advice on which Intel CPU <$200 US

[brjoon1021]

Hi,

I am upgrading from a pretty old platform. I will run XP for sure, maybe Vista. Mild gaming, but primarily office, surfing, video editing and photo editing (not professional).

What I am looking for is the best bang-for-the-buck Intel processor that I can get for $200 or less. Consider overclocking potential too. I am open to that for sure. I have a good AGP card and too much good DDR 400 so I am buying one of those ASROCK motherboards that allows for the different options.

Your advice on a few options would be appreciated.

B

 

[M1A]

Your processor will be determined by what MB you pick. If you are still using an AGP slot you may not be able to use a c2d chip. If you can the best c2d socket 775 for about 200 is the E8400.

 

[Glavinsolo]

Well if you are sticking with AGP and DDR 400 along with a mobo that supports that can we know the specs of this ASROCK board. It seems you are going to get away for much less than 200 for your proc.

 

[brjoon1021]

Here are the specs for the board

Specification
Mfr Part Number: 4COREDUAL-SATA2
CPU: Socket 775 Support Intel Core 2 Extreme/ Core 2 Duo/ Pentium XE/ Pentium D/ Pentium Dual Core/ Pentium 4/ Celeron/ Celeron D Processor; Supporting Quad Core Kentsfield Processors; Supports Hyper-Threading Technology; Supports Untied Overclocking Technology; Supports EM64T CPU; FSB 1066/800/533 MHz
Chipset: VIA PT880 Pro / PT880 Ultra & VT8237S
Memory: 2x 240pin DDR2-667/533 DIMMs, 2x 184pin DDR-400/333/266 DIMMs, Dual Channel, Max Capacity 2GB
Slots: 1x PCI-Express Graphics Slot; 1x AGP 8X Slot; 4x PCI Slots
IDE/SATA: 2x ATA-133 Channels; 2x SATA2 Ports, Support RAID 0, RAID 1, and JBOD
Audio: ALC888 7.1-Channel Windows Vista Premium Level HD Audio CODEC
LAN: VIA PHY VT6103 10/100 Ethernet Controller
Ports: 8x USB 2.0 Ports (4 rear, 4 by headers); 2x PS/2 Ports; 1x Serial Port; 1x Parallel Port; 1x RJ45 LAN Port; Audio I/O Jack
Power Connector: 1x 20pin Main Power, 1x 4pin CPU Power
Form Factor: ATX, 12 x 9.6 inch / 30.5 x 24.4 cm
Package: Retail

 

[LOUISSSSS]

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2157333&enterthread=y
that board doesn't look like it can support EITHER the e8400 or Q6600 which are the BEST CPU's at this moment. i'd sell off everything u have and upgrade for this.

what do u mean by TOO MUCH DDR? how much u got? if its less than 6gb sell it!

 

[manimal]

Ya you could probably get some decent coin to fund your upgrade if you sell your DDR. Considering how cheap DDR2 is and the fact AGP is deader then Mike Hucklebee's presidential hopes is enough impetus to upgrade the tech. AGP cards sell decently to the schmoes out there that refuse to upgrade to PCI so that should get you some of your investment back. You can easily get 2X2 Gig DDR2 sticks and a inexpensive IP35-E at newegg for what you sell your DDR for. I sold 4 gigs of DDR on craigslist for 200 bucks recently.

 

[Denithor]

You should be able to get more for your DDR400 than it will cost to replace it with higher speed DDR2-800. You can get good DDR2-800 for as little as $28 for 2x1GB Corsair (after MIR) these days.

And regarding video cards, even the fastest AGP cards have been drastically surpassed in the last year and prices are falling like crazy on the newer cards. If you do have a fast AGP card (like an x1950 Pro/XT or 7950GT, about the best AGP cards they made until just recently) you can probably get more than enough for it to replace with an even faster PCI-E card.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: brjoon1021
Hi,

I am upgrading from a pretty old platform. I will run XP for sure, maybe Vista. Mild gaming, but primarily office, surfing, video editing and photo editing (not professional).

What I am looking for is the best bang-for-the-buck Intel processor that I can get for $200 or less. Consider overclocking potential too. I am open to that for sure. I have a good AGP card and too much good DDR 400 so I am buying one of those ASROCK motherboards that allows for the different options.

Your advice on a few options would be appreciated.

B

Unless you feel like you are missing out on something (or are having a system problem), your are better off hangin' tight with what yah got.

Best 'bang' for your $270 would be a new mobo/2gb DDR2 combined with either an Intel e2180 or an AMD x2 5400+. That would leave you $70-$80 toward a new PSU, vid card, etc., combined with whatever you could get from selling your current ram, vid card ...

You could easily jump on an AMD 780g IGP mobo depending on how 'light' your gaming is. It has a PCIe2.0 x16 slot for a future vid card upgrade when cash allows.

You are unfortunately stuck in 'manufactured obsolesence' with DDR and AGP. It's possible that the IGP on the 780g is equal to your vid card (I think Tom's got 1900-2000 3dmarks) ...