Good question.......i have no idea. Any way i can find out?  iI have a Dell Studio XPS Desktop 435MT. The only thing i upgraded it the memory from 4 GIG to 12 and now use win 8.

A little, free program called "Speccy" will suffice. Or open your case and the model will surely be printed right on it, usually around the CPU socket or between PCI slots.

EDIT: okay some other guys have teh "0R849J" mobo in their Dells of the same name you mentioned. Unfortunately, Dell (and other) pre-built systems aren't too open to being messed with, so i wouldn't expect much in the way fo BIOS options. But, all you really will need is the ability to raise your CPU multiplier and control RAM speed, or at least your RAM ratio.. Those are pretty basic features. Maybe have a poke around you BIOs and do NOT Save on Exit. But there may be some BIOS updates taht will open up more options for you. I think Speccy will grab your BIOS version, too.

According to speccy i have the model 0R849J . Theres nothing in bios that i could find that has a numerical value or the words you mentioned.

Ah poo. Well, there's always the possibility if replacing yoru mobo wth a real one... pretty nice ones can be foudn for under 100 bucks.

Will just changeing the motherboard open up what i can do in the bios? I always thought that they were in the chip.

Nope all the BIOS is on the mobo. The chip is more or less passive. Different mobos have different options and features, but even a most basic one will be able to do simple overclocks. Good brands are MSI, Asrock, ASUS, Gigibit, DFI. Personally, I've had the best experience with ASUS and Gigabyte. FYI you'd need a  "LGA 1366" board. Though they're getting harder to find, as they've been out of production for a while. A quick look on NCIX shows only secialized dual-socket 1366 boards, and they run at 400 bucks or so. Maybe a local computer shop will have one.

Yep, PC hardware is a great racket.

Yes but would it be worth changing out the mobo? If i do how much of an increase would i be looking at after i over-clock in comparison to getting the above cpu and mobo and over clocking it. In general what im debating is which option would still be good 5 years from now. To make things simple lets use the above board for both ways. (Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Z77 ATX Intel Motherboard)


On a side note i see what you mean. i was looking at all the intell processor and for just the cpu with no Heat sink or CPU Fan  is $1k. (Core i7 3970X 3.5GHz LGA 2011 Boxed Processor)

5 years, I doubt even todays' hardware would be useful for gaming. Far as your current hardware goes, any better chip wil be kinda hard to find, pricey, and not give you a big performance boost. May jsut best off waiting until you can grab a new CPU/mobo combo. You can pick a pretty good one up for under  400 bucks. You current DDR3 RAM will work fine in any current mobo. 12gb is plenty.

For now, I think you're fine with just a GPU upgrade. Get a CPU.mobo later on.

Not counting the memory or the video card. How long do you think the rest of the hard wear will be useful considering future games?

A while, with a nice video card. Currently, your GPU is holding your CPU back. Get a GPU and see how your games run. Currently, BF3 is a pretty good benchmark for testing your system. Although it's 1.5 years old, it's still harder on hardware than most games that have been released recently.

You can also have a look at and AMD CPU, they're generally a bit cheaper, price/performance wise for games. In the next few months, both Intel and AMD are releasing new socket types (as always). This will give you more options, and drive the prices of current CPUs down a bit.

Install Fraps and start up your games, make note of the FPS you're getting. After you get a new GPU, do it again and see what kind of gains you get. Going from a 4800 to a higher 7xxx or 6xx sereis card is an immense upgrade.

According what I'm finding it looks to be 1366 socket. first gen I7.

Do you have the 920 I7?

It has a PCI Express slot version 2

I would recommend getting a upgraded video card.

$300.00  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202007

$250.00 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161404

$150.00  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161434


This base system if more than enough power for any game.

That 650ti boost is slightly better than a 7850 for only $160 , there is also a superclocked version at $180 that puts it on par with the 7870

Here done be some benchmarks, for comparison. Personally, I think you should just go big and grab a 7950.

http://www.wsgf.org/article/amd-radeon-hd-7870-ghz-edition-hd-7850-review-benchmarking
 
for a PSU - Corsair, Enermax, OCZ, Silverstone, Antec, Seasonic, Thermaltake - they all make excellent PSUs. I'd suggest grabbing a  modular model, so you can only plug in the cables you need, which can make a big difference in smaller cases - both in the way of clutter and airflow. I'd go with at least 700w, or 850w or more if you think you'd get a second card down the line. I implore you, do NOT get a cheap PSU. Any PSU with wattage that high will ahve the conenction you need, but any card you get will have power adapters anyway.

And be sure to use any cable but VGA (the blue, 15-pin ones).

Today I got my new GPU and PSU.

Here is the GPU:MSI  R7950 TF 3GD5/OC AMD Radeon HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Overclocked 3072MB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16 Video Card
http://www.microcenter.com/product/403013/R7950_TF_3GD5-OC_AMD_Radeon_HD_7950_Twin_Frozr_III_Overclocked_3072MB_GDDR5_PCIe_30_x16_Video_Card
 
and PSU:Corsair  CX Series CX600M 600 Watt ATX Modular Power Supply
http://www.microcenter.com/product/406088/CX_Series_CX600M_600_Watt_ATX_Modular_Power_Supply
 

Thanks for all the help and advice

Very nice
Excellent picks!

I'll PM you my addy
that card will work perfect in my new MSI MB