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Pentium Dual Core? Upgrade advice

ringpull

ringpull

ringpull

Associate
Joined
25 Jul 2005
Posts
42
Hi All,

I've just installed Windows Vista Ultimate on my machine:
P4 630 3GHz (LGA775), 1GB DDR2 PC5300 RAM, ATI x850xt GPU

In comparison to XP x64 it's much slower, so I've decided it's time for an upgrade.
I'm looking to get a Dual Core Intel that can fit in my LGA775 socket, like:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-102-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=570
I don't want to spend too much (so the Core2Duos are out of the question), but the 820 Dual Core looks quite good for £60 or so. Would you agree, or would you recommend another cpu?

And with regards to RAM:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-030-GL
I'm just gonna get another 1GB to match the 1GB I already have.

Your comments are appreciated!
=]
 
What mobo you got? You see, if compatible with C2D even the £95.99 E4300 will be faster than all those Pentiums (except maybe the Extreme Edition's) :)
 
The M/B isn't compatible with C2D according to the Abit website, but the 820 looks good, the guys at TH overclocked there's to 4.1Ghz.
 
ringpull said:
Heh, awesome. I'll probably buy that today/tomorrow then.
Should I get some thermal paste too, so I can re-use my AC Freezer 7 with it?
Click to expand...

If there isn't any left on the AC Freezer 7, get some Arctic Silver 5.
 
Yeah, reapplication was my intention (providing the HSF comes off the motherboard, that is).
Alright then, suppose I've got an order to make :D
Thanks guys
 
I was thinking that, and decided that it might be best to go for this Pentium D 915 instead of the 820:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-133-IN
It's slightly more expensive but the upside is that it has a 4MB cache.

Can someone confirm that the 915 will work with my motherboard (Abit AA8 DuraMax) ?

It says:
Only compatible with Intel based 945/955/975X series mainboards
And as far as I'm aware my board is a 925X :(
 
Oh I see, so I'm limited to the 6xx range. Damn.
Is there any way I could confirm this?

Else that limits me to upgrading to the 650 3.4GHz (as anything above is out of my price range). I cannot see that to be a beneficial upgrade.
 
Well from what i remember of my short experience with 915 and 925X chipsets they don't support dual core cpus so the 6xx series is your last hope with that board.
 
ringpull said:
{snip}(providing the HSF comes off the motherboard, that is){snip}
Click to expand...
Warm-it-up before removing, e.g. run a stress test for 10-minutes. Then simply remove the HSF with short clockwise rotation ;)

Bent pins on my A64 3000+ after trying to remove when cooled down :(
 
Note that Vista introduces up to a 10% drop in gaming performance over XP. It's part of the new driver parcel apparently.
Vista overall, is slower than XP.

Dat
 
Edit: thanks for the advice hp7909, I'll be sure to try it out.

DataKraft said:
Note that Vista introduces up to a 10% drop in gaming performance over XP. It's part of the new driver parcel apparently.
Vista overall, is slower than XP.
Click to expand...

It's more than 10%, I can guarantee you that!

Right. I've decided to forget about the RAM upgrade for now, and just get the following:

Asrock Motherboard: £50
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-003-AK
Intel Core2Duo 1.86GHz: £100
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-126-IN

More money than I originally intended to spend, but should give me a healthy upgrade, and over the next couple of months I'll get an extra 1GB of RAM too.

The motherboard is said to 'Supports ATI CrossFire', and my ATI X850 is not a crossfire card. I'm assuming this'll still work fine though?
Again, comments welcome :)
 
Last edited:
Pentium D is not as bad as people say.
My Pentium D 945 3.4 GHz really flies....

Everything runs beautifully....
 
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