First major upgrade in 4 years!

[Regk]

Well, i am finally on the verge of my first major system overhaul in 4 years. I am curious to see what kind of performance increase I am in for. This would be my first Intel rig since my P3 600, I believe

Current socket 754 Rig:

Athlon 3400 (clawhammer) @ 2.1GHZ
ECS 761GX-M754 V5.0 Mobo (w/pci express slot)
1 GB Generic DDR 400
ATI Radeon 3650 512MB
1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM Sata 32MB cache (2 other small IDE drives as well)
Generic 500 watt PSU (been working nicely for 2.5 years)

Potential New rig

Intel Q8200
ECS G31 tm Mobo
2GB Supertalent DDR2 800
Radeon 3650 (Same as above)
Same HDD's as above
Same PSU/Case

Are there any obstacles I may encounter with this upgrade with some of my existing hardware?

 

[toyota]

I assume that this will not be for gaming.

 

[Hey Zeus]

You'll be much happier with this combo. Q8200 is a POS

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.321832

 

[Regk]

well as far as gaming is concerned, I pretty much stay about 2 years behind the latest stuff so alot of them are still new to me and i can play them with reasonable settings. The only latest and greatest I will worry about is starcraft 2. Hey zeus, I cannot open up that link here at work, could you give me a quick rundown of the combo?

 

[MrK6]

Regk, what's your budget?

 

[Regk]

157$ US shipped, lol I am in Canada. Is the Q 8200 really that bad a chip?

 

[adlep]

I agree with Zeus...
OP's list of upgrade parts look like a bad choice.
1. If you are on a budget, stick to AMD. Your current Athlon rig has served you well all these years; there is no need to change.
2. ECS motherboard is not ideal. It is a decent OEM board, but if you are building your own rig, stay away.
3. Go with AMD's Socket AM3 + DDR3 combo. DDR3 seems to be entering a "mainstream" at the moment - so you should be able to pick 2 or 4 GBs cheap.
4. Q8200 is still a socket 775 processor, which is slowly dying. S775 based CPUs are not getting any cheaper too, so you may have problems upgrading in the future.

Last but not least, from Anand's review:
"The Athlon II X4 630 & 635 - Even More Affordable Quad-Core
For a thread-junkie, you can't beat the Athlon II X4. You get more cores for $99 than Intel would dream of selling and today AMD is making it even more affordable. The Athlon II X4 630 drops from $122 to $99, and the new 635 enters at $119. The 635 doesn't give you much, just an extra 100MHz for $20 more.
The 620 was my pick for 3D rendering/video encoding on a budget. Now with the price drop, the 630 is the chip to get. The 635 isn't really worth the added dough at stock clock speeds. If you're going to be overclocking though, the news is good."

:-D

 

[heyheybooboo]

Assuming your budget is around $220-$230 ...

AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor / OCZ 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333: $136 (before $10 rebate)

And you should be able to 'hybrid crossfire' with the Asus M4A785TD-V 785G for $100.

You could find much less expensive 785Gs (or even an AM3 770 chipset) but that Asus mobo is great. If you can swing it (and don't want to mess with the hybrid crossfire) go for the Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P 790X: $117 ($102 after rebate).

With DDR3 and a quality mobo you will be in great position going forward ...




--

 

[tweakboy]

That is great, but 2GB of ram is not enough. You will be bottlenecking that quad. You need 4MB min,if not more.

That is a cheap ATI card dont buy it. Instead buy a geforce 8800 GT or 9800 GT for about 100 bucks. Also ECS is a crummy mobo imo .

At this point lets hope your PSU can handle your CPU and your new video card. I doubt it can, seems like a generic PSU.

I recommend 600w dual rails at least at minimum.

I will say it again, your bottlenecking your CPU big time, if you buy a cheap ATI 3650 or use the one you have from other system. Buy a new video card too only 100 bones, You can get a GTX 260 from Fry's after rebate like 150 or 170 bones.

So in final

You need a new PSU even if you use the crummy 3650 which is not a gaming card.

What do you want to do with this system ? If you want to play games @ HD .. then you need like a said at minimum a 8800 or 9800 GT ..

Also you need minimum 4GB RAM or your bottlenecking again.

gl any more question let me know

 

[Regk]

good to know, I mean for mysself and the Wife we consider it the "office" machine, we use it for the web, office, file server for my htpc in living room (old optiplex gx240 that has been upgraded enough to handle 720P) as well as handle some light gaming. my biggest issue here is budget. Finiancially speaking money right now is very tight. I can get the above combo for 157$ Shipped. looking at the parts is that a good value for the money? I realize that 2gb might not be ideal, but I am willing to bet it will probably be way better than the 1GB I have now! and i still have somewhat of an upgrade path as in I can add more ram or switch to a DDR3 board with more OC'ing potential down the road for a fairly minimal Investment, I think.

 

[jacktesterson]

I've built budget PC's for years with ECS Motherboards for people and have never had a single issue other than a battery dying on one ECS K7S5A mobo back in the day.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Hard to beat $157 but you will put yourself in a world of hurt down the road with 2x1Gb DDR2 and a G31 s775.

I've had good luck with ECS boards --- here is the AM3 770 chipset version that comes out to $50 after rebate and shipping. Really basic stuff, and maxes out at 95w procs, but gets you foot in the DDR3 door with the above 2x2Gb DDR3 and 240 Regor ....





--

 

[Regk]

from what I have heard there will be very litle overclocking headroom with the board, but just to confirm, the Q8200 would be compatible with the newer S775 boards that do support DDR3 correct? I figure that I can "make due" with this combo for a year or 2 then make the switch to a better board with DDR 3 down the road, should be able to score it for a good deal of the forum here. bottom line is that I am thinking i will see a night and day difference in performance compared to what I have now. On a side note, should I be concerned that my 500 watt generic cannot keep up with this combo? AFIK the quad core chip should have a lower requirement than my current athlon

 

[Munky]

That is great, but 2GB of ram is not enough. You will be bottlenecking that quad. You need 4MB min,if not more.

That is a cheap ATI card dont buy it. Instead buy a geforce 8800 GT or 9800 GT for about 100 bucks. Also ECS is a crummy mobo imo .

At this point lets hope your PSU can handle your CPU and your new video card. I doubt it can, seems like a generic PSU.

I recommend 600w dual rails at least at minimum.

I will say it again, your bottlenecking your CPU big time, if you buy a cheap ATI 3650 or use the one you have from other system. Buy a new video card too only 100 bones, You can get a GTX 260 from Fry's after rebate like 150 or 170 bones.

So in final

You need a new PSU even if you use the crummy 3650 which is not a gaming card.

What do you want to do with this system ? If you want to play games @ HD .. then you need like a said at minimum a 8800 or 9800 GT ..

Also you need minimum 4GB RAM or your bottlenecking again.

gl any more question let me know

LOL, 4GB min for what? 4GB is enough for maxing out any game, and if he's staying on a 32-bit OS, anything more is just a waste of money. Even 2GB is plenty for light gaming, especially at the settings appropriate for a Radeon 3650.

I would recommend either an AthlonII X4, or a PhenomII X3, both are good performers for the price. DDR3 is pretty much the same price as DDR2 these days, so go with socket AM3 and DDR3 for a better future upgrade path.

 

[heyheybooboo]

You keep working your self into a corner where you will have to replace 2 of your 3 major components (CPU, RAMs, mobo).

A 'quad' is not really a magic bullet. A dual-core with a little OC headroom will be a major jump in performance.

Here is My Canada Special to you --- LOL

Throw in a single stick of Crucial DDR3 1333 and you should be in for around $150.

I tend to look at the mobo as your primary component so I would not consider the GeForce 6100 / nForce 430 AM3 as an exceptional foundation, but in this case it gives you a decent upgrade path without the need for future BIOS support from ECS ....





--

 

[Hey Zeus]

Looking at the benchmarks and maybe i was wrong. They're pretty matched

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=52&p2=119

 

[TurtleCrusher]

You'll be much happier with this combo. Q8200 is a POS

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.321832

The Q8200 is not a POS. It's just as fast as a Q6600 at stock, and OC's well if you have a decent motherboard. 3ghz is easy as pie, and matches the Q6600 at 3.2ghz.

Looking at the benchmarks and maybe i was wrong. They're pretty matched

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=52&p2=119

Good for the price. Kinda sad performance at 3ghz.

OP, i'd recommend getting an Athlon X4 and a cheap AM3 motherboard. If my P45 chipset couldn't overclock as well as it does, I would ditch the Q8200. Not just because of the dead socket, but you just can't OC it. I have the same ECS mobo as my backup, and it blows hard. DO NOT GET IT. No features, nothing.

Save some $$ and get an Athlon quad core. Use the savings and get a 4650. It will game sooooo much better than a 3650.

 

[nyker96]

let me suggest something better:

for everyday apps:
4gb ddr3//athlon x4 620//785g board (on board graphics)// rest from old rig.

the onboard graphicsis better than your 36xx. should work fine with your old equipments.

----

if you play game: will be slightly more expensive but better for games.
4gb ddr3//i3 530//H55 board.

 

[BurnItDwn]

ehh ... I'd go with a fast dual core, and 4gb of ram (not sure about ddr2 or ddr3 these days), and then whatever $$$ was saved by getting a cheaper CPU, pump more $$$ into a better video card (4850 or better IMO)

 

[TurtleCrusher]

ehh ... I'd go with a fast dual core, and 4gb of ram (not sure about ddr2 or ddr3 these days), and then whatever $$$ was saved by getting a cheaper CPU, pump more $$$ into a better video card (4850 or better IMO)

I disagree.

This guy keeps his computers around for a long time. Future resist with a quad core. It is definitely worth it here. I made the jump from dual to quad just for the fact that multitasking slowed to a crawl.

 

[grimpr]

+1 to the junior quad AMD system from Nyker96, it's a reliable workhorse for the money with excellent integrated graphics, cant go wrong with it and with AM3 you have a long list of value cpu upgrades for the future.

 

[Cheex]

Fact is, you just want to make a good purchase at this point because.......

ANYTHING AT ALL that you buy now will give you a monumentally huge increase in performance. We are talking about light years and biblical proportions here.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

let me suggest something better:

for everyday apps:
4gb ddr3//athlon x4 620//785g board (on board graphics)// rest from old rig.

the onboard graphicsis better than your 36xx. should work fine with your old equipments.

----

if you play game: will be slightly more expensive but better for games.
4gb ddr3//i3 530//H55 board.

Not at all. The 785G chipset is 40 (8x5) stream processors. The 3650 is 120 (24x5) stream processors. Same architecture too. Not to mention the 3650 has dedicated either DDR2 or DDR3 memory, while the IGP does not. The 3650 is at least 50% faster.

 

[nyker96]

Not at all. The 785G chipset is 40 (8x5) stream processors. The 3650 is 120 (24x5) stream processors. Same architecture too. Not to mention the 3650 has dedicated either DDR2 or DDR3 memory, while the IGP does not. The 3650 is at least 50% faster.

if this is indeed the case, I stand corrected.

 

[Allio]

Don't get a Q8200. Its clock speed is too low and its very low multiplier means you need a really capable board to effectively overclock it.

The quad cores will still be serving you well in a couple of years if you're encoding videos or something, but the low clock speeds will cripple you in games and single-threaded apps. And I don't know what kind of price you're looking at but at current retail I don't think it's even in the same value ballpark as a 3-core AMD.

Why are you so set on this CPU?