Looking for a Fast CPU without destroying my Wallet

[callmemrbest]

I am looking for a Better CPU than what I have, but I'm not looking to spend a ton of money. I've obviously seen that processors can get outrageously expensive. Long story short, with the arrival of D3 soon I am upgrading my Desktop and am trying to get the best performance I can for a decent price.

My Current System Specs:
2X2G (4g) DDR2 Kingston Hyperx RAM sticks
Saphire Radeon HD 6670 Graphics with 1g DDR3
I currently have an Intel Pentium D 925 (4M Cache) 3.00Ghz.
My motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L (Rev 2.3) (Socket is a 775)
A 450W power supply but I'm hoping to get a 650W soon.

I have also seen some CPU's with less speed but a higher cache. When looking for a Faster CPU what are the top factors you need to look for?

My current OS is Windows 7 (32-Bit)....because my pc wasn't good enough for the 64 before upgrades.

But Soon in the next few days I will be doing a custom install of Windows 7 64-bit.
I read that the 32 bit version will only recognize about 3.0-3.5g of RAM in a system whereas the 64-bit version will recognize the full 4.0g.

 

[Chainzsaw]

Hello,

IMO if your keeping that computer....3Ghz is practically the fastest those P4's got. Sure there were some EE versions...however they weren't much faster than yours. That CPU is already 6 years old - and there's been at least 3 generation changes since then.

To get a better processor - you will need a full socket change (new motherboard).

I would start saving up money for a new build if I were you.

However if you REALLLY want to upgrade it heres a list of CPU's that are supported by your motherboard:

http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=3485

Out of all of them - I would suggest the Core 2 Quad Q9650.

 

[callmemrbest]

Thanks, I will most likely just wait to upgrade the MOBO and CPU together. However, since most new mobo's require ddr3 RAM i'll have to upgrade that as well.


Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Chainzsaw]

Thanks, I will most likely just wait to upgrade the MOBO and CPU together. However, since most new mobo's require ddr3 RAM i'll have to upgrade that as well.


Thanks for the feedback!

No problem. You might be able to find that processor I suggested somewhere...but most likely you would have to find it on EBAY or something like that. Those old 775 socket CPU's are getting harder and harder to find by the day.

If you ever are going to make a build - come back again with a budget and i'm sure someone from here could help you slap together something very nice.

 

[amuffin]

How about an i3-2100?

 

[Chainzsaw]

How about an i3-2100?

The i3 is a socket 1155 CPU. It won't work in a socket 775 motherboard.

 

[amuffin]

Didn't he say he wanted to upgrade his mobo and cpu?

If not, then grab a core 2 quad 9xxx processor. Preferably the Q9550 or Q9650!

 

[WR2]

Thanks, I will most likely just wait to upgrade the MOBO and CPU together. However, since most new mobo's require ddr3 RAM i'll have to upgrade that as well.

A basic set of 4GB DDR3 RAM is about $20, and gaming rig RAM is only a bit more.
8GB sets of good RAM are running around $42-45.

 

[callmemrbest]

I was looking at different CPU's but doing a little research before i decided to post on here, i pretty much knew that what i have now isn't worth really replacing without a new mobo and RAM. althought i spent about 36$ on some high performance ddr2 ram, it will beat what i had in there, which was one stick of 2G. Needless to say, i put this pc together when i was in highschool (I am 23 now) and havn't upgraded it since, except for the mobo and powersupply after they both fried

 

[callmemrbest]

Well, i wound up building a computer from cyber power with an I5-3550 and 8g (2GX4 Kingston HyperX RAM) and a the 750W CMPSU by corsair. The i5-3550 had the benchmark of like 7.6k and the i5-3750k was i think slightly higher, but was not worth the extra 30$ they wanted to charge. the 3750k can be OC but since i've never done it i wouldn't be willing to take the risk. One day i'll do it when I have more money to waste, but since im a poor college student I can only do so much.

 

[Chainzsaw]

Nice.