Upgrading my 5 year old rig

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sheemone00

Senior member
Sep 17, 2003
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Currently I have a rig running 1 GB RAM, 2.4 AMD64 socket 754, nForce3 mobo.

I'm looking to build a C2Duo rig and here's what im looking at:

CPU: E8400
Motherboard: P43 based motherboard (Gigabyteor the budget ASRock)
Video Card: HD4850 or GT9800 ($150 vs $110)
RAM: 2GB or 4GB of PC-1066 (I don't know if I'll really need the 4 GB but I tend to open a lot of apps and tabs on my browser)
HDD: 250 GB from my old rig

So any suggestions or inputs on my current setup?

I haven't been paying attention too much to the whole computer electronics industry for a while so any feedback would be appreciated!

I would particularly like some suggestions on motherboards. Which chipset would be best for casual gaming and movies and such. I don't need the most bleeding top of the line gears, but maybe something that would be somewhat future proof for another 3-5 years.


1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Mostly entertainment stuff such as light gaming and light movie watching.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
I'm looking to spend ~$400 USD.

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, etc, etc, you get the picture.
I'm looking to get an Intel C2D since I've heard good reviews on them.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
250 GB SATA HDD (3.0 gb/s), DVD Drive, CD Writer, Floppy, Antec 400W PS, 22" LCD

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
Not similar threads, but I have been doing some research on the parts that I'm interested in buying.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
OC a little bit probably, nothing too extreme.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Within the next 3 months.
 
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razor2025

Diamond Member
May 24, 2002
3,010
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Definitely check your old PSU to see if it can support the new hardware. Antec 400W PS is pretty pushing it. Look for 500-600 watt newer PSU. Plus, a 5 year old PSU probably doesn't have the 6-pin PCI-E power plug for your video card.

Ditch the DDR2-1066 and go for 800 or 1000 G.Skill. You can easily OC the ram to 1066+ speeds. Future proofing 3 -5 years for $400 is probably going to be difficult.
 
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sheemone00

Senior member
Sep 17, 2003
209
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Thanks guys, I'll definitely look into a new PS also.

What is the performance (without OCing) difference between the DDR2-800/1000 & DDR2-1066?
 
DSF

DSF

Diamond Member
Oct 6, 2007
4,902
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Since you're on a budget and willing to overclock I would strongly consider the E7200. It overclocks very well, even on DDR2-800. Nothing you buy today is going to be future-proof for five years. Even three is doubtful.

Not much point in pricing things out too specifically if your build is three months away though.
 
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sheemone00

Senior member
Sep 17, 2003
209
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Originally posted by: DSF
Since you're on a budget and willing to overclock I would strongly consider the E7200. It overclocks very well, even on DDR2-800. Nothing you buy today is going to be future-proof for five years. Even three is doubtful.

Not much point in pricing things out too specifically if your build is three months away though.
Click to expand...

I was looking at the E7200 also since it does give great performance for its price, but if I overclock the E8400 wouldn't it perform that much better also?

The budget I set was the low end number and I wouldn't mind spending an extra 100 or maybe even 150 if it would help build a rig that was somewhat more solid.

Maybe I shouldn't use the words "future proof". What I meant was something that will keep me somewhat mediocre or even high low end performance by the 3rd or 4th year.

Also I chose to spread out the build to a 3 month span hoping to catch some hot deals if they were to pop up within the next 3 months and build the system slowly part by part.
 
OverVolt

OverVolt

Lifer
Aug 31, 2002
14,278
89
91
I'm using the E7200 in my build. Don't get too caught up in the disabled catch or crippled FSB. It really won't make a big difference if you are overclocking. Even if you are not overclocking, it's not a huge performance loss. With a $400 budget I'd say get the E7200 and don't look back :).

http://www.intel.com/Assets/Im.../P43_Block_Diagram.gif

That pretty much explains why DDR-1000 is a waste. The memory bandwidth is NOT the bottleneck, so don't worry about memory speed unless your doing some heavy overclocking, especially on the E7200(lower default FSB).
 
DSF

DSF

Diamond Member
Oct 6, 2007
4,902
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71
Originally posted by: sheemone00
I was looking at the E7200 also since it does give great performance for its price, but if I overclock the E8400 wouldn't it perform that much better also?
Click to expand...
Not in any meaningful way. An E7200 at 3GHz will play any game out there without a problem, and should for quite some time. Heck, my E4500 plays Crysis fine at 2.93GHz, and it has less cache than the E7200. Considering that serious overclockers have pushed the chip as high as 3.8GHz, performance is not going to be an issue.


Originally posted by: sheemone00
Also I chose to spread out the build to a 3 month span hoping to catch some hot deals if they were to pop up within the next 3 months and build the system slowly part by part.
Click to expand...
For the case that's fine. I don't recommend doing that with parts that can't be tested independently though. You run the very real risk of discovering that a part is malfunctioning after the typical 30-day retailer return period. Then instead of going through Newegg to get your replacement, you have to go through the manufacturer. Is it the end of the world? No, but it's certainly easier to go through Newegg, especially if it turns out you need to return more than one part at once.
 
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sheemone00

Senior member
Sep 17, 2003
209
0
0
How old is that PSU? How many amps on the 12v rail?
Click to expand...

18 amps on the 12v rail (single).

Antec 400W

OK, so I think I've decided on the the E7200 for the CPU and G.Skill DDR2-800 4GB for the RAM.

Now I just need to decide on the motherboard.

I'm leaning towards the P43 since I won't OC the CPU to the max, just some mild FSB overclocking and I won't be going for XFire or SLI.
 
DSF

DSF

Diamond Member
Oct 6, 2007
4,902
0
71
The ASUS P5QL is another option depending on the relative prices.
 
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