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Best current budget CPU?

topbanana

topbanana

topbanana

Associate
Joined
15 Jun 2005
Posts
630
Hi all

What's a good budget CPU to go for at the moment? My son's PC is dog slow by modern standards. He does play games but only at 1280x768. He'll be getting my 7800GT as I'm upgrading mine at the same time.
 
Thanks for that. I've just had a quick look and people seem to enjoy their 5200s... sounds perfect. Which chipset is worth looking at. I've had bad expereinces with VIA and nVidia in the past, would prefer Intel!
 
Wouldn't go for a E2xxx if you ain't overclocking :)

Probably a second hand E6600 or something should be ok or a new E5200/E7200 together with a P35 / P45 chipset.
 
Wouldn't go for a E2xxx if you ain't over clocking :) It can be quite disappointing...

Probably a second hand E6600 or something should be OK or a new E5200/E7200 together with a P35 / P45 chipset.
 
Been umming and arring baout upgradin for a while now, multiple times having set down exactly what it is Im buying.. only to decide nah wait for nehalem.

Currently running:
Opty148 @2.2
2Gb Corsair XMSDDR400
X800GTO2 (flashed)

What Im wondering is..
Should I just slap in more ram and an x2 4000+ or similar.
Or a budget DualCore 775 setup (CPU,MOBO,RAM)

Would the current budget COU build outperform the x2 vastly or would I be lookin at pretty even results from both "upgrades"
 
~Divine~Wind~ said:
Been umming and arring baout upgradin for a while now, multiple times having set down exactly what it is Im buying.. only to decide nah wait for nehalem.

Currently running:
Opty148 @2.2
2Gb Corsair XMSDDR400
X800GTO2 (flashed)

What Im wondering is..
Should I just slap in more ram and an x2 4000+ or similar.
Or a budget DualCore 775 setup (CPU,MOBO,RAM)

Would the current budget COU build outperform the x2 vastly or would I be lookin at pretty even results from both "upgrades"
Click to expand...

I don't think investing in such an old system is a good thing to do :)

The intel setup would outperform the X2 I think @ stock but NOT AT ALL when overclocking the Intel.

When Nehalem comes out it will be pretty expensive I guess. If you want to upgrade now and find overclocking fun go for something like this:

CPU: Intel E5200 / E7200
Mobo: Your favorite brand motherboard manufacturer with P35 / P45 chipset!
RAM: 4GB PC6400 4-4-4-12 or PC8500 5-5-5-18 of your favorite brand ;)
GFX: Depends on IF you game and if you game how much power you want and what monitor you are using.
 
I kept reading benchmarks which showed AMD X2's performing near enough to E4xxx's not to warrant the shift. Then I read that Quad's didn't outperform games in most cases. Then I read that Nehaleem wasn't going to aimed at gamers. Then I double checked the benchmarks and saw how far the E8xxx's had come compared to early dual cores. So I bit the bullet, got an E8400, P45 Mobo, 4gb DDR2 for ~ £300 and It's a huge upgrade over my old Opty S939 system. Honestly in CPU intensive games such as World in Conflict, with the same 3807X2 GPU, I've more than doubled my game performance. In other cases it's been a 60% increase.

Don't wait for Nehaleem, get a good value P45/Intel Core 2 Duo system now. If quad cores start to show a difference in miore games, I'm hoping when quad wolfdales drop in price next year I can drop a quad in then without going backwards in Ghz compared to the Yorkfields.
 
~Divine~Wind~ said:
Been umming and arring baout upgradin for a while now, multiple times having set down exactly what it is Im buying.. only to decide nah wait for nehalem.

Currently running:
Opty148 @2.2
2Gb Corsair XMSDDR400
X800GTO2 (flashed)

What Im wondering is..
Should I just slap in more ram and an x2 4000+ or similar.
Or a budget DualCore 775 setup (CPU,MOBO,RAM)

Would the current budget COU build outperform the x2 vastly or would I be lookin at pretty even results from both "upgrades"
Click to expand...

I was in the same dilemma but the mad price socket 939 stuff is fetching made me go Intel. A 4200+ x2 cpu sell 2nd hand for £65-£75 now. I would rather spend that money on a E7200 which will blow the 4200+ x2 out of the water before you overclock it.

The money I got for my DFI lanparty, 2Gb Corsair ram and 4200+ x2 plus £40 bought me an Abit IP35pro, Q6600 and 4Gb corsair ddr2 ram. If I had't have bought the ram, the cost to change would have been nil :eek:

Anyway even at stock, the system was way way faster than my old 939 dual core system.

Crysis with same graphics card went up from 29fps to 40fps :eek:

Well worth the move to Intel and there are some great Intel chips and p35 mobo bargains to be had. Hell even ddr2 ram is so much cheaper than what you sell your old ddr ram for. I got £90 for my 2gb Corsair 2-2-2-5 (or was it 6?) ram yet bought 4Gb of corsair 4-4-4-12 ddr2 for £70.

Its a mad world :D
 
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