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CPU question

Unknown
in Hardware

I am on a budget, and currently have a dual core in my desktop. After flashing the bios my motherboard is able to support quad core processors. I looked through the list of compatible CPU's and found this one: 

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6394302&csid=_61

I was just wondering if it's a decent CPU for that price, which seems pretty cheap to me, and would be a huge upgrade over what I currently have.

Comments

  • LolueMouaLolueMoua Member UncommonPosts: 20
    First thing you need to do is make sure that AMD CPU will actually work with your board. Look into what model your motherboard is and make sure it supports the same Socket CPU as that AMD CPU. Intel boards will not work with AMD CPU's and vice-versa. So post up more information so we can help you a little more or look up the info on your own.
  • Unknown

    This is the motherboard: http://www.asus.com/Motherboard/M2N32SLI_DeluxeWireless_Edition/

     

    I've already gone through the list of compatible CPU's right from the asus site for that motherboard, and that CPU is listed as compatible.

  • LolueMouaLolueMoua Member UncommonPosts: 20
    Yeah, it looks like it will work, atleast better than your previous CPU. In my own personal opinion  you might want to just upgrade a new rig. But I know that for some people that's not an option.  So if that's all you can afford to go with then go for it.
  • Unknown
    The main reason is money basically. I threw a new video card it it, along with 8gb of ram. As of now it can handle GW2 (which is all I'm really playing right now) on medium/high settings which works for me. Just figured the new CPU at that price would add decent performance for a fairly cheap price.
  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,348
    What CPU do you have now?  That might well be a worthwhile upgrade to you if you're trying to get something somewhat functional on a very tight budget, and let you squeeze another year or two of useful lifetime out of an aging system.  But you should be aware that you'd be "upgrading" to an four-year-old architecture (though that particular bin didn't launch until maybe 2-3 years ago), so it's not nearly as good as what you'd get if you bought something new today.
  • RidelynnRidelynn Member EpicPosts: 7,383

    Save your money. It's a quad core sure, and it may be a bit faster than your dual core, but it's fairly inadequate for gaming on a per-core basis, not many games can really scale to quad cores anyway, and for $70 you would do a lot better saving it towards a new rig.

    You can probably find a used one (or one similar to it) for dirt cheap if you look around.

    *edit*

    Although you say for GW2 - and that game in particular can scale to 4 cores... I would look for something used in the $30 range, but $70 is steep for that particular system imho.

  • Unknown
    My current processor is an AMD Athlon 64 x2 4200+ 2.21 GHz
  • jdnewelljdnewell Member UncommonPosts: 2,237

    If you are looking to stretch your system out for another year or so until you buy / build another, then yes I would buy it. You should see an overall increase in performance. Not just a huge leap, but IMO enough to justify the cost.

    If you are planning to buy/build a new system anytime in the near future then save the money and put it towards the next build.

     

    My 2cp

     

  • ShakyMoShakyMo Member CommonPosts: 7,207
    You know obsolete parts are expensive. Might work out cheaper to get a modern processor and motherboard.
  • Unknown
    I know it would be better to build/buy a new system but for some unexplainable reason I REALLY like this motherboard, lol. If I can hang onto it for a couple more years I'd be exstatic. 
  • jdnewelljdnewell Member UncommonPosts: 2,237
    Originally posted by EccentricPenguin
    I know it would be better to build/buy a new system but for some unexplainable reason I REALLY like this motherboard, lol. If I can hang onto it for a couple more years I'd be exstatic. 

    Then buy the CPU. Its a $70 decision.

    Only you can decide if its actually worth it to you. If you plan on using it for a couple of years then go for it.

  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,348

    For comparison, the processor you're looking at will give about 50% better performance on a per-core basis, in addition to offering twice as many cores.  That means your performance in situations where you're CPU-limited could go up anywhere from 50% to 200%.

    What you should do depends considerably on your budget.  If you're willing to spend $700 to get a new computer, then that will easily beat what you could get by upgrading your old one.  But if you've got a $70 budget and your only choices are keep what you have for another year or two or upgrade the CPU, then go ahead and get the CPU.

  • Unknown
    Originally posted by Quizzical

    For comparison, the processor you're looking at will give about 50% better performance on a per-core basis, in addition to offering twice as many cores.  That means your performance in situations where you're CPU-limited could go up anywhere from 50% to 200%.

    What you should do depends considerably on your budget.  If you're willing to spend $700 to get a new computer, then that will easily beat what you could get by upgrading your old one.  But if you've got a $70 budget and your only choices are keep what you have for another year or two or upgrade the CPU, then go ahead and get the CPU.

    I would love to build a new system using my current case, and possibly video card. However I wouldn't know what components to buy to go with them that would be compatible or I would do it :( 

    If I was more confident it buying the items that would be compatible I could spend about $650, which would hopefully be enough with not needing a case or GPU.

  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,348
    Originally posted by EccentricPenguin
    Originally posted by Quizzical

    For comparison, the processor you're looking at will give about 50% better performance on a per-core basis, in addition to offering twice as many cores.  That means your performance in situations where you're CPU-limited could go up anywhere from 50% to 200%.

    What you should do depends considerably on your budget.  If you're willing to spend $700 to get a new computer, then that will easily beat what you could get by upgrading your old one.  But if you've got a $70 budget and your only choices are keep what you have for another year or two or upgrade the CPU, then go ahead and get the CPU.

    I would love to build a new system using my current case, and possibly video card. However I wouldn't know what components to buy to go with them that would be compatible or I would do it :( 

    If I was more confident it buying the items that would be compatible I could spend about $650, which would hopefully be enough with not needing a case or GPU.

    What case do you have, and what video card?

    If you don't need the old computer to remain functional, then also, what optical drive do you have?  While we're at it, what hard drive and power supply do you have?  Those last two will probably need to be replaced though.

  • Unknown
    Originally posted by Quizzical
    Originally posted by EccentricPenguin
    Originally posted by Quizzical

    For comparison, the processor you're looking at will give about 50% better performance on a per-core basis, in addition to offering twice as many cores.  That means your performance in situations where you're CPU-limited could go up anywhere from 50% to 200%.

    What you should do depends considerably on your budget.  If you're willing to spend $700 to get a new computer, then that will easily beat what you could get by upgrading your old one.  But if you've got a $70 budget and your only choices are keep what you have for another year or two or upgrade the CPU, then go ahead and get the CPU.

    I would love to build a new system using my current case, and possibly video card. However I wouldn't know what components to buy to go with them that would be compatible or I would do it :( 

    If I was more confident it buying the items that would be compatible I could spend about $650, which would hopefully be enough with not needing a case or GPU.

    What case do you have, and what video card?

    If you don't need the old computer to remain functional, then also, what optical drive do you have?  While we're at it, what hard drive and power supply do you have?  Those last two will probably need to be replaced though.

    The hard drive and power supply I would like to replace as the hard drive is only 320gb, and the power supply is only 400w. The optical drive is fine, it's an LG dvd-rw with the whole lightscribe thing. I don't really mess with blu rays or anything so that drive is fine for me. The video card is the EVGA Geforce GT 610 2GB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 card. This is the case: 

    http://www.antec.com/product.php?id=704844&pid=2

  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,348
    Originally posted by EccentricPenguin
    Originally posted by Quizzical
    Originally posted by EccentricPenguin
    Originally posted by Quizzical

    For comparison, the processor you're looking at will give about 50% better performance on a per-core basis, in addition to offering twice as many cores.  That means your performance in situations where you're CPU-limited could go up anywhere from 50% to 200%.

    What you should do depends considerably on your budget.  If you're willing to spend $700 to get a new computer, then that will easily beat what you could get by upgrading your old one.  But if you've got a $70 budget and your only choices are keep what you have for another year or two or upgrade the CPU, then go ahead and get the CPU.

    I would love to build a new system using my current case, and possibly video card. However I wouldn't know what components to buy to go with them that would be compatible or I would do it :( 

    If I was more confident it buying the items that would be compatible I could spend about $650, which would hopefully be enough with not needing a case or GPU.

    What case do you have, and what video card?

    If you don't need the old computer to remain functional, then also, what optical drive do you have?  While we're at it, what hard drive and power supply do you have?  Those last two will probably need to be replaced though.

    The hard drive and power supply I would like to replace as the hard drive is only 320gb, and the power supply is only 400w. The optical drive is fine, it's an LG dvd-rw with the whole lightscribe thing. I don't really mess with blu rays or anything so that drive is fine for me. The video card is the EVGA Geforce GT 610 2GB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 card. This is the case: 

    http://www.antec.com/product.php?id=704844&pid=2

    If the optical drive is SATA and still runs, then sure, keep it.  The case will lack some modern conveniences such as front USB 3.0 ports and a dedicated SSD mounting slot, but it's still reasonably nice, so on your budget, you'd definitely want to reuse the case.

    You'll want a new video card, though, as what you have is rather low end.  Your video card offers about half of the graphical performance of even Radeon HD 7660G integrated graphics, which itself trails well behind the discrete cards that you'd want for gaming.

  • grndzrogrndzro Member UncommonPosts: 1,162

    The beta bios supports up to AMD Phenom II X4 945. 

    I would get the lowest timing ram if putting this in a DDR2 motherboard though.

    the  AMD Phenom II X3 720/740 would probably be plenty to extend the life of your system

    Make sure you have 4 gigs of ram.

    Check Pricewatch.com and ebay. Thoes processors are pretty sturdy, Ebay would be a good bet.

    An SSD would be invaluable in an old DDR2 system.

    That Motherboard is a decent overclocker. I used to have the same model. A nice tower heatsink would be a good investment since it would be useable on a new system.

    The Athlon series has no L3 cache. Get a Phenom II instead they are a bit faster

    It would only cost another hundred or so to move up to a decent AM3 motherboard including ram.

  • grndzrogrndzro Member UncommonPosts: 1,162
    You could evaluate what games you play or plan on playing to highlight what bottlenecks your system and start from there.
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