Core upgrade for £200

flat-6

flat-6

flat-6

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
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Location
Lancaster
My computer is getting slow, what should I upgrade for £200? Not bothered about games, I play old racing sims so my 1950Pro is fine.

Current spec:

E4300 @ 2.4Ghz
Asrock 4core DUAL VSTA
2gb ram
1gb sata drive
ATI x1950 Pro PCI-E
Some kind of dvd-rw

So I'd like 4gb ram, and I suppose I'll need a new cooler/mobo/cpu/ram. I've been out of the loop for ages so don't know what's good. Would also like an easy overclock if possible.
 
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
CP-272-IN_60.jpg
Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.93GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £128.79
(£111.99) £128.79
(£111.99)
MY-026-KS_60.jpg
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 800MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX6400D2K2/4G) £32.98
(£28.68) £32.98
(£28.68)
HS-017-AR_60.jpg
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £22.99
(£19.99) £22.99
(£19.99) Sub Total : £160.66 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.00 VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £25.45 Total : £195.11
 
EDIT: Not sure that your current motherboard supports the wolfdale cores, looking on ASROCK website shows that it supports CONROE upto E6700 or KENTSFIELD upto QX6800 (http://www.asrock.com/mb/cpu.asp?Model=4COREDUAL-VSTA&s=775).

Kennysevenfold said:
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £22.99
Shipping : 9.00
Click to expand...

Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro isn't all that I would swap for:

Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM3/LGA775) - £28.74

or

Akasa AK-967 Nero Direct Contact Heatpipe CPU Cooler (AM2/AM2+/939/LGA775/LGA1366) - £31.04

As you won't be paying postage due to your post count then it works out virtually the same.

OT: Loving the Porsche 911, I'm a 944 Turbo owner but still hankering after a pre '90 911 ;)
 
Last edited:
The intel chip is good also but what about? The AMD is a good bang for buck cpu.

AMD Phenom II X3 Tri Core 720 Black Edition 2.8GHz
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 X 2GB) DDR2 8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit
Gigabyte GA-M56S-S3 nForce 560

That comes to £228 but sell your old stuff and thats the will come in around £200.

You also wanted a easy overclock so you also have that with black edition chip, unlocked multi so just up it.

Although you could save money and just get a better board and ram. Your E4300 chip isnt bad and could be clocked to 2.8-3Ghz.

See http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/core2duo_e4300

/14.html
 
Abit IP35 Pro XE Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - £68.99
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.50GHz (800FSB) - Retail - £68.99
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500 Gold Edition 4GB Dual Channel (OCZ2G10664GK) - £34.49
Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM3/LGA775) - £28.74

Total: £201.21
 
The E4300 is a good CPU, it just needs a better overclock. Most will hit 3Ghz + in a decent board with little effort and that's more than enough for a single GPU. If the system is slow then it's most likely the amount of trash built up in the windows installation.

Abit IP35 Pro XE Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - £68.99

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) - £22.99

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500 Gold Edition 4GB Dual Channel (OCZ2G10664GK) - £34.49

And keep the rest for another upgrade.
 
Well I used to be into messing with overclocking but I am too old to be arsed now, my Asrock only supports 2gb (its not a 4core, its the 775DUAL) and its not great for ocing.

Getting new board and ram seems like a reasonable option but if I am going to be bothered doing surgery on my system I might as well do it all in one shot.

I like the look of Spooter's suggestion, those chips sound like they do the business. I'll do some reading up. Thanks guys.
 
Do not buy a Abit mobo. They don't exist anymore so when your 12 months warranty with the retailer is up you've had it. No bios updates or anything either. Buying a cheap Abit mobo is a false economy.

Yes a E5200 is more of a sidestep than a upgrade. The E4300 is still handy when overclocked though. See my comparison thread here.
 
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