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What is the best CPU i could buy? (Speecy information)

Kiki_1337

Junior Member
Operating System
MS Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Pentium E5400 @ 2.70GHz 36 °C
Wolfdale 45nm Technology
RAM
3.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 399MHz (6-6-6-18)
Motherboard
Acer EG43M (CPU 1) 44 °C
Graphics
HP L1950 (1280x1024@60Hz)
1024MB GeForce GT 320 (Sapphire/PCPartner) 60 °C
Hard Drives
932GB Western Digital WDC WD10EADS-22M2B0 (RAID) 46 °C
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH41N
Audio
High Definition Audio Device
 
You do realize that your Win 7-64 system is due for an uplift to Win 10? Win-7 (the best OS Microsoft ever made) is due for EOL at the end of December. As of this past January, you could still make the changeover for free.
 
You do realize that your Win 7-64 system is due for an uplift to Win 10? Win-7 (the best OS Microsoft ever made) is due for EOL at the end of December. As of this past January, you could still make the changeover for free.
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I will do it tho, but you are clearly avoiding my question here. 😀
 
So are you saying whats the best you could do in that motherboard? Uhh... Well, it's a G43 so it's at least a later-gen Core2 chipset so you could probably put a quadcore in there, but honestly unless you got it for ~free it wouldn't be worth it, and even then it would still be slow and old. Look for someone selling a 1st or 2nd gen Ryzen system in the Wake of Ryzen 3000 series, it would be a huge upgrade for you.
 
But really, if OP replaces the HD with an SSD, he will see an enormously faster throughput -- enough to make web-browsing a breeze. If he can find the RAM to go from 3GB to 8GB, even better. I took a 2008 Dell and resurrected it that way. We would still be using it if the switch/case didn't die in 2018.
 
what's your budget?

I'll ship you my Xeon v2 1620 system with a 280X, 16GB (eh, I don't recall the speed), 1TB hDD + 512gb 960 SSD for like, $600. It will be like the future for you! only in 2014, but you know, still, the future!
 
Wowsers, that's pretty old. I saw "Pentium E5400", and immediately thought, Coffee Lake Pentium, then I saw "DDR2", then I was like, uh-oh, that's a "Pentium Dual-Core", a Core2-era processor.

Basically, that's (as been said) a museum-piece. Either preserve it, or junk it, IMHO.

Or, as also already said, pick up a cheap SSD (120GB for $16, 240GB for $23-27), and throw that in there, with a new copy of Windows 10. (If you have the key to your Windows 7, you should be able to punch it into Windows 10, to activate it.)

The SSD solution would be better than nothing, and might breath some new life into it (if you can't afford a new rig right off). Don't forget a web browser with an ad-blocker, too, for an older CPU machine like that. I recommend Firefox Nightly, with uBlock Origin, and Privacy Badger, and set the browser's own Content-Blocking to "Strict".

If building new, then, start a thread in Computer Building, but I recommend a Ryzen R5 3600 CPU for ~$200 (or it's older brother, the Ryzen R5 1600 for ~$105), 16GB of DDR4-3000 or faster RAM ($60 or so, there's some OLOy DDR4-2667 16GB kit for ~$50 right now). Pick a mobo to suit (MSI B450 Tomahawk comes to mind as popular for the 3rd-Gen upgrades for around $110-120, be aware that the BIOS/UEFI is slightly immature for the older-than-X570 boards and newer 3rd-Gen Ryzen CPUs. That mobo has BIOS flashback using a USB port, so you don't need an older CPU to flash that board, to prepare it for 3rd-Gen Ryzen. It also has robust VRMs, to take a 3900X or 3950X, when that time comes.)

There also was an MSI PRO B450 V2 board for ~$65, that had a BIOS that worked with 3rd-Gen Ryzen, that would be the budget option, but with naked VRMs (no heatsink), it probably wouldn't be good for a 3900X or 3950X, if you felt like upgrading in the future.
 
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this motherboard supports core 2 quad at best, which would be a nice upgrade from a dual core, but still very outdated and not very good...

if you can get almost for free, you could max the ram to 4x2GB and use a decent C2Q like q9550,
but this is a good spec for 10 years ago...

if you are just using to browse the web and the basic stuff, you might wanna keep as it is (maybe add another 2GB ram) and buy a very cheap SSD, it really helps a lot and it's REALLY cheap right now.

I have C2Ds similar to this e5400 running right now and they are kind of OK for very basic use.
 
Yeah, if it's just a basic browser box, maybe some e-mail, maybe some Solitaire, then try the cheap SATA SSD solution, maybe bump up the RAM to 4GB if you're running a 64-bit OS, as 2GB is too little for 64-bit to really be usable.
 
You could possibly put in a core 2 quad as mentioned, but honestly I would just get a new computer. If you really want to put money into it though, more RAM and an SSD would be important as well.
 
Mate it's time for new PC, but if you cannot afford it atm then you can buy used Q9650 on ebay.
 
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What are your use scenarios and budget?

As others are saying, probably more cost effective to build new - but if you don't have the budget for that right now, then buy components you can re-use... i.e. get the SDD, but don't get more DDR2.
 
Mate it's time for new PC, but if you cannot afford it atm then you can buy used Q9650 on ebay.
+1 on this. Intel Q9650 for low buks on fleabay, 4x4gb ram, a good ssd and that's it. After that you should start considering an entire platform swtitch.
 
Scrap what you have. Get this, put inside a 256GB NVMe drive, a SSD, 8/16gb ram (try to get 3000 cl16) a Ryzen 2400G and call it a day! Small, and will last your browsing needs as long as this one did
 
I still have a q9550 @ 3.8, with 8gb of ram,256gb ssd, win dows 10,and a gtx960 4gb system.
For everyday tasks and some 2015 and older gaming it's just fine.

Throw in a $15 q9550, overclock it some, with some $25 ddr2 memory, and a $$75 ssd drive and your $100 investment will give you 4x the performance.
Add a $50 gtx9604gb and you can even play some descent games @40 fps @ 1080p.
 
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