Looking to Upgrade

[Handyman4545]

I'm looking to upgrade my desktop Dell
I'm moving into 3D art and need faster processing speed as I'm bogging down in rendering and setup as my scene increases with 3D figures.

I've ordered 4-4Gb DDR2 chips to up to 16Gb Ram (from 8 current) and will receive them around the 01/25 but I'm interested in knowing if there is an economical alternative (refurb) to the 960 I currently have that I can upgrade to (quad processor?) or perhaps just an MB that can be swapped out?

Suggestions would be appreciated.

[DGroves]

doing 3d work usually requires a video card that is suited for the type of 3d work and software you run depending on this your video card may need anywhere from 4 to 8 gb of video ram

while the cpu is important, you need to again determine if your 3d program(s) respond to more cores or faster cpu speeds and less cores

ram is also important, with 32 gb or more

your current Os is windows 7 which will leave mainstream support in under 12 months, consider upgrading to windows 10 pro 64 bit,...... DO NOT USE ANY 32 BIT OS!!!!

you might find it a better alternative to buy a used complete system off ebay such as a HP z600 (with a rev 2 motherboard)

as this wil give you a massive upgrade 

other posters on this forum are cad users and can provide more specific suguestions so wait and see what they say

[Handyman4545]

Ran into another issue...
Seems my computer tech guy doesn't know as much about computers as he makes out.

I was told I could upgrade the RAM to 16Gb.
Acording to Dell, my system, an Intel Core 2 Duo E8500/3.16GHz,6M,1333FSB is currently maxed at 8Gb

My guy ordered 4- 4Gb DDR2 PC2 sticks to upgrade it to 16Gb and not only does the memory not fit, apparently it won't work.

Is there any way to upgrade this MB economicly or should I just look for a refurb'd z600 and scrap the 960?

How do I locate a Rev2 board?

I assume that's an abrev for Revision-2?

[SDH]

This is a HP forum, supported by HP users.  Please use a Dell forum for Dell questions.

Having said that if you want a HP workstation right now I'd recommend the HP Z600 version 2 or the Z620 version 2.  The Z600 will be less expensive.

Read up in this forum on those workstations and optimization of them.