Need some advice with a Dual Core upgrade

[Donald Hump]

I'm looking to do an computer upgrade with a budget of around $300 Canadian or about $230 US.

The upgrade will be a Dual Core processor, a new motherboard, and 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I have already purchased a new PCI-E video card and I've got a 430W Antec power supply which I assume will do the trick.

Here is what I've settled on so far from a local computer parts store:

Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200 Dual Core Processor LGA775 2.5GHZ 800FSB 2MB
ASUS P5QL Pro ATX LGA775 P43 or Gigabyte EP43-UD3L ATX LGA775 P43
Buffalo Firestix FSX1066D2C-K4G 4GB 2X2GB PC2-8500 DDR2-1066

These items including shipping and tax work out to about $300 Canadian which I don't want to go much over.

I'd like some advice about the RAM and some suggestions about the CPU and motherboard.

I think DDR2-1066 may be a bit of overkill for the FSB, but it's on sale for a little bit more than DDR-2 800 so I think it's worth it for the possibility to use it again later with a faster CPU/motherboard if needed.

As for the motherboard, I'd like one that can overclock fairly well, but it doesn't need to be super fancy. So if you have any other suggestions please keep in mind the price of the ASUS P5QL Pro is what I'm able to spend.

From the research I've been able to do the CPU seems like the best bang for the buck and I've read that they overclock well. It doesn't have to be an Intel chip, but the E5200 looks like it's the fastest CPU in my price range.

I'm doing the upgrade to be able to play newer games with most of the bells and whistles on. My max resolution will be 1680x1050.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

 

[TidusZ]

The E5200 has a 12.5x multiplier so you don't need an amazing motherboard to crank it up - I'd recommend the Gigabyte over the Asus personally, and I think all three choices are good really that you've laid out.

Are you buying from NCIX? Their deals on buffalo firestix are pretty awesome. The 1066 is definitely overkill, and the 800 would be more than fast enough, so whether you could use it in a future computer really depends on whether your going to buy a new computer within the next year where there's the possibility of usefulness or later than that where ddr3 and i7 is going to be mainstream and the smart choice. You may be better off spending the extra couple bucks you save on ram on the EP45-UD3L, but probably not.

Make sure you buy an aftermarket cooler if you're gonna overclock balls to the wall, I'd recommend either the OCZ vendetta 2 or the xigmatek HDT-S1283, they're both pretty darn similar and offer good performance and are cheap. If you wanna go cheaper you could try the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 pro (not the low profile one). I got the vendetta 2 for $30 while its more on NCIX, so remember to pricematch.

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

I'd avoid the p43 chipset- I vaguely remember it does not overclock as well as even the slightly older p35. What os? What gfx card did u get? I'd get an E8xxx cpu if u want to overclock well w/o much heat/power. ++ for 1066 ram being overkill. Pick up a cheapy-cheap 2x2gb ddr2-800 kit- crucial, gskill, adata... w/e. As mentioned by tidusz- definitely consider aftermarket cooling. At least consider moving from the e5200 to the e7200 or the like

for longevity- you might even want to consider the amd PhenomII platform- you can buy a nicely priced mobo now, and use ddr2, and transit to ddr3 at your convenience.

 

[SonnyDaze]

Originally posted by: Donald Hump
Here is what I've settled on so far from a local computer parts store:

Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200 Dual Core Processor LGA775 2.5GHZ 800FSB 2MB
ASUS P5QL Pro ATX LGA775 P43 or Gigabyte EP43-UD3L ATX LGA775 P43
Buffalo Firestix FSX1066D2C-K4G 4GB 2X2GB PC2-8500 DDR2-1066

I had the same cpu (still have it) and mobo and hit 3.0 easily with the stock cooler. Temps were around 52c under load (P95). I switched to an AC Freezer 7 Pro and temps are down to 44c now.

I used this RAM and it works well.

Good bang for the buck. :beer: