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cpu + mobo + ram upgrade

B

bombatwist

Member
Im looking to upgrade my cpu, mobo, and ram. my current specs are in my signature. I currently have $200 to spend but i think i should save up to $250, before i start buying. Max i will go up to is $300.

can anyone recommend me a cpu, mobo, and ram?

I want an intel dual core cpu and be able to OC it to at least 3GHz. I want to be able to play Call of Duty 4 with decent frame rates and Counter-Strike: Source with over 150fps with everything on high if possible.

My friend has a C2D E4300 Allendale + DFI Blood Iron but no ram and he might sell it to me for around $200, but i wanna know if there is anything better out there within my price range. Can anyone give me some suggestions? thanks!
 
E4300s are not worth buying anymore IMO. If you just want something to overclock to 3ghz then just get a E2140 or 60,80 etc. Under $100 and it can easily overclock to 3ghz. As for mobo, anything special you had in mind? Chipset preference? CF or SLI? And ram you can find on newegg for like 40-60 for 2 gigs, some are cheaper with rebates.
 
If you were in Portland, I would sell you one of my E6300's/mobo/memory for $250 that will do 3 ghz (more if you get PC-8000 memory, like 3.4)

Otherwise, you might check the FS/FT
 
I've got some fam-dam-ily members whose computers need upgrading from Pentium 4 1.8A. It wasn't "in the cards" yet for the budget requirement, but I happened upon this motherboard (which is "over-clockable"):

Gigabyte GA-73VM-S2 mATX

I picked a retail Intel E2140 C2D processor, but discovered a week after receiving it that the prices had all dropped $10 or $15, so for the second build, I found an E2180 for what I'd paid for the first CPU.

For the third part of the essential "combination:"


Crucial Ballistix DDR2-667 2GB (2x1GB) with $30-rebate

You could put DDR2-800's or better in this thing, but for the best CPU-to-RAM ratios, or for "1:1" the DDR2-667's are probably a better match.

Per Bonzai's 12th customer review on the board. I have not had anymore "quirky" behavior with it. I have it OC'd to host-frequency 333 Mhz and 4:5 with the memory (DDR2-1000) running at 835 Mhz. But it will do just as well with CAS or tCL setting of 3 -- probably 3,3,3,8 latencies with 1:1 and DDR2-667. That puts the little 2140 at 2.76 Ghz.

The E2180 should get you to 3 Ghz as easily as the E2140 got me to 2.67. You can probably push the E2140 to 3.0+, and you'll see in a thread at this forum than many have done so. But the difference in price is at most $20.

I am also running the stock cooler -- albeit with diamond thermal paste. The temperatures normalized for a Baghdad summer 90F room ambient (it'll never happen) are still about 15C below the Intel Thermal Spec when PRIME95'd to full load with small-FFT test. In other words, at 68F room ambient, the core values don't go beyond 54 to 55C.

Drawbacks: only one PCI-E x16 slot and one PCI-E x1 slot. No SLI. But it has onboard GeForce 7050 VGA, which means you can wait a long time to buy an nVidia 8600 GT while the prices slide.

Depends on whether you need to run two GFX in SLI.

One other good thing -- board is spec'd to 1,333 FSB. So with the right memory, only the processor would be stressed.

AND -- ONE MORE THING -- YOU GET THIS PROCESSOR TO 1,333 FSB OR 2.67 gHZ WITH THE VOLTAGE REPORTED UNDER THE MOTHERBOARD'S "AUTO" SETTING. For your needs, only 330 Mhz to go and you might have no trouble with the E2180 processor. Anyway -- look at the VCORE settings people are reporting for over-clocks to 3.1 or 3.2!!

You might want to spend more on a board, or get something like a DFI-975X as someone recommended to me yesterday, but this is turning out to be "SchweeeeeTT!"
 
Originally posted by: krnmastersgt
E4300s are not worth buying anymore IMO. If you just want something to overclock to 3ghz then just get a E2140 or 60,80 etc. Under $100 and it can easily overclock to 3ghz. As for mobo, anything special you had in mind? Chipset preference? CF or SLI? And ram you can find on newegg for like 40-60 for 2 gigs, some are cheaper with rebates.
Click to expand...

for the mobo, i just want at least 4 usb ports and i won't be using CF or SLI. For chipset, P35 or better.
 
Well, you can spend more on the mobo, get in at the ground floor with an E21x0 processor, and I still think the Crucials are a bargain. Even so, you could check and see how much a pair of DDR2-800's would cost you. Then you're on an upgrade path, lagging behind the "bleeding edge," but you will consistently spend less as you replace the processor, or even the memory.

I tell people this is like "surfing." The technology comes in waves. With the waves, the prices are "cresting" at the bleeding edge until the market begins its process toward saturation and the manufacturers have recouped their R&D while more and more competitors enter the market, efficiency initiatives lower production costs, and the prices slide.

Ya gotta choose when to mount that surfboard and catch the wave on the Banzai-Pipeline (ha!) Just watch out for your credit-card and purchasing mistakes -- it's got a bad undertow . . . . :laugh:

These El Cheapo motherboards were a step below what I used to pick. I'd get middle-of-the-line motherboards. I'd buy just a notch up from middle-of-the-line processor. And I'd get the best darn memory I could afford.

When I jumped into the 680i bandwagon -- no, call it a "wave" -- I bought the most expensive motherboard, processor still a notch above the middle, and high-end memory that was probably more than I needed.

Taking care of less enthusiastic (non-enthusiast) family PC-users has brought me back from Cadillac lust to Volkswagon practicality. For want of knowing the brand names for the best surfboard and the budget surfboard . . . . you know . . . .

Let's say the fam-dam-ily doesn't surf more then once every three or four years.
 
okay so E21x0 for a CPU. will the cache memory difference between the e21x0 and the e4x00 make a huge difference in performance?

I always seem to have trouble picking motherboards so i may need some help there. RAM too since i'm not sure which are good for overclocking.
 
OK, You're asking me . . . .

Like I said -- surfing. To avoid getting drowned or pulled under, my own practice is to hang back and watch motherboard releases "mature." In fact, I watch forums so that I can see the BIOS revisions mature. This last year -- as I said, switching to picking a "Cadillac" -- I took a big gamble (knowing that it was a gamble) with the Striker Extreme 680i motherboard. I checked reviews, looked for reviews that were benchtest tutorials on over-clocking, looked at customer and enthusiast forums. the enthusiast forums had a different tone than the customer forums, and I deduced a high chance that 50% of the customer-reviews were written by frustrated people who didn't do their homework and didn't know what they were doing. I still think I'm right about that.

Individuals here will point you in specific and narrow directions. And most of them probably know what they're talking about, except for your particular needs. For example-- despite the price-tag and the ambivalent reviews, I chose my Striker board because it had: 8-cycle voltage regulation; three PCI-E slots (including 2 concurrent x16) in specific locations on the board; the Stack-Cool technology and the "heatpipe necklace," and the some 45+ PCI-E lanes.

In your case, price is a limiting factor, but you should look at these other features and see what you can find that meets all the criteria. These days, people are goo-gah about the Intel chipsets, but ASUS and other makers are now selling boards like the P5N with nVidia 750i. You'll have to do the research in these areas -- and ask yourself if you'll EVER want dual GFX SLI, for example.

The P5K Asus boards use a P35 chipsets, and the NewEgg customer-reviews show lackluster acceptance for one variant of the board, with a surging number of reviewers giving 4 and 5 stars to another variant. The X38 and newer chipsets seem to be on more expensive boards -- and I think they are designed exclusively for DDR3 memory -- which is going to cost an arm and a leg right now.

The two makers touted here in this forum recently are ASUS and Gigabyte, with Gigabyte seeming to generate more enthusiasm. I think some of these boards can be found for prices in the $100 +/- X range.

Of course, you could always go with an Intel board. I have suspicions that INtel -- being the CPU-manufacturer -- did a lot of planning to give their boards a long life-cycle -- planning for which nVidia was disadvantaged. But then, the other manufacturers use the Intel chipsets.

Somebody else can chime in here, but I think what you may be looking for is a board with a P35 chipset -- an above-low-end to mid-range motherboard. You might search hard to see if you can get one that has a spec higher than 1,333 FSB, but I suspect that the 1,600 FSB boards are mostly designed for expensive DDR3 memory and the X38 or 48 chipsets.

So price is going to keep you from grabbing the biggest wave as you surf the web for motherboard choices -- it's all a trade-off. You might find the future of the more expensive boards to be longer, but the choices limited by your budget to be shorter.

I guess -- like surfing -- your budget is the quality of your board, and the quality of the board determines the length of your "ride" -- surfboard or motherboard -- take your pick. 😀

On the matter of memory, you'll choose the size of your dual-channel kit according to the operating system you plan to use. If XP, then a 2GB kit; if VISTA, then 4GB. You're better with two sticks in two sockets versus four sticks in four sockets -- some really cheap mobos (like my Gigabyte GA-73VM-S2) are limited to two sockets.

IF you limit the speed of your RAM to modest over-clocks, the tighter latency options will serve you better, so find some memory using Micron D9 parts. Thing is, DDR2 RAM is cheap now, and you save yourself the research-time by buying Crucial modules -- Micron's retail arm. For 4GB kits, G.SKILL has them in various DDR-Mhz flavors. For instance, a 4GB 2x2GB kit of PQ (or PK?) DDR2-1000 modules can be had for about $115. A 2GB kit will cost roughly 60% of that -- off the top of my head.

Last week, I was looking for Crucial Ballistix that were a better match for this Gigabyte mobo and processor, and discovered DDR2-667 Crucial Ball'x at NewEgg for $55 with a $30 mail-in-rebate @ 2 rebates per product per household. ARE YOU KIDDING? SOCH A DEE-ULL, OY-READY!! SOCH A DEE-UULLL!! I bought one at $55, then decided on another, and NewEgg had hopped the price to $58. Today, it's $60-something-plus, with the same rebate.

You can find other brands -- Mushkin, OCZ, A-Data, etc. and they make some of their modules with the Micron D9's, but you'd better have a close look at that online database of memory brands and models as you browse the resellers. And -- sorry -- I don't have that link at my fingertips at the moment.
 
not that i am disagreeing or anything but, is it wiser to keep saving for a e8x00 + mobo + ram, or should i just save a little bit more, get a e2xx0 or a e4x00 and overclock while getting a really good motherboard that will last me a while.?

my only needs are: "wanting to be able to play Call of Duty 4 with decent frame rates and Counter-Strike: Source with over 150fps with everything on high if possible(resolution 800x600). I might want to play newer games one of these days."
 
Think about it. The E21x0's have 1 MB of L2-cache, like a 2004 Prescott P4. But you can OC these things to 3.0 Ghz, and it's comfortable with no sweat at 2.7 Ghz.

You spend about $75 on any of these, more or less. Call it an "entry fee for testing." You can still play games with it -- with two cores? At those speeds? I'm pretty sure.

My view on this, despite my using these cheap mATX Gigabyte motherboards for the family, is that you shouldn't short yourself on the motherboard or RAM. With the processor from Intel, you only short yourself a little on performance and nothing on reliability.

I'd choose the quality of the RAM first, the motherboard second, then the most compatible RAM third -- and all knowing that I can put any Intel processor into the board up to -- hopefully including -- the Penryns. There have to be enough of those boards available now at not so prohibitive prices (like my 680i Striker Extreme boards. Fam-dam-ily is gonna get those as hand-me-downs in a couple years. Those suckers are MINE.)
 
bt - BD has good advice here. The route I took on my most recent computer was similar. I "splurged" and bought a fairly high-end P35 MB, the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P Rev 2.0, which cost about $150. The e2160 cost about $80 (retail box version, which is what you should get as it comes free with a good CPU cooler). Finally, you can get 2x1GB Corsair TWIN2X DDR2-800 for $30 after rebate. Since the MB handles 1333MHz FSB "standard" and is a good overclocker, I expect to be able to upgrade the CPU in a year or two and run that at 1600MHz FSB (and run the RAM at DDR2-800).
PS - the GA-P35-DS3R has slightly fewer bells-n-whistles (but still has RAID) and costs about $125, while the basic (but still very overclockable) GA-P35-DS3L runs $90.
 
I on the other hand wasted a small fortune on my system ^^;;. Anyways usually people would say to get a motherboard you could upgrade in the future and seeing as how Nehalem is coming out at the end of this year or beginning of next you can expect a large price decrease in Penryn CPUs, so focus more of your attention on the mobo + ram then just pop in a cheap cpu till you want to upgrade to something with more power.
 
If you are not rebate averse there is a good deal on ram HERE

You can get five (get a spare for "warranty") 1GB sticks for $15 after rebate. There is a thread on these in hot deals HERE

These are usually Crucial D9HNL rams chips.
 
bomb - I'd stay away from those Crucials and any other RAM spec'd at higher than 1.9V. Higher than 1.9V means it's a manufacturer-sanctioned overclock spec and may have issues running at the DDR2 1.8V standard. Besides, newegg has (had?) 2x1GB DDR2-800 Corsair Twin2X's (1.9V) for around $30 after rebate with free shipping to boot.

 
All the Crucials have maximum recommended warranty voltage of 2.2V.

But as we speak, my two machines using DDR2-667 Crucial Ballistix are showing 1.84V in the voltage monitor, on motherboards where the voltage cannot be manually set. In two sets of motherboards deploying four different C2D/C2Q processors, they default to ~1.8+V. On the contrary, the problem with Crucial is their maximum voltage spec: come within 0.025V of that spec or exceed it by varying amounts including the specified increment, and you may be asking for trouble. But considering a possible failure for Crucial to meet its spec with longevity, their RMA department deserves kudos, and double kudos once I get my DDR2-1000 Ballistix replacements. (Should arrive any day now.)

There are some very good Corsair dual-channel kits, and I think especially there is a Dominator model that can do tCL = 3 easily at DDR of 800 Mhz, but I've found it difficult to do the same thing with Crucials of either the 800 or 1000 flavors.

My original choice of memory when my C2D machines were in the conception phase was that Corsair DDR2-800 kit -- very expensive -- touted in the news and at review sites for its tight tCL=3 latency settings (and I think tRAS was as low as 9.) But once I started shopping to buy them, you couldn't find that model anywhere with "Add to Cart" -- they all said "Notify Me" or "Out of Stock."
 
hmm, im still debating whether i should get the motherboard and cpu on my last post.

Which motherboard would you prefer between these 2, DFI Blood Iron or ABIT ip35-3?
The reason i ask this is because like i said on my first post, a friend of mine might sell his blood iron + e4300 for $200, his brother has the same cpu paired with a abit ip35-e. I can probably talk to them and see if they will lower the price ^^. So i think that would be a better option, plus the cpu is slightly better with its 2mb cache.

If i buy the 2 on my last post, total comes out to be $198 after tax. And if i can get a better cpu + mobo for less, i don't see why i wouldn't do that. What do you guys think? Im not against anyone, if anyone here is curious, im just looking at all my other options.
 
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