Got 1GB of PC3200 and a Ti4200, wanted to get dual core for non game need

[PandaBear]

Most of the time I am running Matlab, BitComet, and Visual Studio. Some times I will watch a few Divx and stuff. In a way I don't need to upgrade but my machine is a AXP 1600 so it is kind of old and cranky.

Any suggestion for stable and affordable upgrade? I am planning to spend less than 200 shipped.

 

[SynthDude2001]

If you already have 1GB of PC3200 and don't intend to replace it/buy new RAM, AM2 is out of the question. I believe there are a (very) few C2D motherboards that take DDR RAM, but I'm not really familiar with them (and don't know if any of them have an AGP slot). Socket 939 X2 3800+ chips are going for less than $100 these days, so throw in any budget 939 board with AGP and you'll be well under $200.

 

[tcsenter]

ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA LGA 775 VIA PT880 Ultra ATX Motherboard - $66.00 shipped

plus

Intel Pentium D 805 2.66GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache - $60.00 shipped

or

Intel Pentium D 925 3.0GHz 2 x 2MB L2 Cache - $86.00 shipped

or

Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.8GHz 2M shared L2 Cache - $115.00 shipped

 

[tbogstad]

get this

ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA LGA 775 VIA PT880 Ultra ATX Motherboard - $66.00 shipped

and this

Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.8GHz 2M shared L2 Cache - $115.00 shipped

you will beable to run E4300 at 9 x 266 = 2.4ghz with everything at stock volts with stock cooling.

excellent performance for less than $200.00 shipped, I should know, I have built 2 such set-ups for clients and they both love there new systems.

 

[PandaBear]

Thanks guys, how is asrock's reliability? I am not really into overclocking anymore as i usually run my system for 5 years, and i really don't want to worry about whether a crash is due to OC or software, no more time for that.

I haven't seen too many 939 board with agp anymore. I really don't want to go 754 as it is obsolete too.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: PandaBear
Thanks guys, how is asrock's reliability?

ASRock rocks. One of the best values going, better than ECS/PC CHIPS in terms of BIOS refinement and extended BIOS support.