushpins that you screw to get out but the push to lock back in. Clean off the cooling paste with isopropyl alcohol from both the cooler and the old CPU. Flip up the arm in the socket that holds the CPU in place. It should now fall out into your hand.

Place the new CPU in the socket - making sure that it is the right side up. Close the arm - it should go easily the last bit. Apply new cooling paste and reattach the cooler.

That said, I wouldn't actually bother upgrading it. I would get a new computer and move the GPU over. You can get refurbs of Dell and HP midrange models at newegg for less than $200. Here is my search:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...rder=BESTMATCH

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