Hi all, im looking to get a new processor for my pc soon. Its been a few years since i done a bit of shopping for one and im not really up to date with the scene. Atm i have c2d e6400 @2.13. Now im not looking for a top of the range one or anything as i simply dont have the cash for one, id like to try keep my budget at around the £60/£70 mark. {say 95$} My mobo is an asus P5Lmx 775 socket. anyone got any recommendations to fit that bill? Also, when it comes to installing a new processor, do i need to do a new install of win xp or set up bios stuff or anything ? A reinstall isnt a problem but if i need to mess around with the bios i dont fancy that, id rather pay a qualified person to do it, but ofc that would cost about £20 off my budget. Or, i have a mate that can overclock, havent spoke to him in a bit but i could get intouch with him. This would also give me more monies to put into a new card which il need soon as well, but not as much as a proccessor. But for future refrence.... same as above. What would be a nice little upgrade for an 8800gts 320mb ? Prob around the same budget? Thanks.
IMO for that budget you won't find a huge improvement in available processors for that socket. Edit: CPU recommendation removed based on IGemini pointing out compatibility problems with this board and 45nm CPU's. For video cards here is a Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 5670: Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GV-R567OC-1GI Rev2.0 Radeon HD 5670 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
There's an issue with that board, as it only supports 1st generation Core 2 Duo CPUs, no support whatsoever for quad-core or 45nm. Those CPUs were EOLed some time ago, your only option it seems is to upgrade via eBay and making sure you're only using B2 stepping CPUs. Intel® Core As far a a graphics card, you might be able to get your hands on a Radeon 4850 (assuming of course, ASUS didn't stick a PCI-E 1.0a slot on that board), which is a significant improvement from the 8800GTS, which I assume is the first generation of that card. Sapphire HD4850 512MB DDR3 PCI-E Graphics Card: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories
Cool. thanks guys, i kinda feard that there would be a problem somewhere along the line. i had my eye on an E6600 3.06ghz for £66, but i just checked and the processor process is 45nm. I havent a scooby doo what that means but thankfully you pointed that out to me Igemini before i bought it. edit.. Seen on the asus site that it does support the e6600... im confused. B2 stepping CPUs is alien to me too. But il have a google and see what choices im left with.... if any. Edit.. Found out the fastest cpu that my mobo can support is the E6700. But on the asus site it only mentions the e6700 @ 2.66 ghz. Whereas the one i have seen is 3.2ghz. Could this be a problem? Can get the 6700 for £70. Would it 6700 justify the price just to upgrade from a 6400 ?? And good shout on the cards too . Cheers. Yeah, its the 320mb version m8, it has done me well and up until recently its struggling with games.
I was a bit worried when I found out Intel was recycling the processor names for this very reason. The newer E6x00 CPUs belong to the Intel Pentium line, while the older ones are Core 2. Stepping vaguely refers to the "maturity" of the chip design, letters further along the alphabet are more mature (E6600 chips progress as B2->G0->R0). In the simplest terms, a lot of what determines if a board can handle the 45nm CPUs is the design of the power system because the newer CPUs require less power, but some boards can't set the power threshold that low. Even ASUS' product info page for the P5L-MX says it should support 45nm, but either they haven't gotten around to programming it or it ended up not being able to support newer silicon.
for the graphics card get a ati 5770 if you can afford it otherwise just get a 4870 or a gtx 260 refurbished or off of ebay
Thanks for the infomate, think iv got it. Although i got intouch with my mate and hes gonna try oc it for me. I obviously dont wanna spend that money unless i know my mobo will support it 100%. Cheers man. That 5770 does look a good card. But it is at the very toip end of my budget. Been checking ebay for a 260, seen a couple around the 80 mark, so hopefully when the time does come around to buying one it will be even cheaper, same goes for the ati. Thanks.
Why do you need a new processor at all? Unless you are a graphic designer or something similar then it doesn't really matter. Since you also mentioned a graphics card I'm going to assume you want to upgrade for gaming? The processor is hardly ever the bottleneck on games...upgrading your video card gives you the best price-performance ratio...just save the $100 you want to spend and put that towards your video card. Also, the new radeons are slated for release later this month. Wait until they come out (prices of old cards will lower)
Yeah man, this is purely for gaming really. Atm my cpu cant handle most fairly recent games, and the 2.13 ghz doesnt even meet the minimum requirements on some games, what basically means unplayable to me... i dont know why they bother with minimum specs, like i say, i think its pointless trying to play a pc game on minimum . Though i do see what your saying mate, and i did manage to get away with this before, i.e i had a bit of money and put it all into a new card {8800gts}, however now, i feel the time has come where i def need to upgrade/oc the cpu now. I will do mate. Thanks for that.
Core 2 duos kick ass at overclocking. If you're friend can't help you out with that then post your specs here and I'll walk you through it. - doing a quick search for "e6400 overclocking" on google shows that your processor is actually really popular for overclocking. Tons of guides as well
Excellent mate. thanks for that. My mate said hes up for havin a look, not heard back, il mention it again in a few days, but if nothin comes of it il do a bit of reading up and perhaps with your help i may manage it myself lol. How easy would you consider it ? what can go wrong ? And i havent told my mate the specs yet either so i dont even know how possible it will be. What specs would you need to know mate ? My mobo is an asus p5lmx ASUS P5L-MX - motherboard - micro ATX - i945G: Read product information and write a ASUS P5L-MX - motherboard - micro ATX - i945G review , and the cpu is this one i believe Intel® Core {had it custom built a few years back} When it comes to overclocking, will i need to get a new heatsink ? Yeah bud, i did notice that through a quick google that it has very good potential. I dont wanna over do it mind you, as i wouldnt want any over heating problems etc which may give me problems further down. And i dunno how much life it would have in it if i went overboard on it. But yeah it nuts, seen it oc'd to 3.33 ghz on toms hardware. Gonna do a little reading up on it for now. Cheers.