Question How to upgrade my cpu?

[PJSky]

Hi. I am looking to upgrade my pc cpu. I have an ASUStek ver. 0301 P5B-TMX-GB-Sl motherboard. It has a dual core 2 cpu at the moment and I am looking to improve that by adding a newer generation cpu. i5 or i7 maybe. However, I am struggling to find compatible cpu suitable for this motherboard. Can anyone help please? Kind regards, PJ

 

[daveybrat]

That's a very old Socket 775 motherboard. You won't be able to upgrade it to any newer cpu's. The highest it'll take is a Core2Quad which is still extremely outdated. Unfortunately you'll need a new motherboard and ram if you want an i5 or i7 (or Ryzen).

 

[PJSky]

Thanks for the very quick reply. Is it possible you could provide a general idea on which motherboard I should look for? I am currently trying to learn pc upgrades and have an old pc I want to try and make into a gaming pc. Basically it does not matter if I make a mess of it

 

[DrMrLordX]

If it's that old, you should probably start over with new hardware. Including the case since it won't have proper USB headers.

 

[PJSky]

Thanks. Really appreciate your answers they have helped me a lot.

 

[mikeford]

Old pcs won't make modern gaming rigs, and if you decide to upgrade them to the best available parts, no shock that is often the goal of fans of old hardware so prices are usually insane. I have an old media player, essentially a laptop made into a tiny desktop tower, which also uses a dual core. Best CPU and ram it can use is iirc a T9500 and 4 or maybe 8 GB SoDimms, currently about $150 for cpu and 2 sodimms. So far no luck on any reasonable priced ram above stock size, but I did find a T9300 which is better than stock by a fair amount, and not much worse than the T9500, and it was about $12.

Old pcs are fine for learning, get a few of the same era and socket type and fix them and mix the parts around to see what does and doesn't work.

For a working decent gaming rig, at least starting out building pcs, best to strictly follow a known good recipe speccing all the parts etc.

 

[PJSky]

Ok. Thanks. I have a reasonable knowledge of pc and parts so at the moment I am looking to start modest and experiment (as you suggest) then move on to a 'true' pc build. Basically, I am looking for ways to move forward as there is a lot of appeal in building my own gaming pc. Did a fair bit of searching and expolring about compatability of board to cpu yesterday and feel I may have gotten over that particular hump. Really appreciate you taking the time to answer, thanks.

 

[mikeford]

As I said, building a gaming PC is literally a no brainer. Unless you are a true expert with lots of insider information, you just follow a known build recipe exactly including watching a build video if needed.

The only decision is budget and requirements of the games you want to play, mostly the later, as the game requirements dictate the needed budget. If you have a hard budget limit, some games won't be very playable even at min settings.

 

[moinmoin]

If you plan and build a gaming PC from the ground up the best starting point is deciding for a specific screen size and screen refresh rate (or monitor, if you don't already have one you intend to use). That alone will already dictate which GPU to get, and then what CPU/platform is best to keep it fed.

 

[PJSky]

If you plan and build a gaming PC from the ground up the best starting point is deciding for a specific screen size and screen refresh rate (or monitor, if you don't already have one you intend to use). That alone will already dictate which GPU to get, and then what CPU/platform is best to keep it fed.

Thanks. I hadn't thought of that actually, been more focused on matching up the cpu/motherboard and psu. Had some great help on here and will be posting more with info on what I decide upon and whether I can legitimately go forward. Really want to build a gaming pc worth the trouble once I get my way of working sorted. Cheers for the reply.

 

[mikeford]

Screen size, resolution in pixels, and refresh rate are part of the equation, but specific game requirements vary from a $400 system and a $2000 system even with the same res/ref. My son's 3 or so year old system plays WOW just fine on a 2440/1440 display, but dies the death of an older GPU with many newer more graphic intensive games. Look at some benchmark scores and games differences are obvious to system cost.

That said a $500 base system (no graphics card) can pair well with large range of better to almost best graphics cards before the base system becomes the weak link.

 

[VirtualLarry]

You want "Potato" gaming builds? Check out Tech Yes City 's YouTube channel. I was just watching a few videos on the subject.

 

[PJSky]

Screen size, resolution in pixels, and refresh rate are part of the equation, but specific game requirements vary from a $400 system and a $2000 system even with the same res/ref. My son's 3 or so year old system plays WOW just fine on a 2440/1440 display, but dies the death of an older GPU with many newer more graphic intensive games. Look at some benchmark scores and games differences are obvious to system cost.

That said a $500 base system (no graphics card) can pair well with large range of better to almost best graphics cards before the base system becomes the weak link.

Thanks Mike. A couple of things I was not thinking about. I will take them onboard and do some work on them. Screen res needs to be as good as I can get it really. Thanks.

 

[PJSky]

You want "Potato" gaming builds? Check out Tech Yes City 's YouTube channel. I was just watching a few videos on the subject.

Haha no idea about 'potato' other than we eat them but thanks yes I will check that youtube out. I have watched a few othwers but actually people on here have helped me more.