Cheapest way to upgrade Q8200?

[Noya21]

Okay, so I built this PC way back at the end of 2008 with a Bing Cashback deal.

Q8200 (@ 3.15ghz) only a 7x multi
Xigmatek s1283 120mm cooler
Gigabyte P45-UD3P mobo
8gb Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 (only good to 890-900 I think, 450fsb)
GTX 460 1gb Zotac amped (or something, previous 9800gtx)
OCZ Fatility 550w modular (previous Corsair 450vx)

I don't play the newest games or mess with video. In fact, the lone game I mostly play is a nearly dead multiplayer Unreal 3 based FPS. At 1680x1050, on the lowest setting I still dip below 60, even down to the mid 40s on a loaded (26 players) server. The game only appears to take advantage of 2 cores- though when I set affinity to 2 cores the performance gets even worse (mid 30's). I do have Crysis, Warhead, Crysis 2, GTa4, Sleeping Dogs, etc, and they seem to play okay, not great of course, but okay. Not multiplayer.

I played the Unreal 3 game on a friends i3-2100 and was suprised at the frames barely dropping below 60 in just a few spots, at the same rez and high settings.

I've glanced at eBay and e8600's are about $30, Q9550's $65.

I could probably get $100 or a little more for my mobo and ram.

So, will the larger cached e8600 and it's 10x multi (4.0ghz+) or the Q9550 and it's 8.5x multi (3.6ghz+) give me a boost worth their small sums, or should I ditch what I have and look for deals in the next month for something modern?

How much is 8gb of DDR3?

I'm also not opposed to used stuff. How quick are i7 920's or i5 750s? They're pretty cheap.

 

[infoiltrator]

DDr3 RAM is expensive, 1600-1866 around $75 for 2x4GB.
I think the XEON 771 MOD (uses a small tape on strip and removing nibs from socket,
anyway some E or X5460 or E or X 5470 might be worth while. Research.

Updating to I7 920 would be the best bet.
Either that or Sandy Bridge.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Jump on the next G3258 (unlocked Haswell Pentium) CPU / mobo combo deal at Newegg / TigerDirect / Frys / Microcenter when they are under $100. Combine that with 8GB of DDR3-1600 for $80-85 (or less, sometimes you can get Team-brand RAM for $70 at Newegg), and you should be good, just add GPU.

 

[mfenn]

Modern Intel CPUs have a huge advantage in terms of IPC (instructions per clock) than anything from the DDR2 era. In other words, each Ghz goes farther on a newer CPU.

I wouldn't spend more than $50 on a Socket 775 part. If you can pick up an E8600 for $30, then in my opinion that's worth it just to characterize your workload, and perhaps getting it to 4 GHz solves your problem. If not, then you know that a dual without HT might not cut it.

 

[Noya21]

Thanks for the replies and ideas.

I think I'll just try an e8600 for now and keep my eyes open on slickdeals the next few months.

Does anyone know why I can't access the "For Sale/Trade" section? I get this error message:


Noya21, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:
1 Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
2 If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

 

[Yuriman]

I have a hard time imagining even a 4GHz Core2Duo having much advantage over a 3.15GHz quad, given background tasks and such. I'm betting the cheapest real upgrade you'll find will be moving to a more modern platform. As others have suggested, an unlocked Pentium would be great for your use-case, or even an i3.

 

[mfenn]

I have a hard time imagining even a 4GHz Core2Duo having much advantage over a 3.15GHz quad, given background tasks and such. I'm betting the cheapest real upgrade you'll find will be moving to a more modern platform. As others have suggested, an unlocked Pentium would be great for your use-case, or even an i3.

For poorly threaded tasks like those the OP describe, the 4 GHz dual core would be roughly 25% faster than the quad. Actually even more because the E8600 is the high-end full Wolfdale with 6 MB of L2 whereas the Q8200 is the "budget" cut-down Yorkfield with only 2MB of L2 per dual-core cluster. It's worth a shot for $30.

Does anyone know why I can't access the "For Sale/Trade" section? I get this error message:

This is because you don't have 25 posts since the transition to vB even though your account is definitely old enough to have permissions. Make a thread in Moderator Discussions asking an admin for access.

 

[Noya21]

For poorly threaded tasks like those the OP describe, the 4 GHz dual core would be roughly 25% faster than the quad. Actually even more because the E8600 is the high-end full Wolfdale with 6 MB of L2 whereas the Q8200 is the "budget" cut-down Yorkfield with only 2MB of L2 per dual-core cluster. It's worth a shot for $30.

That was my exact thoughts.

But, I just pulled the trigger on a slickdeal, Intel Core i5-4590 + GIGABYTE 1150 Intel Z97 ATX Motherboard for $220 shipped. Now I just need 8gbs of DDR3...

This is because you don't have 25 posts since the transition to vB even though your account is definitely old enough to have permissions. Make a thread in Moderator Discussions asking an admin for access.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[mfenn]

But, I just pulled the trigger on a slickdeal, Intel Core i5-4590 + GIGABYTE 1150 Intel Z97 ATX Motherboard for $220 shipped. Now I just need 8gbs of DDR3...

Very nice! This Team DDR3 1600 CAS9 2x4GB kit for $69 is a good price.

 

[Sequences]

If you are in the States, keep an eye out on slickdeals for Lenovo Thinkserver deals for i3/Xeon builds in the $200 range. Throw a 750Ti in there and you'll have a pretty decent starter rig.

There's one now for i3.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If you are in the States, keep an eye out on slickdeals for Lenovo Thinkserver deals for i3/Xeon builds in the $200 range. Throw a 750Ti in there and you'll have a pretty decent starter rig.

There's one now for i3.

Is that really a deal? It doesn't come with a HDD, only comes with a DVD-ROM (no writer), and no OS.

I've gotten better deals at Staples, for a "full monty" pre-built PC, with HDD, RAM, DVD-RW, wifi, and OS.

 

[Sequences]

Is that really a deal? It doesn't come with a HDD, only comes with a DVD-ROM (no writer), and no OS.

I've gotten better deals at Staples, for a "full monty" pre-built PC, with HDD, RAM, DVD-RW, wifi, and OS.

Drives are cheap. The only thing holding it back is the OS requirement if you want Windows.

I am sure there are better deals out there, but from my findings, its difficult to assemble/find a full featured platform (ECC/AES).

 

[Noya21]

Very nice! This Team DDR3 1600 CAS9 2x4GB kit for $69 is a good price.

Since it's not a "K" I guess I won't be overclocking, but is that the quickest memory that this processor can use? Or would there be a performance boost with faster rated? (I'm totally new to modern hardware).

Also, since I won't be overclocking is the Z97 motherboard overkill for me? Should I eBay it and pick up a more basic model?

If you are in the States, keep an eye out on slickdeals for Lenovo Thinkserver deals for i3/Xeon builds in the $200 range. Throw a 750Ti in there and you'll have a pretty decent starter rig.

There's one now for i3.

Yeah, I've seen those listed but since I already have everything aside from cpu/mobo/ram I thought I would spend a few extra bucks and go for a quad and 8gb mem.

 

[mfenn]

Since it's not a "K" I guess I won't be overclocking, but is that the quickest memory that this processor can use? Or would there be a performance boost with faster rated? (I'm totally new to modern hardware).

Technically yes, DDR3 1600 is the fastest memory you can use at stock. In reality every motherboard lets you tweak it upwards. However, there are very minimal benefits from spending more on faster memory (2% best case, <1% typical).

Also, since I won't be overclocking is the Z97 motherboard overkill for me? Should I eBay it and pick up a more basic model?

Yes the board is a little overkill, but I don't think you'll be able to generate enough delta after all expenses to make it worth your while.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Technically yes, DDR3 1600 is the fastest memory you can use at stock. In reality every motherboard lets you tweak it upwards. However, there are very minimal benefits from spending more on faster memory (2% best case, <1% typical).

Pretty sure that only Z87 / Z97 boards allow for RAM speed tweaking.

My Gigabyte H81 board can tweak the RAM from 1333 to 1400, that's all. The RAM itself is DDR3-1600. CPU is a G3258, that is otherwise supported for overclocking on that board.