Motherboard died, should I upgrade?

S

Survive

New Member
Well I thought I had this all figured out but alas I need some more help!

My current system uses an Intel Core 2 Duo e8400 and since my MB died I thought it would be a good time to upgrade to a more modern CPU.

My intent was to go with the AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE and a GB Motherboard that would support two graphics cards. My old Asus P5N73-AM was limited there.

Looking at http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/102?vs=56 however the AMD doesn't really blow the Intel away like I thought it would.
Do you guys/gals think I would be better spending money on an upgraded MB and keeping the Intel or go ahead and upgrade to something like the X4... I'm on a limited budget ~400 and want to get the most out of it.

I'm really confused about the specs on the Intel Core 2 Duo e8400 since I've had it for years! Am I missing something or is it still a decent choice for a gaming PC?
 
I would buy a better mb and keep everything you have. Then I would overclock the CPU which is ideal for overclocking and can hit great performance. With the $400 I would buy a good motherboard for overclocking and maybe a decent water cooling system. The e8400 is a very good CPU for gaming. I have an overclocked E6600, which is a lower model, and I play all the games in high quality settings without any problems. Of course the choice is yours :)
 
I really think you should just buy the motherboard and use the rest of the money to upgrade your wifes computer since she's the only one that games at the moment.

Sincerely,

The wife
 
The e8400 is still fairly powerful, I would just get a used motherboard for cheap(something of the p45 series). As for watercooling on $400 it's not likely to happen.
 
What programs or games are you planning on using with this new system?

My system I use is way more than adequate for what I am doing presently. My favorite game right now is a modified version of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 1. It is a game that came out around 2001 when all that was available were single core processors.
 
I tried an E8400 for the first time just a few weeks ago, and was stunned at how weak it really was being that I'm so used the 1156 cpu's now.

On $400, you can sell the E8400 quick for $90 on ebay, plus whatever current DDR2 ram you have (if you have 2x2gb) you can sell easily for $60-70. So you really have $550+ to buy an 1156 setup with, which is enough to get you a full quad the I5 760.

So here's your parts list, prices rounded up and including shipping-

I5 760 $210-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115067&cm_re=I5_760-_-19-115-067-_-Product

G.Skill DDR3 2x2gb 1600mhz- $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193

ASRock P55 Extreme4- $150 (all the newest features not even used yet, USB 3.0 and sata 6gb/s. Supports SLI and Xfire)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157206

And since you want water cooling and you have the money from selling the E8400 and ram, an H70 corsair water cooling kit- $105

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181013&Tpk=H70


Grand total exactly $550 and one HELL of an upgrade from what you have. Night and day man, HUGE.
 
The parts that I have after upgrading will be used to upgrade my sons computer so I can't sell any of them.
For the price I can't see doing any better than the AMD 965 Black Edition.

87dtna I wish I had the extra $ to go that route it looks freakin sweet =D
Here is what I have for now - but I don't get paid for a few days so open to suggestions.
MB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128435 - $135
CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727 - $160
PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016 - $60
Memory - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148304 - $53

Total is $408
The PSU is because the one I have now doesn't have the 8pin cpu plug so I have to upgrade it. The only thing I am disappointed about is the 2gb of memory... but its DDR3 so I guess its ok for a starting point. This setup will allow me to eventually get two GTX 460's and run them SLI.... I think :)

As for games.. Starcraft II, FFXIV if they fix the economy, and Diablo III when it gets here.
 
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No AMD chipset board supports SLI, and the Nvidia chipset AMD boards that support SLI are crap for overclocking. If you want SLI it's better to go Intel.

That psu is not enough for a quad core and two 460's in SLI. It would be enough for one 460, but not for SLI.

Save $20 and get the 955, it's the exact same thing as the 965 except one lower multiplier from the factory but since it's a black edition it takes 30 seconds to change in the Bios. They both overclock the same, you will be able to get 4ghz out of either one with stock or only a tiny voltage increase.

So are you needing onboard video for now? Because the 870 chipset board I linked to earlier is way more bang for the buck than that gigabyte board, it just doesn't have onboard video, but it's only $90 and will still do Xfire with ATI cards. Instead of GTX460's you could think about getting 5850's, I prefer Nvidia too but 5850's are good cards.

So save the $20 on the 955, and get the ASRock 870 board I linked too earlier and you just saved $60 or so. Then you can get 4gb of ram.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157198

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193

Like I said ealier that PSU is enough for the quad and a single 460, but not for 2 in SLI and/or not enough for two 5850's in Xfire.


Edit- If you do need onboard video I found a combo deal for a 955 and the Gigabyte 890gx board with $20 off-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.524409
 
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I am using a GeForce 9500GT in my current system. I think I will be ok keeping with that until I am able to upgrade to a new card. I don't think the ATI 4290 would be any better.

Going with your suggestions and changing out the PSU to this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005 the total is $404 plus there is an additional $20 mail in rebate on that PSU so $384 and I get extra memory! :)
That PSU says its SLI/Crossfire ready so hopefully 650w is enough.
Do you think the 9500GT would do ok for a while til I can upgrade to a 5850 or 460?
And thank you for taking the time to help so much I really appreciate it.


Edit:

New issue that I may have stumbled on... My HDD is just a plain ol Sata drive and I don't see a place on that MB that looks like the same connector that it uses. Will a SATA 1 cable work or am I going to need a new HDD as well?
 
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The ASRock 870 EXTREME3 Socket AM3 Motherboard has 5 Serial ATA ports. Almost all modern motherboards made today have at least 4 SATA ports.
 
Survive said:
I am using a GeForce 9500GT in my current system. I think I will be ok keeping with that until I am able to upgrade to a new card. I don't think the ATI 4290 would be any better.

Going with your suggestions and changing out the PSU to this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005 the total is $404 plus there is an additional $20 mail in rebate on that PSU so $384 and I get extra memory! :)
That PSU says its SLI/Crossfire ready so hopefully 650w is enough.
Do you think the 9500GT would do ok for a while til I can upgrade to a 5850 or 460?
And thank you for taking the time to help so much I really appreciate it.


Edit:

New issue that I may have stumbled on... My HDD is just a plain ol Sata drive and I don't see a place on that MB that looks like the same connector that it uses. Will a SATA 1 cable work or am I going to need a new HDD as well?
Click to expand...

A 9500gt would probably be about the same strength as the onboard video of the 890GX so you'll be fine until you can upgrade.

Well, it's a good PSU and SLI capable but not with two strong GPU's like a gtx460. If you were to get two gts450's you would be capable of SLI'ing two of those with that PSU. Two gts450's is about as strong as a gtx470. But honestly, by the time you are wanting and/or capable to upgrade, the gtx475 will be released and a single gtx475 will be your best option. Not all games scale SLI well, it's better to have a stronger single GPU than SLI anyway.

Sata2 and sata3 is completely backwards compatable with sata1 devices, you are OK :good:

However, they all look the same....?? Here's a picture of the board, I circled the sata ports. It has 5 ports, 4 of them are on a 90 degree angle and you can't see them really but you can see the 5th one on the left side is straight up. It should look like that-

87020Extreme3m1.jpg
 
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87dtna said:
I think they will, yeah, but whats that have to do with anything in this thread?
Click to expand...

lol!

I was just overlooking the SATA ports on the MB. And if they are backwards compatible I am golden.

I think I am going to go with my last posted setup and later on when I can afford to upgrade graphics I'll worry about which card or whether to SLI/Crossfire then. The good (sorta) thing is anything I upgrade my son or wife will get the old parts for their systems. Even if I but this PSU and upgrade it 3 months from now it will have a nice home still =D

Thank you again for all the help 87dtna
 
Survive said:
I think I am going to go with my last posted setup and later on when I can afford to upgrade graphics I'll worry about which card or whether to SLI/Crossfire then. The good (sorta) thing is anything I upgrade my son or wife will get the old parts for their systems. Even if I but this PSU and upgrade it 3 months from now it will have a nice home still =D

Thank you again for all the help 87dtna
Click to expand...

You mean this stuff?? -


Survive said:
MB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128435 - $135
CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727 - $160
PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016 - $60
Memory - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148304 - $53

Total is $408
.
Click to expand...

The 965 is a waste of money, get the 955. And the mobo is good but also kinda a waste of money because you're just [aying for the onboard video you don't need. And Crucial ram is JUNK, plus it's only 2gb and only 1333 mhz. If you just get the 955 and the ASRock 870 board I posted you can get the 4gb of g.skill 1600 ram I posted.
 
Nope - maybe I didn't post it after all.. here is what I have saved to my cart.

MB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157198
CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808
PSU(Maybe) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005
Memory - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
DVD cause my old one is IDE - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

Can I get away with a lower end PSU? I don't think I will ever end up running SLI/Crossfire so I only need to power one vid card.

That MB is currently out of stock... do you know of a comparable one?
 
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It will be back in stock in 5 days, can you wait? They are constantly out of stock because it's such a hot board right now. An AM3 board with sata 6gb/s + USB3.0 + capable of x8/x8 Xfire for $90 is an absolute steal.

But, the 880g is pretty much the same board but with onboard video-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157191

Thats a good deal too. It's nice to have onboard as a backup just in case too.

Remember, you can't SLI on an AMD chipset board, only Xfire, so what GPU's would you be looking at getting? I still think if you hold out for a GTX475, which should come out in november I think, a single stronger GPU is the best solution and then that Corsair 650w will be plenty good for a single GPU but I wouldn't trust it for Xfired 5850's or something like that.
 
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