I have a Dell XPS420 with a core 2 quad 6600 cpu. If I upgrade the graphics board and max out the memory will this machine be

[Californiapatrick]

I am wanting to upgrade my machine to use Adobe Premiere Creative Cloud and want to know if this is reasonable or if I need to budget for a new machine?

 

[scoobydenon]

Simple answer NO. Your machine has DDR2 Memory not DDR3 much faster Memory. Also you can only install 4gb of RAM on this machine. It's time to build or buy New. For adobe I'd say look for an i5 or i7 processor, DDR3 Memory and a descent graphics card. Best of luck...

 

[Californiapatrick]

Would it be enough machine to run Premiere Elements 12?

 

[scoobydenon]

Would it be enough machine to run Premiere Elements 12?

Sorry, but NO...

 

[kenrivers]

The system requirements for running Premiere Elements 12 can be found here: http/www.adobe.com/ca/products/premiere-elements/tech-specs.html
These are the minimum requirements to run the program and not the requirements for optimum performance.

 

[dsexton72]

Hmmm, I wish I had of seen this post before and I would've chimed in with my experience. I have a Dell XPS 420 with a Core 2 Quad 6600 CPU. I also have 8GB of RAM installed, a 160GB SSD system drive, 2 1TB backup drives, and an NVIDIA Quadpro 1GB video card that I run the following on...Windows 8.1 64bit, Adobe Production Suite CS5.5, Poser Pro 2014, Carrara 8.5, Daz Studio 4.6, and HitFilm Ultimate...along with Office 2013.

Now, you can do what the previous posters suggested and buy a new machine. Their advice is not wrong in that sense because core 2 Quad core processors are equivalent to like i5's, only i5's are newer, faster, and have Turbo Boost. However, my 420 still rocks with it comes to HD video, 3D rendering, and other labor intensive jobs. It is more than capable (with the right upgrading) to handle Premier Elements 12 or the Adobe Premiere Creative Cloud. However, one thing to note that I'm surprised the other two posters did not mention...in order to get the 420 to take 8GB of RAM instead of the 4GB that Dell quoted? Just upgrade the BIOS and the rig will take 8GBs of RAM. But if you want to go beyond 8GBs, then follow the previous posters advice.

 

[Stoli89]

I'm also using a venerable XPS 420 (Q6600, 120MB SSD, 4GB DDR2 667MHz Ram, ASUS GTX550Ti, + various HDD's) and upgrade the OS from Vista Home Premium 32Bit to Windows 8.1 Pro 64 Bit. The SSD and OS upgrade made a huge difference. No possibility to upgrade the BIOS as DELL's motherboard is proprietary (0TP406, though X38 based, is a BTX board), with a factory LOCKED Bios. The 64 Bit OS, however, is the most important step to making best use of the 8GB RAM max limit on this system. I suppose I should upgrade the computer to 4x2GB 800Mhz DDR2 RAM, but I'm not sure I want to buy DDR2 these days. At this stage, I'm contemplating doing one last project for "fun". The pin mod to OC the Q6600 by tricking the system into thinking the CPU is a faster part than it actually is. If a bump up to 3.0Ghz makes a difference...maybe I'll buy the faster RAM too. This would also force me to take out the shroud/cooler and replace the thermal paste (for the first time). In any event, I'll just run the system awhile longer and then move to strip the viable components for reuse in a self-built desktop. Frankly, as I'm not a heavy gamer, the current setup is doing AOK for me...the upgrading project is just for fun.

This DELL was a decent purchase, considering how long it's been running. That being said, I will never purchase another desktop with a proprietary MB and locked BIOS. Never. Not when you can build, or have built on your behalf, a much higher performing and OPEN specified system that can support significant upgrades.

I bought my Dell system for ~ USD $3000 while working in Malaysia. At that time, I could've delivered a generic specification to a local IT shop and had a hi end gaming system for the same amount. Live and learn.

PS: The power supply was rated for a resource intensive, power sucking, 8800GT self contained oven. It's still marching along quite nicely with a newer, cooler, much more capable and power efficient card. DELL calls it a 425W unit...but its' peak load is actually much higher than that. I suppose I could've gone for a more powerful card...but the GTX550 Ti is OK for my needs.

 

[jimmyh234]

Simple answer NO. Your machine has DDR2 Memory not DDR3 much faster Memory. Also you can only install 4gb of RAM on this machine. It's time to build or buy New. For adobe I'd say look for an i5 or i7 processor, DDR3 Memory and a descent graphics card. Best of luck...

Actually, you can have a maximum of 8gb of ram. Simply upgrade to a 64bit operating system. Torrent one for free. All of what this guy said is completely false. I had a dell xps 420. I put a gtx 770ti in mine, got windows 8.1 pro and 2x 4gb ram. it still runs any game highest settings. A new system would be nice, but if you actually know what your doing, and what your looking for, good performance can be cheap.

 

[Constantine Christophi]

Hey

Sorry to necro;

I have an XPS 420, and I'm having issues with upgrading the RAM. It shipped with 2x1GB 667MHz sticks and a friend has kindly donated 2x4GB 800MHz sticks. The bios was A03 but has now been upgraded to A07.

The issue is that the system won't even POST with one of the 4GB sticks installed. When it does boot (only with a 1GB stick installed) it won't use the 4GB sticks, but it can see them when I go to BIOS Settings/F2.

memtest is clear and the system will recognise all 4 sticks in the BIOS settings, but only use 2GB (original 2 sticks). I have tried various permutations of 1GB and 4GB sticks mixed in all the slots, the system will only ever boot when it sees one of the original DDR2 modules.

What did you do, if anything, to get it to use 8GB of RAM?

Any help would be appreciated - I don't want to junk a half-decent PC because of the BTX mobo.

 

[Joseph_Mix_God]

Upgrade the ram to 8gb, the os to 64 bit and the gpu. I recommend a nvidia evga gtx 750 ti sc. It runs well in mine but I recommend you download the drivers.

 

[doriang63]

Simple answer NO. Your machine has DDR2 Memory not DDR3 much faster Memory. Also you can only install 4gb of RAM on this machine. It's time to build or buy New. For adobe I'd say look for an i5 or i7 processor, DDR3 Memory and a descent graphics card. Best of luck...

I have the same pc and the max memory is 8 gb ddr2 800 MHz. 4 modules of 2 gb ddr2. I have 4 gb and Windows 8.1 and the pc is very fast.

 

[jimmyh234]

Simple answer NO. Your machine has DDR2 Memory not DDR3 much faster Memory. Also you can only install 4gb of RAM on this machine. It's time to build or buy New. For adobe I'd say look for an i5 or i7 processor, DDR3 Memory and a descent graphics card. Best of luck...

false. I have an old xps 420 I use as a secondary gaming pc for friends. I have a Intel ore 2 extreme QX6850 3ghz, gtx 770 and 8 gigs of ram. Me and my buddy were playing gtaV and he was on the xps420. Ran fast, no lag. Also plays the witcher 3 smoothly. Ive done some video editing with it too, its doable, not the best but good for I paid.

 

[jimmyh234]

Hey

Sorry to necro;

I have an XPS 420, and I'm having issues with upgrading the RAM. It shipped with 2x1GB 667MHz sticks and a friend has kindly donated 2x4GB 800MHz sticks. The bios was A03 but has now been upgraded to A07.

The issue is that the system won't even POST with one of the 4GB sticks installed. When it does boot (only with a 1GB stick installed) it won't use the 4GB sticks, but it can see them when I go to BIOS Settings/F2.

memtest is clear and the system will recognise all 4 sticks in the BIOS settings, but only use 2GB (original 2 sticks). I have tried various permutations of 1GB and 4GB sticks mixed in all the slots, the system will only ever boot when it sees one of the original DDR2 modules.

What did you do, if anything, to get it to use 8GB of RAM?

Any help would be appreciated - I don't want to junk a half-decent PC because of the BTX mobo.

This is what I used to upgrade my ram. 8GB 4X2GB Dell XPS 420 Desktop/PC DDR2 PC2-5300 RAM Memory. Search for it on amazon, it runs great and it was only about 70$$$

 

[TechGeek1020]

Simple answer NO. Your machine has DDR2 Memory not DDR3 much faster Memory. Also you can only install 4gb of RAM on this machine. It's time to build or buy New. For adobe I'd say look for an i5 or i7 processor, DDR3 Memory and a descent graphics card. Best of luck...

Actually you can put up to 8GB of DDR2 RAM

 

[marvelxavier]

My Dell XPS 420 - updated bios to A07, upgraded Memory to 8 GB (2GBx4) DDR2 PC2-6400 DESKTOP Memory Modules (240-pin DIMM, 800MHz) Genuine A-Tech Brand from Amazon. Installed EVGA GeForce GTX 960 Super Clocked ACX 2.0 4GB GDDR5 128 Bit Graphic Card (04G-P4-3962-KR) from Amazon. Installed 120GB SSD (Windows 10) soon to be upgraded to 250 SSD and 1TB Western Digital Black as a secondary drive fro my games. PC runs like a beast.

 

[Stoli89]

My Dell XPS 420 - updated bios to A07, upgraded Memory to 8 GB (2GBx4) DDR2 PC2-6400 DESKTOP Memory Modules (240-pin DIMM, 800MHz) Genuine A-Tech Brand from Amazon. Installed EVGA GeForce GTX 960 Super Clocked ACX 2.0 4GB GDDR5 128 Bit Graphic Card (04G-P4-3962-KR) from Amazon. Installed 120GB SSD (Windows 10) soon to be upgraded to 250 SSD and 1TB Western Digital Black as a secondary drive fro my games. PC runs like a beast.

I too still have a XPS 420 (see specs previous 2014 post). Was wondering what power supply you are using with the Video Card (mine is the upgraded Dell OEM 425W that came original purchase). Does your CPU bottleneck the new Video Card? Also, if you have used SetFSB to slightly OC. If so, what settings? I moved to PC-6400 2GB (x 4) 800Mhz RAM.and haven't been able to go above 2.6 Ghz with SetFSB since.

Sorry to bother with the questions...but I'm on the fence regarding a new PC and your post made me rethink/delay that purchase.

 

[marvelxavier]

My Dell XPS 420 - updated bios to A07, upgraded Memory to 8 GB (2GBx4) DDR2 PC2-6400 DESKTOP Memory Modules (240-pin DIMM, 800MHz) Genuine A-Tech Brand from Amazon. Installed EVGA GeForce GTX 960 Super Clocked ACX 2.0 4GB GDDR5 128 Bit Graphic Card (04G-P4-3962-KR) from Amazon. Installed 120GB SSD (Windows 10) soon to be upgraded to 250 SSD and 1TB Western Digital Black as a secondary drive fro my games. PC runs like a beast.

I too still have a XPS 420 (see specs previous 2014 post). Was wondering what power supply you are using with the Video Card (mine is the upgraded Dell OEM 425W that came original purchase). Does your CPU bottleneck the new Video Card? Also, if you have used SetFSB to slightly OC. If so, what settings? I moved to PC-6400 2GB (x 4) 800Mhz RAM.and haven't been able to go above 2.6 Ghz with SetFSB since.

Sorry to bother with the questions...but I'm on the fence regarding a new PC and your post made me rethink/delay that purchase.

Still using the standard 375 Watt PSU. Have not tried over clocking. So far no problems with the games I have played. This was just a cheap solution for me to play some modern games without having to buy a new PC. So far it works pretty well for my needs

 

[Stoli89]

My Dell XPS 420 - updated bios to A07, upgraded Memory to 8 GB (2GBx4) DDR2 PC2-6400 DESKTOP Memory Modules (240-pin DIMM, 800MHz) Genuine A-Tech Brand from Amazon. Installed EVGA GeForce GTX 960 Super Clocked ACX 2.0 4GB GDDR5 128 Bit Graphic Card (04G-P4-3962-KR) from Amazon. Installed 120GB SSD (Windows 10) soon to be upgraded to 250 SSD and 1TB Western Digital Black as a secondary drive fro my games. PC runs like a beast.

I too still have a XPS 420 (see specs previous 2014 post). Was wondering what power supply you are using with the Video Card (mine is the upgraded Dell OEM 425W that came original purchase). Does your CPU bottleneck the new Video Card? Also, if you have used SetFSB to slightly OC. If so, what settings? I moved to PC-6400 2GB (x 4) 800Mhz RAM.and haven't been able to go above 2.6 Ghz with SetFSB since.

Sorry to bother with the questions...but I'm on the fence regarding a new PC and your post made me rethink/delay that purchase.

Still using the standard 375 Watt PSU. Have not tried over clocking. So far no problems with the games I have played. This was just a cheap solution for me to play some modern games without having to buy a new PC. So far it works pretty well for my needs

Thanks. As an aside, I did take the OC plunge by going with the BSEL Tape mod. CPU has gone to 3.0 GHz with temps at idle of 46 degrees (with new thermal paste applied too]. Very stable.

Could only get to 2.6 Ghz with SetFSB [adjusting FSB from 216/380 to max 238/380, where it was stable].

With BSEL tape mod, SetFSB is now showing as default 283/380! Of course, I'm not playing with SetFSB anymore as I have a stock CPU cooler.

 

[dannyoc333]

I have an XPS 420 with a core 2 quad 6600 cpu and I was hoping for some advice. Currently 2 of the 4 original 1GB ram modules are faulty and are therefore removed, it is running windows 8.1 pro but I am in the middle of upgrading to windows 10 32 bit. For some reason I upgraded from windows vista to windows 7 in 32 bit I cant remember why.

Anyway the plan is to eventually upgrade to windows 10 64 bit I have found some guides online about how to transition from 32 to 64 bit in windows 10 so hopefully that wont create too many issues. I realize I will need at least 4 GB of ram to run windows 10 64 bit but I want to upgrade to the max of 8 GB, the BIOS is A07 if i remember correctly. I just installed an old graphics card I had its an ASUS GTX 650-DC-1GD5 which seems to have installed correctly. It has 2 x DVI and 1 x HDMI and 1 x VGA.

I will only use this PC for office use with a multi monitor setup. At the moment it will be running 3 x 1080p monitors but what I want to do is get a 4K LED TV as the main monitor and run 2 additional 1080p monitors in portrait either side of it to give me the best working layout.

The questions I have are as follows:
1. can you recommend what type of ram to buy - I know I need to buy four new matching modules of 2GB each, need advise of speed and brand to buy.
2. Is the HDMI out on my graphics card HDMI 1.4 or 2.0 (is it capable of outputting 4K - I cant find any info on the manufacturer website about the max resolution of the HDMI.
3. I would like to install an SSD for the OS - Do I need any special modifications to make this work with the motherboard?
4. When the SSD is eventually purchased can anyone recommend software that will allow me to duplicate the content of my existing C drive so I done have to install everything again.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Askania]

My XPS 420 now has a 650W 80+ gold PSU, Geforce GTX750 2GB GPU, Seagate Barracuda 2TB 64MB Cache HDD, Upgraded Ram to 8GB just by simply changing to a 64bit OS which is now windows 10 Pro and I play World of Warcraft without any major issues, it has just recently started to slow barely which I intend to fix by adding an SSD, but it is also likely due to my internet speed being a mere 6Mbps because Im at the end of my exchange. I'm no pc tech I found my answers to upgrading all of which I did myself by a simple google search. I am also running Adobe creative Cloud, I downloaded it just to prove you can run it, and if you weren't embarrased enough by the silly answers (you can only have 4GB Max Ram) I am a blonde female.