New build or upgrade, need help please

[tonkali]

Hi All,

I want to do an upgrade but not sure if I should upgrade everything or do an entire mobo/cpu/gpu.

The reason for the upgrade is when I run FireFox with its many tabs open its sluggy and sticky as is Photoshop either when opened alone. YouTube also slugs. I have Win 7/64 bit but not installed it yet.

It's old, I know . I'm running: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G and Athlon 64 X2 5200 Brisbane 2.7GHz Socket AM2 65W, no gpu XP w/4G of ram.

So should I just upgrade the cpu and get a graphic card or scrap it all entirely and get a new mobo/cpu and if so any recommendations. I was thinking a PII quad but don't know which mobo. Main use would be design (CS4 suite) and some video editing. Budget is $300 possibly $400. I don't game but use SecondLife (sim). My head is swimming so any help would be much appreciated .

t.

 

[coolpurplefan]

Since you have no replies, I'll take a guess... Intel i3-2120T CPU and Asus P8H67-M motherboard (or if you like Gigabyte maybe the GA-P67A-UD4-B3).

 

[tonkali]

I would like to stick with an AMD mobo.

 

[ElFenix]

Since you have no replies, I'll take a guess... Intel i3-2120T CPU and Asus P8H67-M motherboard (or if you like Gigabyte maybe the GA-P67A-UD4-B3).

unless you're under severe cooling constraints i wouldn't recommend any of the S or T model intel desktop processors. the fact of the matter is they're all slower than the processors they share their names with. they're so much slower that they actually use more electricity than the normal processor which has been undervolted.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1202-page7.html



as for amd, unless you're just planning on reusing you current board there isn't anything to recommend. per your board support list it'll take practically any AMD CPU, so a phenom 840 is available as an option. they're about $100 from buy.com.

 

[coolpurplefan]

unless you're under severe cooling constraints i wouldn't recommend any of the S or T model intel desktop processors. the fact of the matter is they're all slower than the processors they share their names with. they're so much slower that they actually use more electricity than the normal processor which has been undervolted.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1202-page7.html



as for amd, unless you're just planning on reusing you current board there isn't anything to recommend. per your board support list it'll take practically any AMD CPU, so a phenom 840 is available as an option. they're about $100 from buy.com.

Wait a minute! Wait a minute! I have an Asus M3A78-EM motherboard which says on the website it can take a Phenom 965. You mean to tell me I could just buy that chip and surpass the processing power of an Intel E8400? I just bought a freakin' Asus P5Q motherboard on eBay that takes an Intel processor so I could finally see what people are talking about when bragging about the smoothness of Intel processors and I could have just bought a Phenom processor instead? Jebus Cripes, is there a catch? Like, will it not work to its full potential on my motherboard because it's a socket AM2+?

 

[mfenn]

Wait a minute! Wait a minute! I have an Asus M3A78-EM motherboard which says on the website it can take a Phenom 965. You mean to tell me I could just buy that chip and surpass the processing power of an Intel E8400? I just bought a freakin' Asus P5Q motherboard on eBay that takes an Intel processor so I could finally see what people are talking about when bragging about the smoothness of Intel processors and I could have just bought a Phenom processor instead? Jebus Cripes, is there a catch? Like, will it not work to its full potential on my motherboard because it's a socket AM2+?

LOL, I don't know what you were thinking! C2D and C2Q are roughly the same speed as their Phenom II counterparts. You go Sandy Bridge if you want the best.

Anyway, yes, if ASUS lists the Phenom II 965 as supported on that board, you can indeed just drop one in. You will have slightly lower performance because you are using DDR2 instead of DDR3, but I doubt that you would be able to tell a difference outside of benchmarks.

 

[mfenn]

I would like to stick with an AMD mobo.

Why? with your budget, it makes no sense from a performance point of view.

i3 2100 $125
MSI H67MA-E35 $85
Kingston DDR3 1333 8GB $35
Total: $245

Also upgrade to Windows 7 64-bit while you're at it.

 

[tonkali]

Why? with your budget, it makes no sense from a performance point of view.

i3 2100 $125
MSI H67MA-E35 $85
Kingston DDR3 1333 8GB $35
Total: $245

Also upgrade to Windows 7 64-bit while you're at it.

mfenn, thanks I will look into this and press buy immediately :biggrin:. I already own Win7/64-bit but didn't want to install on this machine. $245, that's perfect.

But wait, don't I need a gpu?

I had read at NewEgg some reviews and someone had mentioned kinks in the sandy bridge. Can't remember the date of the review. Do you know that if those have been taken care of?

Thanks much

 

[mfenn]

No, you do not need a GPU. Since you are OK using the IGP on the AMD board, you will be fine with the IGP built into the Sandy Bridge CPU.

I'm not sure what kind of "kinks" that you could be referring to. The processors have always been fine. The mobos were recalled in January, but that has been fully resolved for about 9 months.

 

[tonkali]

Thanks mfenn!