Hello. I recently acquired an old Dell XPS T450 to tinker around with. It currently has a P3 450, but I would like to explore the possibility of upgrading to something faster. I have never upgraded a processor before, so I really do not know where to start. I have run some system diagnostic tools and learned that the motherboard is the Intel SE400BX-3. Where do I find out what the max processor speed for this MOBO is, and what do I look for while shopping ebay for an upgrade? What should this cost me? (little, I hope)

PKYou can look on the Dell website, but realistically a P3-600 would be the top out probably, and that would not be worth the cost, even if minimal.

If you post the service tag (on the machine or onscreen in the BIOS - F2 during boot) I can advise further.

Those BX boards were good for their time. I have a few chugging along quite well. Service tag is 7VHWI.

600 would not be a worthy jump? Some folks on the Dell forum say that you can go as high as 1 GHZ!! I am confused.

PKThat is probably using one of those PowerLeap Celeron processor upgrades - well over $100!

A 450 is a slot 1 processor. Here are the upgrades they list:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dkub/specs.htmYeah, I SAW that list too. Who do I listen to, Dell or Intel?

If I read this right, http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/se440bx2/sb/cs-013634.htm#Note

then the 600 is as high as i can go, as my board # is 722396-108. Though this is documentation for the BX-2, not 3. From what I understand, the 3 is a Dell OEM board.

If I could jump to 850, though, that would be great (if the price was right)

PKQuote

Yeah, I saw that list too. Who do I listen to, Dell or Intel?