Socket 775 upgrade?

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hey guys.

about a two ago, i upgraded my CPU + fan,Power supply,Graphics card and got a 500 gb hardrive that i all purchased from OCUK. I did not have it in my budget to spend on a new motherboard so with that statment i remained with my Asus p5gc-mx(socket lga775. It is kind of a crappy motherboard and decided to change it to upgrade my ram capacity. now the things that i need to ask are, should i remain with a motherboard with lga775? is it an old socket or there are no such thing as an old socket? are cpu's still coming out with that socket? that is pretty much all i need to know. i think i am going for something similar to this.http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-294-GI , suggestions are welcome, i myself am an asus user at the moment, but after having trouble with the bios update, i decided to try out Gigabyte.

and also if you have the time suggest some memory that i can order (4gb)

Thank you for your time and understanding guys.
 
i remained with my Asus p5gc-mx(socket lga775. It is kind of a crappy motherboard and decided to change it to upgrade my ram capacity
asusp5gcmx.jpg

ASUS P5GC-MX/1333 Product page
Hello Gunman1992,

I'm not sure its the best idea to upgrade your LGA775 mobo to another LGA775 mobo *and* buy 4GB of DDR2?

What seems to be the problem with your current mobo? . . . i.e what doesn't it do that you would like it to do?

What kinda tasks are you using your machine for? . . . is a 3GHz Core 2 Duo causing you any problems etc?

Buying the board you mentioned and a 4GB set of DDR2-1066 will cost you about £135.52 . . . are you prepared to buy used hardware or?

Depending on the answers to the questions above there may be a few more options open to you!
 
hello big wayne

the reason for my change is that the bios updates are a bit bugged and i havn't been able to update plus they are a bit outdated, also the ram capacity (2gig if im not mistaken) is a bit low for modern games which i use my system on and application. the reason for my changing my mobo lga775 with the same socket type is that i'll also have to change the cpu which is a bit expensive, and i dont think i need a cpu change. right?

is the lga775 socket old or something?
i am all ears on a change of socket mobo but i do not wish to exceed the 150 dollar mark.

i apologize for my not understanding a lot in these type of hardware, im currently studieng at college on programming and we havn't been into hardware a lot.

suggestions are welcome
 
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A decent P45 motherboard may get up to 4Ghz per core out your E8400

PC-8500 2x2gb can be bought for around £50 second hand stuff such as Corsair Kingston and OCZ.

Retail wise, prices are pretty much the same as DDR3 and AM3 or new Intel,

Asus P5Q Deluxe Intel P45 (Socket 775) DDR2 Motherboard £89 (reasonable choice if memory compatability and OC'ing are of interest)

Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 8500C5 £73 (which gives you a guarantee that £50 second hand does not)

The above may be overkill but would probably get the maximum out of your E8400.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-278-AS&tool=3
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-039-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=817

You could sell on your dual core, but it would probably only fund another Dual Core, that said £207 could get you an i3 (the G6950 is only £70) dual with a P55 motherboard and DDR3 that oc's to 4Ghz. Around £300 would get you an AMD or i5 Quad.

The board you pointed out I don't see the point in, it's budget and there is no benefit with a 775 and DDR3 apart from as a slow upgrade process.

An Intel Pentium Dual-Core G6950 is £70 and very overclockable.
Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2 Intel H55 is £61 it works well with the above.
Corsair XMS3 4GB is around £76


What graphics, operating system and uses have you?
 
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Hello Gunman1992,

the reason for my change is that the bios updates are a bit bugged and i havn't been able to update plus they are a bit outdated
"wanting" to buy a new motherboard because you are unable to update the BIOS on your existing motherboard is not sufficient reason in itself to "justify" paying money for a new board? :confused:

If there is a problem which the BIOS update fixes and you are unable to achieve this fix because the BIOS update is "bugged" is a different matter?

Does your current board have any other problem or issue apart from not being able to update the BIOS? :)

also the ram capacity (2gig if im not mistaken) is a bit low for modern games which i use my system on and application
I guess it depends what O/S you are using and what games you are playing but yes 2GB is not an abundance of memory for some games or tasks . . .

It's not too hard to notice when your PC is demanding more memory than you have physically installed as everything "chugs" up as the extra data gets paged to the swap file on the hard disk (slow!) . . . if this is during a game you may notice some "Lags" etc . .

To be really sure that you need more Physical memory open up the Task manager and go to the [performanc tab] and look for the peak figure . . . here is a screenie from my System (still running Windows XP)

memorypeak.gif


If you see the figure that I have highlighted inside the red box [750800] . . that is the most Physical memory my PC has needed since it was switched on this morning . . . If you take that figure and divide it by 1024 you will get a number in MB's i.e:

750800/1024= 733.2MB

If you do the same after playing your biggest/most demanding game or running what you think is the most demanding task and you see this figure close to or exceeding 2GB's then it makes sense to pay out $$$ for increased capacity . . .

Having said that I just noticed on the offical webpage for your mobo it states the fastest ram it can run is DDR2-666 and DDR2-533 . . . faster ram will work fine but at this slower speed maybe . . . 4GB capacity appears to be no problem . . .

In your boots and assuming the board is working well and assuming some of your games & tasks are maxing/exceeding your physical memory I would probably be looking for a "quality" branded 4GB set of used DDR2 . . .

the reason for my changing my mobo lga775 with the same socket type is that i'll also have to change the cpu which is a bit expensive, and i dont think i need a cpu change. right?
Yup, the Intel® Core™2 Duo E8400 is a really nice DualCore that handles most general usage and gaming no problem . . . depending on exactly what tasks and what games you run it should be fine . . .

If your board has a "genuine" problem there are quite a few updated LGA775 boards for sale at around the £35 pound mark, these affordable boards would allow you to also overclock the chip a little bit if you felt the improved speed would help . . .

There is also the option of selling your DualCore and using the money you get to put towards a newer system . . . may sound like a hassle but if you are considering swapping out boards then thats always a good time to look at all the possible options . . . doesn't need to involved a lot of money either if your prepared to sell your older kit . . .

is the lga775 socket old or something?
Yeah its at least 5 years old . . . still works well but depending on your needs now and your needs in the future there may be newer and better options . . .

i am all ears on a change of socket mobo but i do not wish to exceed the 150 dollar mark
Well depending on the answers to the questions I have asked above you may not need to update anything although I suspect that getting some more memory capacity may be your most pressing "Need" . . .

$150 bucks is quite decent money if you also add the money you could get from selling your existing CPU/Mobo/RAM . . .

i apologize for my not understanding a lot in these type of hardware, im currently studieng at college on programming and we havn't been into hardware a lot.
Not a problem, glad to help you work out "all" your possible options, give us some more info and lets see what we can do for you! :cool:
 
Hey guys, thanks for your time to write up and research those detailed posts.
selling my kit was not really an option, maybe i will get 150 dollars for the cpu, mobo and ram?

im on windows 7 32 bit
my daily usage for my system is mostly gaming, but since school is starting i will need to program a lot and that requires a stable system.

i understand from your post's that changing a 5 year old socket with a new socket type is the better option and i agree with you.

another thing that i have not mentioned is that the mobo is bottle-necking my cpu, that's why i wanted to update my BIOS which was not successful.

i will try to find a not that expensive kit to trade up my socket with, and later i will look were i will sell my kit at.

does OCUK buy used components? and will i have to pay for the shipping if i sell them?

again, thank you for your posts, always a pleasure hearing helpful and professional advice.

EDIT:

hey guys i found a mobo and a cpu, although they are a bit expensive excluding the RAM

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-311-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-411-AS

are all DDR3 rams that expensive?
 
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Im not sure of the differences myself but I know for a long time the Asus P5Q Pro was the board to go for. Stable for nice overclocks. You may be able to find one secondhand and some memory to go with it and still come in under your $150 budget.
 
Hey Gunman1992! :)

another thing that i have not mentioned is that the mobo is bottle-necking my cpu, that's why i wanted to update my BIOS which was not successful.

I'm not sure if you have explained your "reason" for wanting to change the mobo yet? . . . you said something about not being able to update the BIOS? . . . and now you are saying something about the board "bottle-necking" the CPU? . . . . I don't understand how the motherboard can bottle-neck your CPU? :confused:

Can you explain a bit better what the problem is please? ;)
 
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