I have an existing Compaq box: SR5710F, which has a processor: Athlon X2 (B) 4450e 2.3 GHz (45W) I just noticed that this box is not fast enough to compute some of the more sophisticated indicators I developed. I need a faster CPU. When shopping for some of the newer desktops, such as HP e9220y Desktop PC, it has a processor: Phenom II X4-910 (D) 2.6 GHz (95W) The processor speed looks good. But when I read the specs, I found that this box only has 2 PCIe x1 expansion slots available. It would mean I have to completely change out my video cards (currently PCI base). Not only that, I only would have 2 of them. I can only drive 4 external monitors. (Currently I use 6). Not preferrable. My PC hardware knowledge is very limited. Can anybody tell if I can just buy a faster processor chip, such as the "Phenom II X4-910 (D) 2.6 GHz (95W)" that I like, and replace the current one "Athlon X2 (B) 4450e 2.3 GHz (45W)" with it? Or different CPU chips have different pin layout pattern, power requirement and clock speed requirement etc that I must change out the motherboard as well? Or any suggestion on buying a faster box that has 3 PCI slots and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg?
I think the HP has 2 additional slots for a total of 3. The power supply at 300w is kinda weak depending on what kind of cards you are running http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...ry&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=4007333 why don't you just build your own with crap from http://www.newegg.com/ Not that hard http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/
You have to confirm tha tin a shop, but I would say you have an AM2+ chip (that is the socket) which has not only the same pin layout as the AM3 socket, the AM3 chips (like th new Phenom) also work in them. That said, wait a month and loko for the new Phenum II X6 six cores - not only have they more that are faster, they also can overclock some cores (and turn the others off), so in case you can not distribute the workload over 4-6 cores, the ones you use are getting boosted - in the chip, this is not "usual user overclocking", this is hardware based on the processor.
Time to bite the bullet and replace your box and video cards. PCI slots being reduced or eliminated on some new mobos... And the bandwidth of PCI is only about half of PCIEx1. Most of the new video cards are PCIEx16. Good dualhead PCIEx16 video cards can be had for $20 on eBay. If you're going to run 6 monitors, make sure your new mobo has the proper slots for them... like, 2, PCIEx16 + 1 PCIEx1 or x4/x8.
Thank you for all your replies ajcrshr, NetTecture and Scataphagos! I will look at all the options you mentioned.