CPU thoughts

[matt_fsr]

I'm thinking of upgrading my download/films PC, as at the moment it cant handle HD playback, and its something I want to get the ability for in the future. (Does everything else fine though)

Rig in question is currently a P3 800Mhz, 384Mb SDRAM 100Mhz, 250Gb IDE drive and 1Tb WD SATA drive via add-in card, Radeon 9800SE 128Mb, and Soundblaster Live soundcard.

^^ Old skool or what? Still... its cheap to run.

I'm thinking of ripping out the internals, and sticking in a board with OK onboard gfx, audio and SATA natively, as well as 2Gb of DDR2.

I'm tempted by the AMD Sempron LE-1250, as its dirt cheap, (£25) and got to be pretty low power usage, which is the main aim of this rig as it's on a lot of the time. It currently uses a 125W PSU, and i may want to keep the same PSU, so no need for monster CPU power.

Anyone reckon this CPU would be worth popping in? Or should I aim for something more like the 4450e, which is dual core.... but twice the price?

 

[GolfBryan]

Personally, I would dual core for sure, that extra £25 will be worth it!

 

[amkan13]

an amd 780g setup with a low power 45W X2 processor sounds like exactly what you need, a 4850e for instance.
power supply will need to be changed in all likelihood, and this is for the better, as a newer one will be more power efficient.

 

[matt_fsr]

I've got a power supply tester on order, so I'll take a look and see what my existing low power rig draws.

I am still tempted with the single core, as I cant see myself doing anything with it that would justify not only the doubling of cost for the dual core, but also the extra power needed to run it. 4850e is tempting though, I still have a preference for AMD over Intel but I just wish theyd make a fast range of gaming CPU's!