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Upgrding

jonny109

jonny109

jonny109

Associate
Joined
19 Sep 2010
Posts
46
Hi all,

I am looking to upgrade my Intel Core 2 Duo processor as I have noticed that some games I am interested in are requiring specs for 3.00Ghz+ Anybody got any suggestions on a new CPU? My budget is between £150 max £200.

Thanks

PC Spec's
Operating System
MS Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 @ 2.13GHz
Conroe 65nm Technology
RAM
3.00 GB DDR2
Motherboard
Dell Inc. 0WG855 (Microprocessor)
Graphics
DELL 1907FP (1280x1024@75Hz)
512MB GeForce 9800 GT (XFX Pine Group)
Hard Drives
244GB Western Digital WDC WD2500JS-75NCB3 (RAID)
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GSA-H31N
Audio
SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC
 
If you can't raise the budget, one of these and a case + psu as your case will probably have a random dell standard so other mobos wont fit and your psu is probably god-awful/not up to modern connectivity.

Except the £130 llano one as that's not got enough grunt. Probably the one on special offer.
 
Can't buy a lot with that unfortunately. You may just about get an i3, motherboard and ram for about £200. You'd probably get a bigger performance boost out of a GTX560ti and a second hand q6600 though.
 
Thanks all for the reply's.

jamesfreddie: the make of the PC is a Dell Dimension 9200, On second though I could raise the budget to between £300 and £400
lrlcr: Thanks for the advice
IvanDobskey: thanks but I would want a processor with a bit more grunt.
linwelin: That processor looks good and as mentioned i could raise the budget. As lrlcr said would it be better to just buy and new case and PSU for the bundle and transfer my current graphics card and hard drive from the Dell over to the new system and then buy a CD Drive?

Thanks
 
jonny109 said:
Thanks all for the reply's.

jamesfreddie: the make of the PC is a Dell Dimension 9200, On second though I could raise the budget to between £300 and £400
lrlcr: Thanks for the advice
IvanDobskey: thanks but I would want a processor with a bit more grunt.
linwelin: That processor looks good and as mentioned i could raise the budget. As lrlcr said would it be better to just buy and new case and PSU for the bundle and transfer my current graphics card and hard drive from the Dell over to the new system and then buy a CD Drive?

Thanks
Click to expand...

OK,

Now the problems.

You cant fit a standard ATX or MATX etc. Motherboard in this machine.

So if you wanted a platform change ie 1155 you would have to change the case and PSU aswell.
 
jonny109 said:
jamesfreddie do you have any suggestions for case and PSU and will my current graphics card work with this new motherboard?
Click to expand...

Your current graphics should work fine

YOUR BASKET
1 x XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £52.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £31.99
Total : £97.28 (includes shipping : £10.25).



---------------------------------------------------

A simple i3 build

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £97.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard REV 1 £80.40
1 x XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £52.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £37.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £31.99
Total : £316.37 (includes shipping : £12.50).



------------------------------------------------------------

A simple I5 build O/C to 4.6Ghz

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard REV 1 £80.40
1 x XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £52.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £37.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £31.99
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £21.98
Total : £410.35 (includes shipping : £12.50).



----------------------------------------------------------------------

A i3 build with new graphics card

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £97.99
1 x OcUK HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £88.79
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard REV 1 £80.40
1 x XFX Pro 550W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £52.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £37.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £31.99
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £21.98
Total : £427.14 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
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jamesfreddie thanks for all your assistance I will seriously consider your builds and I am likely to purchase one but I am undecided at this point

Thanks
 
Thanks for the reply Jerry64.

Also I was wandering if I need the 2x Front Cooling 120mm Fans that are optional when buying the case and the 2x Side Panel 120mm That are also optional.
 
ok thanks. I am going with the the i5 build and will be O/C to 4.6Ghz and I will also buy the graphics card from the i3 build you suggested.
 
jamesfreddie,

I have noticed on the forum and around the Internet that a number of people mention they have a SSD installed and a normal internal hard drive on there computer. I was wandering could you tell me the point of have both of these two drives and if it would be beneficial for me to purchase both?
 
SSD for windows/programs/games - basically anything that will benefit from the faster speeds. Normal HDD for when you need more storage capacity for things like movies/music that take up a lot of space and don't need the faster read/write speeds. It's usually becuase SSD's are more expensive per GB and would be wasted just storing data.
 
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo with i5 2500K??

Krono5
Thanks for your response I understand now thanks.

Just a general question I have noticed on this forum and on other forms it has been suggested that the Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler is not the best for the i5 2500K because once overclocked it cannot handle well if the increased temp. I want to overclock the 2500K CPU and it has been suggested that the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler is better suited for the job.

My question is will the Cooler Master I5 build (outlined above) with the graphics card from the i3 build (again outlined above) fit in the case:confused:?
 
If money is a concern then you could really go for a good new build and just keep your current graphics card for the time being. If you go for a good base elsewhere, like an i5 2500k you will be able to play most games at 1920*1080 with reduced settings.

I knowpeople want bells and whistles but when money is a factor you need to consider this. I have a PC with an old AMD X4 CPU and a 5750 GPU (same sort of level as the 9800 GT, maybe even a bit less) and i can happily play most things at 1920*1080, with some sacrifices but like I say it's a trade off.

If you can get the money then by all means upgrade everything at once, otherwise concentrate on the 'nuts and bolts' of the system, i.e. CPU, MB, RAM, PSU and that leaves you plenty of upgrade paths in a few months time in terms of a new GPU. Going the other way and upgrading GPU first isn't that viable given the other limitations. The 6850 suggested is however a very good deal these days at this level.
 
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