Need mobo+quad core for under $200

[mazeroth]

I built a PC around a year ago and all the rage was dual cores with high clock speeds, since quads weren't necessary for gaming. Well, since then, GTA4 came out and I was very mad that quads played it much better. Now that Dragon Age is out and plays much better on a quad I want to make the switch, only, I don't want to spend any money on the upgrade.

My current setup is a Xeon E3110 (E8400) @ 4.0 ghz. and a Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R. My video card is a GTX 260 192, that I plan on keeping for another year. I have 4x1 DDR2 that I will reuse.

I'm intrigued by the Athon X2 550's that can unlock to 4 cores but would hate to buy one and get a dud and be in a worse position than if I had just stuck with my E3110 setup. Are some motherboards better than others at unlocking the extra two cores? I'm currently looking at this Gigabyte:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...k=GA-MA770-UD3

I figure I'll have about $170 in the CPU+Mobo and should be able to easily fetch that out of mine. I have a large Xigmatech rifle cooler I'll leave on my current setup so I'm sure I can break even.

Lastly, I do live near a Microcenter and they have the $149 i5 CPU's. What's the cheapest motherboard+RAM (4GB) I could get for that setup that would allow for a healthy overclock?

Thanks.

 

[MrK6]

Lastly, I do live near a Microcenter and they have the $149 i5 CPU's. What's the cheapest motherboard+RAM (4GB) I could get for that setup that would allow for a healthy overclock?

Thanks.

Considering you live next to a Microcenter, go grab a Q9550 for $170 and be done with it. There's no other quad upgrade that will give you more bang-for-your-buck. If you do want to go the i5 route, a Gigabyte P55M-UD2 and some DDR3 1600 RAM would be one of the cheapest ways to get there.

 

[mazeroth]

No more Q9550s at my Microcenter.

 

[Indus]

Ah well, you don't need to change the motherboard but get this CPU then: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-131-_-Product

I would prefer the Q9550 but if you can't get it, its the next best thing.

 

[edplayer]

No more Q9550s at my Microcenter.

they go in and out of stock, keep checking

 

[lopri]

If you're near MC, they have the Gigabyte P55M-UD4 for $139. I'd pick that up to mate with an i5-750 in a heartbeat if I had a need for a new system or an upgrade. I just can't keep piling up unused CPUs and motherboards..

They also have i7-860 for $219, 955 BE for $159, C2Q 9550 for $169, etc. Their memory selection sucks, though.

Then again, they have a full-fledged X4 620 system for $600, an i5-750 system for $800, an i7-920 system for $1,000.. Those are not gimped systems, either. 6GB/8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, HD4850/9800GT, etc. (plus Windows license) Only thing I'd add would be a Blu-Ray drive. If you're not into overclocking it's really hard to beat those pre-built systems.

 

[cbn]

I built a PC around a year ago and all the rage was dual cores with high clock speeds, since quads weren't necessary for gaming. Well, since then, GTA4 came out and I was very mad that quads played it much better.

Have you actually played either Dragon Age or GTA IV on this 4.0 Ghz Core 2 duo?

Because if you switch motherboards you will also have to buy a new Operating system. (unless you paid extra money up front for a retail license). So this $200 cost likely ends up being more than $300 plus the time and hassle of installing new OS/moving data over.

I personally would:

1. Replace Core 2 duo with Core 2 quad.

or

2.Buy a HD5850 instead and wait for quad core Sandy Bridge or quad core (2 module) Bulldozer. While its true a quad would let you dial up your 192 core GTX 260 allowing you to lose more frames....a HD5850 would accomplish the same detail settings without taxing your system as much. On top of that the HD5850 will probably benefit you in a lot more titles than the extra two cores would.

 

[cbn]

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...ark-review-with-13-processors/Reviews/?page=2

Speaking of quad cores. Does anyone have an idea why the higher clocked quad @ 3.6 Ghz only does slightly better than the 3.0 Ghz quad right below it?

 

[cbn]

I'm intrigued by the Athon X2 550's that can unlock to 4 cores but would hate to buy one and get a dud and be in a worse position than if I had just stuck with my E3110 setup. Are some motherboards better than others at unlocking the extra two cores? I'm currently looking at this Gigabyte:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...k=GA-MA770-UD3

I figure I'll have about $170 in the CPU+Mobo and should be able to easily fetch that out of mine. I have a large Xigmatech rifle cooler I'll leave on my current setup so I'm sure I can break even.

Phenom II 550 is a good cpu but I think you would be disappointed in this swap. In fact unless someone can show me evidence to the contrary this sounds like a lot of work for very little gain or no gain. Like you said it could even make things worse.

 

[mazeroth]

Have you actually played either Dragon Age or GTA IV on this 4.0 Ghz Core 2 duo?

Because if you switch motherboards you will also have to buy a new Operating system. (unless you paid extra money up front for a retail license). So this $200 cost likely ends up being more than $300 plus the time and hassle of installing new OS/moving data over.

I have played GTA 4 completely and have played it on a 360 and the 360 runs it SO much better. I'm very CPU limited in that game. Even dropping down to 1024 with low settings it doesn't run smooth.

Oh, and I would love to see a show of hands of people that purchase a new OS every time they upgrade their mobo+cpu! But then you mention a retail license. Why, do you think I would be using an OEM on a home build? You confuse me.

 

[heyheybooboo]

I built a PC around a year ago and all the rage was dual cores with high clock speeds, since quads weren't necessary for gaming. Well, since then, GTA4 came out and I was very mad that quads played it much better. Now that Dragon Age is out and plays much better on a quad I want to make the switch, only, I don't want to spend any money on the upgrade.

My current setup is a Xeon E3110 (E8400) @ 4.0 ghz. and a Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R. My video card is a GTX 260 192, that I plan on keeping for another year. I have 4x1 DDR2 that I will reuse.

I'm intrigued by the Athon X2 550's that can unlock to 4 cores but would hate to buy one and get a dud and be in a worse position than if I had just stuck with my E3110 setup. Are some motherboards better than others at unlocking the extra two cores? I'm currently looking at this Gigabyte:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...k=GA-MA770-UD3

I figure I'll have about $170 in the CPU+Mobo and should be able to easily fetch that out of mine. I have a large Xigmatech rifle cooler I'll leave on my current setup so I'm sure I can break even.

Lastly, I do live near a Microcenter and they have the $149 i5 CPU's. What's the cheapest motherboard+RAM (4GB) I could get for that setup that would allow for a healthy overclock?

Thanks.

If you decide to take your chances with the AMD Chip Lottery and the Phenom 550BE the motherboard you selected will not work --- you need a mobo with a '710' or '750' south bridge (they have something called 'ACC' or 'Advanced Clock Calibration')

Here is the Phenom 550BE Unlocking & Overclocking thread from XS.

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[bobross419]

My first recommendation would be to see if anyone in FS/FT sub-forum wants to trade a Quad for that chip (maybe plus a little cash), would probably be the easiest route with the least amount of hassle.

It can't hurt anything and might be worth your while to try while deciding what else to do.

 

[cbn]

I have played GTA 4 completely and have played it on a 360 and the 360 runs it SO much better. I'm very CPU limited in that game. Even dropping down to 1024 with low settings it doesn't run smooth.

I keep hearing that GTA IV plays so much better on Xbox 360 but I have no idea why?

Xbox 360 originally came with a 3.2 Ghz 90nm Triple core based on Netburst microarchitecture.

 

[lothar]

I keep hearing that GTA IV plays so much better on Xbox 360 but I have no idea why?

Xbox 360 originally came with a 3.2 Ghz 90nm Triple core based on Netburst microarchitecture.

Because the PC version is a console port.
If you place the engine of a Honda Civic in a Mustang, don't expect better performance.

 

[Orubasarot]

...

 

[lothar]

Unless it's a built K20 going into a last gen V6 Mustang chassis.

Also I don't know if you're the same guy who did the last Civic/Mustang line in another thread, but if you're going to do car analogies try avoiding the "V4" engine unless you're really, honestly talking about Saabs from the 1960s.

It's like some dudes on a car forum bragging "Yeah so I worked that Cyrix Itanium into my socket A VIA Pentium with turbo button hyperthreading, it totally blows my watercooled UNIX away".

Huh? This is the first time I'm using a car anology here.
Where did you ever see me say "V4" anything? I did a search for my post and didn't find "V4" anywhere.

Where's the emoticon for vBulletin when I need it?

 

[Orubasarot]

...

 

[nyker96]

the best upgrade option is to buy a q9550 from ebay / MC for 220 or so, sell of e8400 for 120 and you can have your upgrade for about 100 to a quad.

 

[Orubasarot]

...

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

I keep hearing that GTA IV plays so much better on Xbox 360 but I have no idea why?

Xbox 360 originally came with a 3.2 Ghz 90nm Triple core based on Netburst microarchitecture.

It is an IBM PowerPC CPU.

 

[EarthwormJim]

I keep hearing that GTA IV plays so much better on Xbox 360 but I have no idea why?

Not really sure where you heard this, my experience on the PC was significantly better than on the xbox 360. There was zero popup on the pc version, the draw distance was at least 5 times better, and the resolution was better (1920x1200 vs 1280x720).

I used an xbox 360 for driving and a mouse/keyboard for shooting, made the annoying shooting system playable.

 

[Arkaign]

[sc] 100 celebrity girls wallpapers 1600 x 1200

lol wtf

When I edited your post, I was talking about banning the spammer, not you. Please don;t edit my stuff out of your post though.

Markfw900
Anandtech Moderator

 

[Hyperlite]

Because if you switch motherboards you will also have to buy a new Operating system. (unless you paid extra money up front for a retail license). So this $200 cost likely ends up being more than $300 plus the time and hassle of installing new OS/moving data over.

heh.....riiight.

2.Buy a HD5850 instead and wait for quad core Sandy Bridge or quad core (2 module) Bulldozer. While its true a quad would let you dial up your 192 core GTX 260 allowing you to lose more frames....a HD5850 would accomplish the same detail settings without taxing your system as much. On top of that the HD5850 will probably benefit you in a lot more titles than the extra two cores would.

I know for a fact DA:O is CPU limited with an 8600GT and E6300 @ 2.8ghz.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Why do you need a new mobo? Sell your "E8400" and pick up just about any Core 2 Quad: Q9400, Q9450, Q9550, Q9505, or even Q8400.

 

[soccerballtux]

Why do you need a new mobo? Sell your "E8400" and pick up just about any Core 2 Quad: Q9400, Q9450, Q9550, Q9505, or even Q8400.

my guess-- vdroop