Intel Pentium D worth anything?

Check the ASUS site for BIOS upgrades and see what that may allow in upgrading the CPU... Depending on what your friend is wanting to play, check the Tom's monthly video card recommendations for something in the $100 range, you shouldn't need to upgrade the power supply, something you'd have to upgrade with a rebuild. If the machine has 2gb of memory, you can leave that alone, four would be nice, but leave that until last...

I remember a review of the Sempron Sargas 140 in which they recommended a graphics card no higher than a Radeon HD 4670 (if at stock speeds and the extra core wasn't unlocked).The Pentium D 820 is just a little below that Sargas 140 in the passmark bench so it looks as if something comparable to the Radeon HD 4670 or the HD 4650 would be adequate otherwise it could be bottlenecked.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lo [...] +D+2.80GHz

You could find a similar Nvidia graphics card comparible to the HD 4650 or the HD 4670 here.
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 803-7.html

Edit- Here is a review of the Pentium D 820 banchmarked in games

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/c [...] html#sect0

rather poor in games even compared to old Athlon 64 3200+'s and 3500+'s

So I'll have to reassess this now and conclude that a $50 HD 4650 graphics card would be the better match for it and the HD 4670 would be overkill and probably be bottlenecked.It seems as if if the Pentium D 820 did much better in other areas but would have it's ass kicked by a Sempron Sargas 140 in gaming.The passmark bench didn't show this.


Yes, overall it looks as if it would be better for your friend to save his money towards a much better CPU+ motherboard and graphics card.
By much better it could even be a $50 CPU and a $40 motherboard.
However perhaps a $50 graphics card might make a nice upgrade during the mean time.

That may only have an AGP slot for the video card, The pent D's worked well with the 3850 series thou the 4670's could be had with more memory. I'm not sure if they came out with anything more powerful than those in agp flavor.

I am typing this on a Pentium D 820 right now, and while I am looking to get a SB upgrade, this computer has served me well for the past 5 years. I can do some video transcoding just fine, and of course it surfs the web with ease! I'm not a gamer so that is why I haven't been forced to upgrade over past 5 years.

if you or your friend are bent on keeping this motherboard and set-up and want to upgrade it then a definite processor upgrade.
your motherboard will and does accept C2Q processors (without BIOS update even though I recommend it) and this way you can keep your HDD's the way they are with no configuration corruption or having to re-install OS and other software.
http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-ASUS [...] EM_SI.html
mind you that C2Q's in the Q9500 range can run $200 and that's equal to current i5-760 prices...
Would it be worth it then.? add $100+ for decent gfx card or better and $50 for RAM upgrade.
that's what $350 already...?

Look at getting an E5300 and overclocking it which is dead easy.

cheap, powerful, and gives you a big boost in gaming performance.

A quad is a bit of a waste unless you can get one very cheap ... money is better spent on graphics as jsc suggests.

Good luck !!

So I've been trying to find the most profitable combo for his gaming needs on a very tight budget. Came up with 2 patterns:

Combo 1: Intel Pentium Dual core E5500 + HD 5750 (or GTS 250...) + 1 GB RAM
Combo 2: Intel Pentuim DUal core E6700 + HD 5570 (or GT 240...) + 2GB RAM

I'm thinking better graphic card is the way to go but also want to make sure he's not bottlenecked by the slow processor and lack of RAM...(2 GB DDR2)

Oh, and is a basic 400W PSU enough for any of the choices above?

Thanks again

400W PSU will not be able to powerup a GTS250. i dont think GTS250 will be bottle necked by a E5500. Iu cannot get a better PSU then get a HD 5670 i think it doesnt require any external power connector. at what resolution do you want to game ?

A-DATA 4GB (2 x 2GB).
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300/Q8400.
SeaSonic S12II 520 Bronze 520W.

I think this is the best i can do. As per newegg this comes to something around $270 to $290 depending upon the processor. Check if you can get some combo discounts which may help.

Although a complete revamp is advised.

I did not know that he need a GPU in that budget. It is tough to fit all that in $250 budget. Let see... It would be better if he did the step by step upgrade. HD5750 isn't much of a card even for a 19 inch monitor. I would say get a good card and a decent PSU now. Save some money and a then get a new CPU+Mobo+RAM combo later. Or the other way round for that matter. That is... only if he is willing to spend further on the PC in the future.

PC maintenance is an expensive hobby!

I made something for you but you will have to help your friend a little :

Video card sapphire vapor-x 5750 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102865

PSU seasonic 430W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817151074

G.Skill 2x1Gb of RAM at 800Mhz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231098

CPU Intel pentium E5500 at 2.8Ghz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819116367

Grand Total:* $284.96

The PSU will be able to handle more then the components i posted above. It is bronze 80%+ efficiency. The video card should stay cool. The RAM is at 800Mhz, if the speed of the 1Gb stick that is inside your friend's PC is at a lower speed please post and i can adapt the components. The CPU is not the strongest or the fastest but should speed things up a little. The older CPU he can sell.

EDIT: on second thought i would not buy any new CPU. Buy the rest now and in 1-2 months buy a core 2 duo CPU or a cheap quad. And that should be the final investment in that PC.
In that case the upgrade should lock like this:

Video card EVGA GTS450 superclocked: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130573

PSU Corsair 550w: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139004

RAM 2x1Gb: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231098

Grand Total:* $259.97

If you want you can buy this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121393 to fit your 250$ limit.

True, a second hand LGA 775 socket CPU would be the best solution from a financially point of view. As he is trying to get rid of that pentium D many are doing the same with core 2 duo or core 2 quads and buying new i CPU's.

i have pentium D 820 aswell and believe me its not upto the mark for latest games even with a GPU like GTS 250 or something (bottleneck)
i m also upgrading to i5 760 and GTX 460 1GB next week
get a second hand quad 6600 they r like all over the place and u will be happy for a while u can get it around 67$USD and it wont bottle neck ur GTS 450

I also had my Q9505s pushing a GTX460, it too made a good pairing..

Glad we could help. I still would like to insist on the RAM, with 1 Gb he will not be able to do lots of stuff. I use 2Gb now and with a 5770 and a core 2 duo at 3.4 the games still work rather well. I did not get the chance to upgrade to 4Gb because of the price of DDR2 RAM compared to DDR3 RAM.

If he does not want to spend all 250$ on parts at list buy him another 1Gb of RAM. You will see the difference right away.

I would not advise anyone to run that windows. The difference fro xp to w7 is big, better interface, 10 times more stable, less viruses and fewer problems. For another 300mb of ram used it is worth it.

If he has xp and has the option to go for windows7 then he should do it.

I use Win7 Ult and Prem editions on most of my computers.
With that said Please Lets Not Go Hating On XP
Definitely the most proven,longing lasting, most successful Windows/OSes of all time.
I run an older P4 tower for my fiance with XP with very few hiccups; besides browsing and streaming media it also functions as a 24/7 video stream surveillance system.
I rarely have to mess with it besides maintenance
I have fallen in love with Win7 (Vista Yuck!) but I still respect WinXP.
Dont forget my Ubuntu 10.10 box either
.