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Is it worth buying this CPU?

hawkmoon1704

hawkmoon1704

hawkmoon1704

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10 Mar 2009
Posts
22
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5300 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.60GHz (800FSB)?

Ive got this at the mo Pentium D 2.8 775LGA

Mobo ASUSTEK

Money is real tight and I play mostly TF2 and some other single player games.

I wondered if it was worth buying this CPU (I think it'll work) and what the gains would be?

Got win XP 3G of ram and Radeon X1950pro

Very greateful for any advice from you guys...you know far more than I do so this should be the place to get help, right? :0)

Fanks!;)

PS if so i'll order it 2day!!
 
Yes. Although you need to find out exactly which motherboard and BIOS version you are using. CPU-Z will tell you this.
 
hmm 945p can technically support core 2 duos but not all motherboards with 945p do (different power requirements), earlier ones can only support upto pentium D. Is it a prebuilt oem system or was it custom built?
 
Oh bugga! ok thx for that.

Do you think i need to look at nxt gen mobo and CPU then. What would you guys suggest? I spose money is a prob but I could maybe stretch to £200. And will mp radeon fit a new mobo as well as my ram?

Sorry to be a pain .... I did build a PC bout 9Yrs ago but Ive been out of the loop for years really so not up to scratch.

Much obliged for all your help.
 
OEM pc is not always easy to upgrade, you need to make sure that the PSU is powerful enough and has the right connectors, also check the case size to see if it takes atx or m-atx motherboard, or if it is using atx standard at all. Assuming the case is compatible you're looking at new mobo,cpu and in the worst case a PSU as well. Your current GFX should work fine as long as it's PCI-E, your current RAM should work too, but is likely a slow DDR2 kit unless you upgraded before.

Hardware has moved on quite a bit in 9 years but the principles are the same, just take it slow and ask here first if you're unsure of anything :).
 
Now you have said what PC you have, I wouldn't bother going down that route. You will change the CPU and motherboard, buy new RAM, buy a new graphics card and the realise you need a new PSU. At this point you will then decide that you want a new case to make you PC look as it good as it now is. Sou you will have gone all round the houses to make each stage possible and workable. You current PC, while still old etc will then be sat in bits in drawers etc and unusable.
 
Ah cheers for that. I'm gona go for it. Mobo first I think. Then I'll save for CPU n PSU if its no good. Quite excited bout doin it now to be honest. Gona take a while cos of costs.
What would be a midrange board to start with then? I'm gonna stay with intel.

Ta.
 
mame said:
Now you have said what PC you have, I wouldn't bother going down that route. You will change the CPU and motherboard, buy new RAM, buy a new graphics card and the realise you need a new PSU. At this point you will then decide that you want a new case to make you PC look as it good as it now is. Sou you will have gone all round the houses to make each stage possible and workable. You current PC, while still old etc will then be sat in bits in drawers etc and unusable.
Click to expand...


Oh right! So save up n buy case n psu 1st then? Then think about mobo n CPU?
 
I'll add my 2p.

Do you give a monkeys about how your case looks? I know some people dont.... and also, whats your PSU rated at?

I reckon a P4 2.8Ghz and X1950 will be drawing a fair bit of juice - so an upgrade to a more efficient CPU and card might not be a bad thing. My system now uses less power with an 8800GT in than with an X1900XT!

If you think its worth it - buy a power measurement device, the type you plug in the wall and has a display to tell you what the draw is.

My system in sig draws 100W idle, 185W in gaming and 220W full maxed 100% GPU and CPU in benchmarks..... so no need for a 600W PSU yet!

If its compatible the CPU would give your system an overall boost in everything, and allow you to squeeze the maximum out of that card, and give you some benefit when you drop a newer generation card in. (If you decide on upgrading)

Just a tip - Make sure the graphics card slot is PCI-Express, and not AGP - otherwise you really would be flogging a dead horse :eek:
 
Well no the case don't bother me at all really.
My PSU is rated 320W got PCI-E card. I know I will have to build a PC anyway but I thought I could maybe get a half decent CPU then I could save up and do it bit by bit as each component became out of date. In a perfect world to build a new PC I'd just buy a new part each month, but it may take me a long time and I'm worried that by the time I got it all up and running it would be no newer than what I've got now. Does that make sense.
Thanks for that.
By the way, how does everyone else upgrade? If cash is an issue I mean.
 
If you buy things in a logical order you should be OK.

Case
PSU
Motherboard
RAM
CPU
GFX

GFX depreciates in value the fastest so leave that till last, then CPU etc.
 
hawkmoon1704 said:
Well no the case don't bother me at all really.
My PSU is rated 320W got PCI-E card. I know I will have to build a PC anyway but I thought I could maybe get a half decent CPU then I could save up and do it bit by bit as each component became out of date. In a perfect world to build a new PC I'd just buy a new part each month, but it may take me a long time and I'm worried that by the time I got it all up and running it would be no newer than what I've got now. Does that make sense.
Thanks for that.
By the way, how does everyone else upgrade? If cash is an issue I mean.
Click to expand...

Personally, I take the approach above - bits and pieces style, rather than whole systems. If you dont care about the case, I'd say your PSU should be able to handle an upgrade of some parts, so go for the CPU and see how it livens things up. Then pop a more modern PCI-Express card in, but pay *some* attention to the power draw. Obviously you're not going to be able to run a GTX295 off a 320W psu... :p

If you really are strapped for cash, that should be the most economical way - after the CPU and GPU, look into getting a new board with some nice DDR2 800, then you've got the internals of a fully new system and hopefully even sold off a few old bits for a couple of £ extra.

Just my thoughts anyways. Have fun whatever you go for!
 
Well........... ive bought this :-

Gigabyte GA-EP43C-DS3 Intel P43 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard
I read the blurb on it and thought it sounded kida good allowing me to use my old ram and still make use of future tech.
As far as my (now) PC is concerned
I figure the case is good for a few more years the rams good too and the graphix card is ok too. Dunno if my existing CPU will go or not (prolly not)and I hope my old PSU might be ok.

BTW HP e.mailed me back and said my board will support all 'Smithfield' processors up to 3.2GHz but had not tested it on dual core, so thats partly why I bought the mobo instead of chip.

Nice one....I hope! Bet I've prolly made a tit of it huh?
 
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