Salvage 3.0 p4 CPU vs. a new p4 Duo PlZ help?

[vitiris71]

Hi all,

I am a gamer, and like to keep up on Technology, I play Q4, WoW, Fear , etc.. but its been kind of lame lately on my pc.

Currently I have a:

Intel Pentium 4 3.0E 800 fsb Prescott 3.0GHz 1MB L2 Cache Socket 478 Processor - Retail
ABIT IS7-E Socket 478 Intel 865PE ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
XFX AGP 8X 6600 GT card,
2 Meg of Kingston pc3200 DDR Ram
and a 7200 RPM WD Harddrive.

I was thinking about building a new system using a:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz 2M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

My question is, is it worth trying to salvage that CPU and maybe putting it into a newer MB or building a Dual CPU with a PCIX graphics card or SLI? or is it really the biggest bottle neck? Basically I need advice what is really my biggest bottleneck its seems the AGP Card is probably the issue followed by the cpu, but i was wondering on a budget if there is anway to wake up this system or should I just throw in the towel and start from scratch. I also seems I may not be able to salvage my memory cause if i went with a athlon with ddr it might not be fast enough memory.

Thanks Chris

 

[joefriday]

You can't salvage that cpu, at least not for a new gaming build. socket 478 is completely dead. Either sell off your old cpu/mobo or find another use for your old rig. The DDR ram, AGP card, hard drives, optical drives, etc, can be reused by using certain Asrock (and I believe ECS has one now) mobos that support Conroe yet allow for either DDR ram of DDR2 ram and an AGP 8x slot or a PCIe 8x slot. The cpu itself simply cannot be incorporated into a new build. It may not necessarily be the biggest bottle neck, but the Netburst architecture is not the best for gaming. The Core 2 Duo would serve you well, as would AMD's K8 processor line.

Your memory is fine. It takes DDR2 800 memory to finally beat out DDR 400 when you compare identicle platforms from the socket 939/socket AM2 line. A socket 939 build would be the most budget friendly and offer the biggest performance per dollar for what you will be doing (gaming). If you want to go with Intel, Asrock and ECS should have a few motherboards that you will find interesting. Also check out Anandtech's reviews on these Asrock boards. The Asrock 775i65g is a very strong board, but it is AGP only.

 

[vitiris71]

Thanks for the reply joe.

What would be a nice build Core 2, with budget in mind.

My biggest concern with replacement is

CPU,
Memory DDR 2 2 MB preferred? what PCXXXX # is that? cause the fsb of the core 2 is like 1066 right?
MB
Graphics Card.

I really want to put together a kicking system, but not sure I can go all out and put in Dual SLI 7900+s or something liek that.

Any good builds out there guys?

 

[joefriday]

Core 2 duo runs 1:1 with DDR2 533 (pc4200) ram, because Core 2 Duo's bus is quadpumped, just like the P4, so the true fsb is 266 Mhz. You could use some DDr667 (pc5300) ram as well. The nice thing about Intel's Core 2 is that it is not as picky about ram speeds as AMD's AM2 K8s, so pc4200 will work almost as well as pc5300.

When it comes to graphics, SLI could be a problem. AFAIK, only the 975X chipset can support SLI. All the other Conroe-compatible chipset cannot. If SLI is something you simply must have, expect to be paying quite a bit for a motherboard.

Like I said before, if you want a true down and dirty budget build, check out what Asrock has to offer you.

 

[weilin]

the absolute minimum you need is DDR2 533 or PC2 4200. that would be enough to sync with FSB. However, if you want to overclock DDR2 667 and 800 isn't out of hte question. BTW htat 1066 rating is really hte bus speed which is FSB quadpumped (1066/4=266). Boardwise right now, The options are rather limited, you're looking at Gigabyte DS3, DQ6 or Asus P5B (deluxe). Video card, id get midrange and wait for DX10. A x1800xt or a 7600gt should be fine to tie you over. You could shell out a grand for dual 7900s but y bother when they will be retired within the foreseeable future? BTW, there really isnt any impressive nforce offerings for conroe yet so SLI is gonna be rather rough..

 

[Talon]

vitiris71 wrote:

What would be a nice build Core 2, with budget in mind.

Do you have a set budget to the dollar or a ballpark figure you're willing to spend? Would be of help to any trying to recommend a build or upgrade path, thanks.

 

[vitiris71]

The cheaper the better but, I was thinking 600-800 max,

I dont need a Monitor, I have an OS, and HD I can use for now. I even have a case. But might need a bigger power supply.

Was thinking about replacing the
CPU, Memory, MB, and Graphics Card.

 

[Talon]

Current power supply?

 

[vitiris71]

Thermaltake Silent PurePower TT-420AD(DUAL FAN) ATX 420W Power Supply - Retail

 

[godman]

that should do for now. is it 20 or 24pin?anyways unless you go sli or get a pentium d 8xx just upgrade the motherboard cpu graphics and ram

 

[jaguarskx]

Basically I need advice what is really my biggest bottleneck its seems the AGP Card is probably the issue followed by the cpu, but i was wondering on a budget if there is anway to wake up this system or should I just throw in the towel and start from scratch

Your cheapest upgrade to boost performance is to replace your video card. The 6600GT is slow by today's standards. Your P4 3.0GHz CPU may not be on the leading edge of technology anymore, but it is still a good CPU for games.

I would drop in a Radeon X850PRO 256MB for $156 which includes shipping.

Click here for a GPU comparision reveiw. The X850Pro is not part of the review, but you can see that the slower X800Pro is significantly faster than the 6600GT. I would peg the X850Pro to be slightly slower than the X800XT PE which is near the top of the chart.

For a mere $156, you should see a good boost in performance. Or you can spend about $700 - $800 for a Core 2 Duo E6300 system. That would cover CPU, GPU, motherboard and RAM. Naturally a Core 2 Duo build will give you better performance than just a video card upgrade, but will cost around 5x more than just the cost of an AGP video card.

 

[vitiris71]

Hey Guys, how about replacing the MB

With something like this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135210

Then using my current pc3200 DDR memory and replacing the CPU with a Core Duo 6300 or 6400

Then adding a decent graphics card? would it be a waste to put a cpu in a cheaper mb like this?

It also supports PCIX 16, so i can use one of the better graphics cards.

Chris

 

[Talon]

CPU:

e6600 Intel C2Duo 360.00

Mobo:

ECS/w SLI 94.99(84.99/w rebate)

limited OC potential but seems like a solid board and inexpensive if you're not a heavy OC'er.


Ram

Corsair PC800 2x1GB 267.00(227.00 rebate)


GPU:

PNY 7600GT 165.99(125.99/w rebate)
Good solid midrange. nice upgrade from what you have and can add another one later or upgrade when DX10 cards hit.

This combo totals right at $800 after rebates (I know its more out of pocket but I've never failed to get a rebate yetso I say what the heck and it gets you a great system.
Don't worry too much about your power supply unless you start running several more drives or upgrade in the future to SLI.

You could alter this recommendation slightly but downgrading Ram a little to OCZ PC 5400 2x1GB which would allow upgrade to Gigabyte 965-DS3 mobo. This gives you a more overclockable motherboard but at the cost of SLI as an upgrade path. I'd probably just get the ECS since your budget is tight. Their recent boards have seemed quite stable and thats what its about at the end of the day eh?

One other different option would be to just lower the CPU to the e6400 and then use the Asus top end mobo if you feel like you must get deep into OC'ing and have SLI path all at once. Well thats one persons opinion for you at least

Up to you but I sure hope this helps, sorry it took a while for this but I'm at work

 

[joefriday]

Hey Guys, how about replacing the MB

With something like this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135210

Then using my current pc3200 DDR memory and replacing the CPU with a Core Duo 6300 or 6400

Then adding a decent graphics card? would it be a waste to put a cpu in a cheaper mb like this?

It also supports PCIX 16, so i can use one of the better graphics cards.

Chris

The board you linked does not support Core 2 Duo. Also, the baord only has a "PCI Lite" slot, meaning a 4x PCI-e slot. There should be a similar ECS board out their that does support Core 2 Duo though.

EDIT: Found it. No AGP slot, but you can use either DDR ram or DDR2 ram. Apparently no dual channel support:

ECS board

Either that ECS board or Asrock's various boards are your only choices if you want to re use your DDR ram. Unless you absolutely need to have the AGP slot, I would recomend Asrock's 775Twins-HDTV, as it is based on the express 200 chipset, which is a better performer than the Via chipset found on the ECS.

http://www.asrock.com/product/775Twins-HDTV%20R2.0.htm

EDIT: I just checked the availibilty of the 775Twins-HDTV. Looks like unless you live in Australia or in the UK, you're not gonna find it. Also it costs around $100 US dollars, so it's not that cheap. Still, it would make for an awsome HTPC with its TV-out. It looks like the ECS or Asrock's varient that uses the PT880 pro are the only boards available for a super cheap build using DDR ram and PCI express. Here a link to Asrocks board. I think it is the best board for you.

http://www.asrock.com/PRODUCT/775Dual-VSTA.htm

The Asrock board is available from Newegg for $56 plus shipping. A steal!

 

[will14]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103747
+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131022
+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125025&ATT=14-125-025&CMP=OTC-d3alt1me
Comes with Civ 4 and is silent/cool, could get a higher end one though.
+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231087
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146565
($100 rebate so great ram at decent price)
Ok lots of ram options

That's about $670
Could reconfigure to be $600 or $800
Depending on ram/mobo/video options.
If you'll never bother with any OC might get cheaper mobo better video
Can probably get a 7900 for $200.

Now for conroe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115005
+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231043
x2
+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131030
+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125025&ATT=14-125-025&CMP=OTC-d3alt1me
=
Around $700
Used 533 ram for 2x ram = 1066 matching conroe FSB.
Not exactly an OC board either.

Just a referance to be used while looking perhaps.
I wouldn't buy too expensive of a video card.
I'd wait for DX10.

 

[godman]

yeah like will said about the video cardget a 7600gt or 7900gs or 1900gt even and then wait until dx10 all will be a substansial increase in perfomance

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_7600_gt_performance/default.asp

its a bit old but heres a review of the 7600gt and it includes the 6600gt for comparison

or just look at THGs own interactive gpu charts HERE

in half life 2 a 1900gt can double the performance of your 6600gt ! whilst a 7600gt gives you modern day features that the 6600gt doesnt have and gives you almost double the performance of a 6600gt HERE