just upgraded... any thoughts?

[j03h4gLund]

Well, I got the itch after seeing Newegg 10% off video cards and quickly built a budget upgrade for my c2d e6300 processor + 8 gigs of ddr2 800 ram.(brand new)

Here's what I purchased:
Hanns·G HZ251HPB Black 25" 2ms X-Celerate OD 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor
$189.99 (was $239.99)

Arctic Silver Ceramique Thermal Compound - OEM
$5.99

OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
$49.99 AR

ASRock P43DE LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard
$59.99

ECS NGTX460-1GPI-F GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card + Free H.A.W.X2 Tom Clancy Game
$159.99 (After $30 rebate and 10% promo code)

So... how'd I do? I know the motherboard and processor I'll be using are a little outdated, but will this be okay for a while? And will it be viable to upgrade the processor in say 6-12 months? Or would it just be a waste of money to upgrade this 'old technology' any further?

Btw - this is primarily a gaming machine.


Moved to General Hardware

Super Moderator BFG10K.

 

[toyota]

I hope you will be overclocking that C2D E6300 because if not that gtx460 is being horribly underutilized.

 

[happy medium]

I would have sold the new e6300 and ram and started over.

We could have made you a much better system for the price.

 

[j03h4gLund]

I hope you will be overclocking that C2D E6300 because if not that gtx460 is being horribly underutilized.

I am going to try! I've never overclocked before but I have read that my processor can more than double in speed with a good overclock.

Im assuming I'm going to need to buy a nice heatsink and fan... any suggestions?

 

[j03h4gLund]

I would have sold the new e6300 and ram and started over.

We could have made you a much better system for the price.

Well the e6300 is not new... it's actually probably one of the oldest e6300's out there, was obtained when tehy were brand new through an employee purchase program back in 04ish?

 

[j03h4gLund]

How about this?

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler

 

[toyota]

I am going to try! I've never overclocked before but I have read that my processor can more than double in speed with a good overclock.

Im assuming I'm going to need to buy a nice heatsink and fan... any suggestions?

yeah 3.0 or higher should be no problem. the cooler in my sig is very simple and user friendly. it even comes with thermal compound pre applied so all you do is take the cooler out of the box and pop it on the mobo which takes all of a few seconds. it keeps my E8500 @ 3.8 nice and cool.

 

[happy medium]

yeah 3.0 or higher should be no problem.

Might be with ddr2 800 speed ram. I 'm not sure of his cpu multy though.

 

[j03h4gLund]

Thanks toyota - is this sytem really going to be that bad? I really didn't want to spend too much and wanted to utilize what I had since I do plan on building a completely new rig in about a year.

 

[toyota]

might be with ddr2 800 speed ram. I 'm not sure of his cpu multy though.

10.5

 

[Attic]

Need a quadcore CPU for a lot of the worthwhile games these days.

Depending on what your mobo supports i'd look for a used quad core at ~$125

 

[Attic]

So... how'd I do? I know the motherboard and processor I'll be using are a little outdated, but will this be okay for a while? And will it be viable to upgrade the processor in say 6-12 months? Or would it just be a waste of money to upgrade this 'old technology' any further?

Btw - this is primarily a gaming machine.

Enjoy the upgrade and also know that there is still a lot of life left in a solid skt 775 setup. Your timeframe for a CPU upgrade sounds good, but if you feel you have the need for a boost there i'd say why wait. The 460 is a great card, but it can be dropped to it's knees by an insufficient dual core.

 

[happy medium]

A cheap p43 board is not good for quad cores or quad core overclocking.
There is no real upgrade path.
You will probrobly just upgrade to a whole new board/cpu in 6 to 12 months anyway.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

It would have been wiser to get a cheaper video card (GTX460-768 or HD5770) and pick up an AMD Athlon II X3 processor.

But now that's too late. Instead of picking up an aftermarket cooler in hopes of trying to overclock your E6300, just pick up a new processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116367

If you wanted you should be able to overclock the E5500 much higher than the E6300, and it will use less power. But at stock you're looking at a big performance jump (at least 50%), lower heat, and lower power consumption.

 

[j03h4gLund]

Thank you all for your input - as much as I was really anticipating receiving this shipment - I have cancelled my order and am going to put this on hold until I figure it out a little better...

I've done this 3 times now

I really need a new computer though - I cant wait any longer so I'm going to be doing something with this tomorrow!

Any suggestions with a new build that will be in my budget, which includes $150 I'd get from selling the c2de6300 and the 8gb ddr2 ram ~

$700 is what I have to work with for mobo+cpu, psu, gpu, and I really wanna stick with that 25" Hanns G LCD... but if theres something else comparable to save me some money there, that may be fine.

Thanks in advance.

 

[happy medium]

If you wanted you should be able to overclock the E5500 much higher than the E6300, and it will use less power.

That depends on if its a e6300 45nm or the really old 65nm one.
The newer e6300 will hit 3.8 on air.

 

[happy medium]

Thank you all for your input - as much as I was really anticipating receiving this shipment - I have cancelled my order and am going to put this on hold until I figure it out a little better...

I've done this 3 times now

I really need a new computer though - I cant wait any longer so I'm going to be doing something with this tomorrow!

Any suggestions with a new build that will be in my budget, which includes $150 I'd get from selling the c2de6300 and the 8gb ddr2 ram ~

$700 is what I have to work with for mobo+cpu, psu, gpu, and I really wanna stick with that 25" Hanns G LCD... but if theres something else comparable to save me some money there, that may be fine.

Thanks in advance.

Very good choice!

Now goto the general hardware section and post a thread with above info.
You will be ordering again (the right way) in a few days.

Edit: hint: start with a AMD board that will use 6 core AMD cpu's ,and build from there.

 

[toyota]

That depends on if its a e6300 45nm or the really old 65nm one.
The newer e6300 will hit 3.8 on air.

according to the OP its a core 2 duo E6300 not a Pentium e6300 so it is the older 1.86 65nm chip.

 

[happy medium]

according to the OP its a core 2 duo E6300 not a Pentium e6300 so it is the older 1.86 65nm chip.

Well thats even a better reason to sell and do a new rebuild.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Any suggestions with a new build that will be in my budget, which includes $150 I'd get from selling the c2de6300 and the 8gb ddr2 ram ~

$700 is what I have to work with for mobo+cpu, psu, gpu, and I really wanna stick with that 25" Hanns G LCD... but if theres something else comparable to save me some money there, that may be fine.

Thanks in advance.

You don't really need to sell your RAM. You'll lose some value by doing so, and this value can be better put towards a faster processor. 8 GBs of DDR3 will cost you about $150 (and obviously 4GB would be half of that).

My suggestion: Keep your RAM. Go AMD route, as you can still use DDR2 with all of their latest chips so long as you get a DDR2 board. Depending on your budget pick up an Athlon II X3, X4, or Phenom II X4. Pick up whatever video card fits under your budget from here.

But if you think you can live with just 4GB of RAM, then go ahead and make the switch to DDR3 by selling your current stuff. From here you can either go Intel Core i3 or the AMD route.

That depends on if its a e6300 45nm or the really old 65nm one.
The newer e6300 will hit 3.8 on air.

It's obvious he had the old E6300, for several reasons. 1) He said "C2D", not Pentium Dual Core. 2) Old E6300s are way more common; most custom builders would not have bought the new E6300 because there were better options out when it released. 3) Most likely he had this rig for a few years which would be the reason he's upgrading now (he's on a 2-4 year upgrade cycle), and the new E6300 has not been out that long.

Simple deductive reasoning.

 

[Attic]

eh,... 3 times?!?

I think you just need to jump in already.

 

[happy medium]

My suggestion: Keep your RAM. Go AMD route, as you can still use DDR2 with all of their latest chips so long as you get a DDR2 board. Depending on your budget pick up an Athlon II X3, X4, or Phenom II X4. Pick up whatever video card fits under your budget from here

I'd go this route,but sell 4 gb of the ram and use the other 4.

 

[mfenn]

So that's $700 including monitor? Let's make it $510.

Phenom II X4 955 $153
ASUS M4A77D $80
Keep your DDR2 $0
GTX 460 1GB $190
Seasonic S12II 520W $60
Total: $483

 

[j03h4gLund]

Okay, so this is what I've come up with...

Hanns·G HZ251HPB Black 25" 2ms X-Celerate OD 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor

ECS NGTX460-1GPI-F GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified ...

Rosewill RCX-Z1 Long life ball bearing for over 45,000/hrs CPU Cooler

GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard + AMD Phenom II X3 715 Black Edition Heka 2.8GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor HDZ715WCJ3DGI - OEM Combo

Grand Total: $590.16 Shipped - $30 MIR = $560.16

Well... how did I do?

 

[j03h4gLund]

Should I be worried that I can't find any reviews on the ECS NGTX460-1GPI-F? Is ECS a good company? The warranty seems solid. 2yr labor / 3yr parts

Also thanks to Danny Bui from hardforum helping me come up with a new setup.