Best CPU Upgrade for the Money...Advice

[bimmernut]

Hi Guys,

ill start off by saying thanks in advance for any help.

We've inherited a pc recently. Actually not so recently, its been here about a year, our old boss gave it to us. i finally dusted it off and decided to load Win7 on it, runs amazingly well for being 2.66 and a whopping 512mb of ram. ive already ordered 2gb of ram for it.

its primarily being used as a family hub, facebook, twitter, etc. its not really going to do much, but id like if it could handle some video and music. maybe some overnight downloading (p2p). if it could transcode a video for the kids ipods ill build a shrine around it.

the mobo is an ASRock 775VM800

i went to their site and pulled a list of cpu upgrades. unfortunately, i have no idea what im looking at. its been a good five years since ive even touched a cpu. my gut instinct just says to go with the one at the top with the fastest speed. Id prefer dual cores, but honestly i cant tell which one of those has one.



Socket Family Number Core Frequency FSB Cache
775 Pentium Extreme 840EE(B0) Smithfield 3.20GHz 800MHz 2MB P1.30
775 Pentium Extreme 840EE Smithfield 3.20GHz 800MHz 2MB All
775 Pentium D 950 Presler 3.40GHz 800MHz 4MB P1.30
775 Pentium D 945 Presler 3.40GHz 800MHz 4MB P1.50
775 Pentium D 940 Presler 3.20GHz 800MHz 4MB P1.30
775 Pentium D 930 Presler 3.00GHz 800MHz 4MB P1.30
775 Pentium D 920 Presler 2.80GHz 800MHz 4MB P1.30
775 Pentium D 840 Smithfield 3.20GHz 800MHz 2MB All
775 Pentium D 830 Smithfield 3.00GHz 800MHz 2MB All
775 Pentium D 830(B0) Smithfield 3.00GHz 800MHz 2MB P1.30
775 Pentium D 820 Smithfield 2.80GHz 800MHz 2MB All
775 Pentium D 805 Smithfield 2.66GHz 533MHz 2MB P1.40
775 Pentium 4 672 Prescott 3.80GHz 800MHz 2MB P1.30
775 Pentium 4 670 Prescott 3.80GHz 800MHz 2MB All
775 Pentium 4 662 Prescott 3.60GHz 800MHz 2MB P1.30
775 Pentium 4 661 Cedar Mill 3.60GHz 800MHz 2MB P1.30
775 Pentium 4 660 Prescott 3.60GHz 800MHz 2MB All
775 Pentium 4 651 Cedar Mill 3.40GHz 800MHz 2MB P1.30
775 Pentium 4 650 Prescott 3.40GHz 800MHz 2MB All
775 Pentium 4 641 Cedar Mill 3.20GHz 800MHz 2MB P1.30
775 Pentium 4 640 Prescott 3.20GHz 800MHz 2MB All
775 Pentium 4 631 Cedar Mill 3.00GHz 800MHz 2MB P1.30
775 Pentium 4 630 Prescott 3.00GHz 800MHz 2MB All
775 Pentium 4 571 Prescott 3.80GHz 800MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 570J Prescott 3.80GHz 800MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 561 Prescott 3.60GHz 800MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 560J Prescott 3.60GHz 800MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 560 Prescott 3.60GHz 800MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 551 Prescott 3.40GHz 800MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 551(G1) Prescott 3.40GHz 800MHz 1MB P1.30
775 Pentium 4 550J Prescott 3.40GHz 800MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 550 Prescott 3.40GHz 800MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 541 Prescott 3.20GHz 800MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 540 Prescott 3.20GHz 800MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 540J Prescott 3.20GHz 800MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 531 Prescott 3.00GHz 800MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 530 Prescott 3.00GHz 800MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 530J Prescott 3.00GHz 800MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 521 Prescott 2.80GHz 800MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 520J Prescott 2.80GHz 800MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 520 Prescott 2.80GHz 800MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 519K(G1) Prescott 3.06GHz 533MHz 1MB P1.30
775 Pentium 4 516(G1) Prescott 2.93GHz 533MHz 1MB P1.30
775 Pentium 4 516 Prescott 2.93GHz 533MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 515 Prescott 2.93GHz 533MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 511 Prescott 2.80GHz 533MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 506 Prescott 2.66GHz 533MHz 1MB All
775 Pentium 4 506(G1) Prescott 2.66GHz 533MHz 1MB P1.30
775 Pentium 4 505 Prescott 2.66GHz 533MHz 1MB All
775 Celeron D 356 Cedar Mill 3.33GHz 533MHz 512KB P1.30
775 Celeron D 355 Prescott 3.33GHz 533MHz 256KB P1.30
775 Celeron D 351 Prescott 3.20GHz 533MHz 256KB All
775 Celeron D 346 Prescott 3.06GHz 533MHz 256KB All
775 Celeron D 345J Prescott 3.06GHz 533MHz 256KB All
775 Celeron D 341 Prescott 2.93GHz 533MHz 256KB All
775 Celeron D 340J Prescott 2.93GHz 533MHz 256KB All
775 Celeron D 336 Prescott 2.80GHz 533MHz 256KB All
775 Celeron D 335J Prescott 2.80GHz 533MHz 256KB All
775 Celeron D 331 Prescott 2.66GHz 533MHz 256KB All
775 Celeron D 330J Prescott 2.66GHz 533MHz 256KB All
775 Celeron D 326 Prescott 2.53GHz 533MHz 256KB All
775 Celeron D 325J Prescott 2.53GHz 533MHz 256KB All


the one in bold is whats installed now.

if i broke any rules about posting, flame away.

thanks guys.

 

[saaiello]

For a good upgrade for that system look for a Pentium D 950 should be able to find one around $65 on ebay.

Pentium D 950
http://cgi.ebay.com/Pentium-D-950-DUAL-CORE-3-4-GHz-4MB-800mhz-SL94P-CPU_W0QQitemZ200461026665QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCPUs?hash=item2eac688569#ht_1767wt_939

I used to have this processor and it will do anything you ask of it. Its slower then a modern processor but it is no slouch and will perform nicely for what you want and yes it will have no problem transcodeing videos for your Ipod.

If you are really looking for a bargain any of the Pentium D 9xx will be good I would stay away from the smithfields they are known to be very hot processors.

 

[bimmernut]

thank you! surprised they are that cheap.

 

[mosox]

Check your BIOS version maybe you need to update it first in order to have support for that CPU.

 

[saaiello]

thank you! surprised they are that cheap.

Yea its funny how these processors used to be $500 $600 and now they 50 or 60.

Good Luck.

 

[amdfangirl]

Hehe, if only we had time machines.

I'd rather get a new CPU and mobo.

Pentiums are pretty old for what they're worth

 

[saaiello]

Check your BIOS version maybe you need to update it first in order to have support for that CPU.

I checked there is no bios updat needed to run that processor only need an update if you try to run an EE processor.

 

[bimmernut]

Best answer selected by bimmernut.