Sourcing older CPUs

[stu_h]

Hi.
Can anyone recommend anywhere (UK) that stocks older CPUs please. We have a Gigabyte GA8I915P Duo Pro board with a P4 3GHz 530 at the moment and want to upgrade the CPU without changing the board.

Gigabyte state the board will support up to a P4-Extreme Edition 3.4GHz(2MB) or a Pentium 4 672(3.8GHz,2MB). (http://www.giga-byte.com/Support/Mo...x?ModelName=GA-8I915P+Duo+Pro&ProductVersion=)

These seem to be the 2 highest spec CPUs. I assume, rightly or wrongly that the 3.8GHz would out perform the 3.4GHz.... would that be a fair statement?

I have done some googling and can only find some people on ebay selling either if these (at about £100). Surely there must be some suppliers who hold stock of these older chips. Has anyone got any ideas please?

Many thanks.

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

The price you'd pay for both those CPU's would not be worth it for the performance increase, which wouldn't be a massive jump. They will always be sold at higher prices because they aren't made any more but people are willing to pay for the fastest CPU's they can get for their motherboards.

If you really wanted to do it then I believe ebay would be the only option.

 

[matt_fsr]

For that price, buy a E2160 and an Asrock motherboard, some new DDR2 and sell your old parts - you might even fetch a few £ for that 3Ghz P4 if someone is wanting an upgrade from an older P4.

* Presuming that you're wanting to keep it as cheap as poss.

 

[Tetras]

I have done some googling and can only find some people on ebay selling either if these (at about £100). Surely there must be some suppliers who hold stock of these older chips. Has anyone got any ideas please?

Prescott chips were EOLed a long time ago, you can still buy new Cedar Mill chips in small quantities (usually 3 Ghz 631s) but your board doesn't support them. In addition those two chips you mentioned have very high power consumption and heat output that may kick your PSU out of action.

I would echo the above comment and buy a Core 2 based Pentium dual core and cheap motherboard, which will give you more performance and less than 25% of the power draw and heat output (making them more likely to work with what you have now) and be way cheaper to buy.

Also this: "Can anyone recommend anywhere (UK) that stocks older CPUs please" can't be asked here cos they would all be competitors, read the FAQ.

 

[matt_fsr]

Not wishing to enrage the wrath of the Dons here - but the way i understand the FAQ is that this wouldnt be a competitor issue, as OCUK dont stock P4's any more?

Or has this been discussed somewhere/time before and I've missed it?

 

[sja360]

but if you look at other places that stock p4's they would have intel core 2 duo's and such as ocuk do.

 

[stu_h]

Thanks to all of you for replying. I suppose I was hoping to find someone with a surplus of old cpus in stock.... and without trying to upset this forum by looking for competitors! I assumed there would be stockpiles of older, less desirable, chips 'lying around' but maybe they aren't made in the sort of quantities that would allow that. We were trying to keep this machine usable for a bit longer alongside a newer machine and so didn't want to end up with some parts lying around gathering dust. having 2 machines would be handy.
Thanks again.

 

[sir-les-mp]

If you had been a member for over 3 months and 300 posts then you could have had a look on the members market there may be/have been someone there with the cpu you are looking for.
Unfortunately like myself we don't qualify yet
with the price that older CPU's are commanding these days the earlier suggestion of buying a C2duo and a cheap motherboard that support your current hardware may be your best solution

 

[mame]

You would hardly notice the difference in upgrading that CPU. Either leave it as it is or do u full upgrade/new build. A RAM upgrade might give a much better boost to performance, depending how much RAM you currently have.

 

[stu_h]

Thanks. We were trying to upgrade the machine to get the most out of it without having to change the board but I can see that it may be cheaper and much more of a boost to upgrade. There is only 1GB of DDR 400 at the moment but I'm looking to put 2GB of DDR2 533 in (the board can take either).

 

[matt100]

I loved my old P4 570J.. I'd love to get my hands on one now knowing what I do.. I only managed to get my (free) 570 up to about 4.2ghz... god knows where I'd go with it now!

Ebay is the only place you'll find these now, any shop would charge a premium.

 

[stu_h]

This is only a 530 and I haven't really done any overclocking, it is pretty much standard. Does that mean I'll be kicked off this forum?! Maybe I should get adventurous and see what I can get up to......

 

[arfur]

For that price, buy a E2160 and an Asrock motherboard, some new DDR2 and sell your old parts - you might even fetch a few £ for that 3Ghz P4 if someone is wanting an upgrade from an older P4.

* Presuming that you're wanting to keep it as cheap as poss.

sometimes replacing the board isnt the best way, if the machine is a server or live machine replacing the board isnt and option as it usually requires a reinstall of the OS and apps.