Upgrade old board or go New?

[Brado78]

Hey Guys. I was wondering. My computer is getting old, It is a 2011, LGA 775 system. The board is a Gigabyte GA-G41MT-S2PT, and no ahci . It has a Intel E5700 cpu and 4gb of Ram.. I was wondering if I should upgrade it to 8gb (max) and a faster LGA 775 cpu, and a hybrid hard drive, and win 10. Or should I just go brand new?. I was going to go SSD but what is the point being only sata 2 and no ahci...

Thanks

 

[VirtualLarry]

Is that a DDR2, or DDR3 mobo? If it's DDR2, then don't bother. Get a Skylake rig.

If it's DDR3, and you currently have a single stick of 4GB DDR3, then I would get a $15-20 45nm quad-core C2Q off of ebay, and try to get an identical 4GB stick of DDR3 for $20.

Note that the lower-end Q8xxx CPUs lack virtualization, whereas the Q9xxx CPUs have it.

I've got a pair of Q9300 (2.5Ghz, OC mildly to 2.85Ghz) rigs, with 260X video cards, and Intel 320 Series SSDs (SATAII).

They still perform fairly well, being quad-cores. Core2 dual-cores, I don't think that I would keep around for much longer.

Edit: Oh, there is still a very real benefit to going SSD, even if you're stuck in "IDE mode". Sure, they perform (benchmark) better in AHCI mode (with high queue depths), but that doesn't negate their performance (latency) benefits in IDE mode.

 

[Iron Woode]

Hey Guys. I was wondering. My computer is getting old, It is a 2011, LGA 775 system. The board is a Gigabyte GA-G41MT-S2PT, and no ahci . It has a Intel E5700 cpu and 4gb of Ram.. I was wondering if I should upgrade it to 8gb (max) and a faster LGA 775 cpu, and a hybrid hard drive, and win 10. Or should I just go brand new?. I was going to go SSD but what is the point being only sata 2 and no ahci...

Thanks

your best bet is a new system.

There is no intel video driver for win 8 and up for that board unless you are using a card.

I have a GA-G41MT-D3 which is very similar to your board. Even with a E8400 it is still far slower than an I3 setup.

Plus a modern board gives you so many features like USB3, SATA 6mbps, PCIe 16x 3.0, much better sound, M.2, DDR4, 32 GB ram, etc...

 

[Brado78]

The Board is DDR3

 

[nerp]

If you can plop in some upgrades for about $100 to double the memory and get a better CPU, do it. Get an SSD. Do not waste your time with a hybrid HD. Just get an SSD. That will make a huge improvement. Then start saving for a new build.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The Board is DDR3

I was researching the same thing for a friend's gf's rig. It's a custom-built rig with a S775 DDR3 late-model Biostar micro-ATX mobo, an E5200/E3300, and 4GB of DDR3, and a 500GB HDD. Pretty ample rig at the time I built it, back in 2010 / 2011, but a bit sluggish now, for watching twitch.tv 1080P streams.

My proposed solution, to start with, was a Q8400 that I picked up off of ebay for $15 (used / tested), and another 4GB of DDR3. Then, either an SSD or a video card. (Not both right away, to keep costs including my labor under $100. But you can certainly do both.)

Btw, I was able to get some single-slot low-profile GT610 cards, PNY 1GB, for $32.99 off of BestBuy's ebay site. They're on clearance right now on BestBuy's main site.

That video card's not the greatest, but it will at least give you 1080P H.264 acceleration, for Twitch / YouTube.

 

[Shmee]

I would go with a new/newer board. Something like a skylake i3/i5+ motherboard combo. Or get a haswell/broadwell combo if available.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Hey Guys. I was wondering. My computer is getting old, It is a 2011, LGA 775 system. The board is a Gigabyte GA-G41MT-S2PT, and no ahci . It has a Intel E5700 cpu and 4gb of Ram.. I was wondering if I should upgrade it to 8gb (max) and a faster LGA 775 cpu, and a hybrid hard drive, and win 10. Or should I just go brand new?. I was going to go SSD but what is the point being only sata 2 and no ahci...

Thanks

Time for a new system. I would recommend going with LGA 1151, the current mainstream platform. It'll be well worth it.

 

[Justinbaileyman]

If you have the money then get a new system if not and your short on cash and can scrounge up like $100 bucks then I'd say grab your self a "$40-$50 Q9650", and another $10-$15 4gb more of DDR3 ram, and a $40 240gb SSD. You can get all these item on ebay or newegg for around $100 total and you will get a huge performance boost with said items. That should hold you over till spring of next year when all the new tech gets released Skylake/Zen.

 

[Sheep221]

Guys guys, please stop encouraging the OP in upgrading something that should be destroyed long ago. $60 G4400, $40 for 8 gigs of RAM(2x4 Kit) and $60 for H110 board $50 for decent 120GB SSD. He can reuse power supply and case. That is some 210 bucks for almost entirely new nice rig. But some of you are recommending that OP actually goes and pays $50 for heating element called Q9650, $32 for GT610 and $15 for 4 gigs DDR3 RAM which won't be working very well anyway because new DDR3 modules are made with high density chips and will not work on older platforms, same goes for $40 240GB(too cheap?) SSD used on ancient motherboard with IDE SATA interface.
So instead the OP pays around $140 for something that will likely stop working in a year or so and knowing no history of used C2Q from ebay and questionable compatibility between his mobo and ram and SSD is left with nothing but doubts in mind and severe performance loss. Not to mention with newer CPUs he gets the IGP which is way faster than GT610 anytime. Has no sata 3, no USB 3 and no PCIe 3(third versions of stuff are getting way out of hand now, whatever).
In fact at the time he bought it, this platform was already old and being phased out in favor of then sold nehalem and sandy bridge platforms. OP do yourself a favor and junk the whole thing and be done with it for good.

 

[VirtualLarry]

some 210 bucks for almost entirely new nice rig.

But he could upgrade his existing rig to a quad-core with SSD, for some $100 or so bucks. Sure, he won't have the single-threaded IPC of a Skylake Pentium, but overall computing power should be greatly increased with a C2Q. Btw, given the price premium for the Q9650, I don't really recommend it. A Q8400 is 2.66, instead of 3.00Ghz, but it's only $15-20, instead of $50.

And Sheep, you forgot the OS. Unless OP is using a retail license, he won't be able to transfer his copy of Windows to a new mobo, so add $100 onto the cost of your solution, making it $310. $310 versus $100, and keeping the OS install and mobo he has now. Seems like a no-brainer to me. Power-consumption issues with Core2Quad are overblown. It higher idle power than newer chipset, because it lacks power-gating, but power usage under load isn't horrible, when compared with newer chips, also at load.

 

[Sheep221]

But he could upgrade his existing rig to a quad-core with SSD, for some $100 or so bucks. Sure, he won't have the single-threaded IPC of a Skylake Pentium, but overall computing power should be greatly increased with a C2Q. Btw, given the price premium for the Q9650, I don't really recommend it. A Q8400 is 2.66, instead of 3.00Ghz, but it's only $15-20, instead of $50.

And Sheep, you forgot the OS. Unless OP is using a retail license, he won't be able to transfer his copy of Windows to a new mobo, so add $100 onto the cost of your solution, making it $310. $310 versus $100, and keeping the OS install and mobo he has now. Seems like a no-brainer to me. Power-consumption issues with Core2Quad are overblown. It higher idle power than newer chipset, because it lacks power-gating, but power usage under load isn't horrible, when compared with newer chips, also at load.

Well he didn't mention OS license he is using now, he is very likely to be using windows 7 64bit license probably retail, because not many OEMs did build rigs with outdated retail type gigabyte mobo. If he did install windows 10 upgrade before he might qualify for using the windows 7 key on new machine and upgrading it to win 10 via iso or use win 7 in case the new system does feature windows 7 drivers. Even if he had to buy a new license and add another $100 to cost, it is still more rational to do so than invest $100-140 to the old rig. I didn't say that going to C2Q would not boost his performance, it definitely would considerably. But from buyer's point of view it's something like replacing 30 year old car with 20 year old one when for decent cash you can get certified pre-owned 3 year old car or completely new after good rebate and you are actually getting more for your money, you are having great driving experience. With shorter time frame and lesser money in investment it's same thing with his e5700 rig. Anything older than first tier i3s is just not worth any investments at all, it's just better to either donate that stuff to someone or just say goodbye. Even if he doesn't want something completely new, he still can get decent used quad core ivy bridge or haswell rig for dirt cheap and be good for quite few years, he gets boost for SSD performance, he gets boost for PCIe performance and more.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Even if he doesn't want something completely new, he still can get decent used quad core ivy bridge or haswell rig for dirt cheap and be good for quite few years

While those rigs would be arguably better, what kind of price-point are we talking about here? $100? $200? $300?

 

[Brado78]

Wow, Thanks guys for all of the responses , I have a 350 dollar limit I was told that the H110 Chip set isn't very good, also I was told that if i went brand new I should at LEAST go Intel I3. 16gigs ram, and an H170 chip set board;;:/ This is the dilemma. To max out my current board and go SSD, $250.00. or go brand new for $ 379.00....$129 dollar difference...

 

[VirtualLarry]

Wow, Thanks guys for all of the responses , I have a 350 dollar limit I was told that the H110 Chip set isn't very good, also I was told that if i went brand new I should at LEAST go Intel I3. 16gigs ram, and an H170 chip set board;;:/ This is the dilemma. To max out my current board and go SSD, $250.00. or go brand new for $ 379.00....$129 dollar difference...

If that's all the difference is, for what you're considering, then go new. It will at least "reset" the longevity clock on your hardware too, and if you get a Skylake i3 CPU, then you won't need a discrete card unless you are serious about gaming. (In which case, you would want an i5 minimum for a gaming rig anyways, and not an i3.)

 

[Brado78]

I think I might go new , is the new skylake pentium a good chip for an entertainment PC?

 

[VirtualLarry]

The Pentium is decent, but the i3 has the faster iGPU. (i3-6100 and up have HD 530, G4400 has HD 510. G4500 has HD 530 too, I think, but for that price, might as well get the i3.)

 

[Justinbaileyman]

Oh with a $350 limit I would with out a doubt go Skylake i3 then. I thought you were trying to upgrade with like a $100 bucks hence the reasoning I suggested the Q9650,Ram and SSD route.But with $350 you should be able to get your self one heck of an upgrade.

 

[bonehead123]

Da Skylake is calling your name...

Just do it, you know you wanna. And so do we

so leave that antique hdwr where it belongs...in the 90's, and be happy !