Seeking advice/help for Pentium D upgrade.

[PrinceMyshkin]

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Hey all, I am considering upgrading my primary system (Pentium D805/Asrock 775Dual-880pro in sig). Based on my research (video transcoding, upnp streaming) it seems like a quad-core (i.e. Athlon II x4) would be my best option. I plan to upgrade now and then do a full rebuild in the next year or so.

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
UPNP streaming, video transcoding (PlayOn, PS3Mediaserver, mkv2vob (720p anime fansubs)), Web surfing, Office 2007.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
No more than $200. Looking to upgrade just CPU/Mobo if possible

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
USA

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
No brand preference, just looking for the best bang for the buck that would meet my needs.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
Monitors: 2 X Samsung 931B (19” LCDs)
Case: Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-TO5 (may replace if I cannot get the old mobo out) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119068
Power Supply: Antec TruePower 2.0 550 EPS12V (hoping this is still suitable for the build I’m proposing) http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16817103932
Memory: Patriot DDR2-667 (2 X 1GB Sticks)
DVD drives: Samsung DVD+RW SH (SATA), Lite-On DVD+RW SHW160 (IDE)
Hard Drive: Western Digital 500GB SATA. Cannot remember model atm, purchased in early 2008.
Video Card: Asus Geforce EN6600 (256MB, fanless model) PCI-Express (May use a mobo IGP if better suited and supports dual monitors).
Reusing keyboard and mouse. Purchased copy of Windows 7 Home Premium.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
Read similar threads, leaning towards getting an Athlon II X4 620 combo either from Microcenter or Newegg. I decided to post a thread of my own because of concerns of reusing my PSU, Video Card and RAM.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
No plans to overclock at this time.

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.
No gaming at all.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Within the next week. Hopefully order something after Xmas online or purchase at Microcenter (currently near one) or Tigerdirect.

What I am proposing (but open to suggestions):
Athlon 620 w/Asus M3A78-EM for ~$130 + tax, AR (Not sure if combo still valid, looks ok) http://microcenter.com/specials/prom..._bundle_358655
Or
Athlon 620 w/Asus M4A785-M for ~159 @ Newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.304701

Is this a significant upgrade for what I’m planning to use it for?
Will the PSU (after 3.5yrs of use) be able to handle the load?
Am I better off still using my old video card or using the motherboard built in ATI adapter?

Hoping to be able to use mkv2vob (transcoding), PlayOn and firefox at the same time without bringing down the system. I understand that I’ll be lacking in RAM but rather save for DDR3 than buy additional DDR2 sticks.

Thanks for any advice/suggestions given.

Happy Holidays!

 

[0roo0roo]

most reasonably priced processors are a cake walk to power compared to a pentium d

and so much faster!

 

[0roo0roo]

and theres no point installing a 6600, unless its got dual dvi and your monitors have dvi.

 

[PrinceMyshkin]

Thanks 0roo0roo, the PSU requirement was my biggest concern.

Each monitor has a dvi port and a vga port. It looks like I am better off using the ATI IGP that is built into the 785G chipset since it at least supports DirectX 10. Would there be any significant performance penalty for using that to drive both monitors instead of a dedicated card? Its been awhile since I've used an IGP.

Thanks again.

 

[0roo0roo]

no because neither is any good for games. you might as well use less power. both will run desktop apps fine

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

Thanks 0roo0roo, the PSU requirement was my biggest concern.

Each monitor has a dvi port and a vga port. It looks like I am better off using the ATI IGP that is built into the 785G chipset since it at least supports DirectX 10. Would there be any significant performance penalty for using that to drive both monitors instead of a dedicated card? Its been awhile since I've used an IGP.

Thanks again.

The 6600 might be slightly faster than the IGP but you wont want to game on either. A nice low to mid range gpu isn't very expensive now, you could consider upgrading.

 

[PrinceMyshkin]

Thanks 0roo0roo and unfalliblekrutch!

 

[SpeedEng66]

I had a pt880 chipset a while ago and I was able to use a low end pentium dc (e2140 from a 805pd) on that board..

you know anyone that can loan you a low end c2d (1066 and under fsb 65nm cpus or even the celeron 4xx would work just to test?)
oh and flash with the latest bios before popin it in

I know it's no quad core upgrade but it's a another option that you can consider (if you dont want to spend alot)

 

[Blain]

If your MB has a "Presler" sticker and the BIOS is updated to P1.40...
Search ebay for item 290373221616 (380189472379 if you want to spend about $14 more)... Spend $60 and BINGO you're done!
You can use the money you saved to upgrade your memory to 2 x 2GB.

 

[PrinceMyshkin]

Thanks SpeedEng66 and Blain. Unfortunately, I dont have access to any of the cpus you listed. I did check the cpu support list for my mobo (775-Dual880pro) on Asrock's website as well as did some googling and it looks like there is little chance that my board would support anything newer than a Presler (if that, need to look for the sticker as suggested.) I built my primary pc back in June 2006 (after alot of reading on this board!) and because of time constraints had to order it before Conroe was available and there was a shortage of AMD AM2 chips at the time.

I did give some consideration on upgrading to a faster Pentium D chip and upgrading to 4GB of memory. I am not dismissing that idea completely, it just seems like upgrading to more recent cpu, even if it is more costly and means having only 2GB or RAM, might give me more of a speed increase in the tasks needed. Will do some more research on that end.

Thanks again for your suggestions and Happy Holidays!!!