Worth upgrading a LGA 775?

kolaval

kolaval

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Hi All
I got a old pc box with the following

Pentium Dual-Core E2160 1.8GHZ
Geforce 9600 GT
2 GB DDR2 ram
Motherboard supports 16GB ram, PCI-E x16, SLi, etc
500W PSU

Now being a such cheap-ass(paying for a house, raising 2 kids etc), what would be my best upgrade options to be able to play games like starcraft 2, rage, metro 2033 and the upcoming far cry 3, diablo 3, borderlands 2 etc @ 1024x768 with medium settings.

Is it worth staying with LGA 775 and up the CPU to a core 2 quad and 8GB DDR 2 800 ram(Iv'e never seen 4GB DDR2 modules at the suppliers) + eventually graphics card
or
do I go for a LGA 1155 Mb, DDR 3 ram and i3 or G850 CPU + eventually graphics card?
 
I have a C2Q(Q9400) and it is more than enough for modern games. Have a look at Carbonite for a second hand CPU and definitely a better Graphics card(maybe a Radeon 6850). You should also bump up that memory to 8gb
 
kolaval said:
Is it worth staying with LGA 775 and up the CPU to a core 2 quad and 8GB DDR 2 800 ram(Iv'e never seen 4GB DDR2 modules at the suppliers) + eventually graphics card
Click to expand...

Definitely! [Second hand prices] Q6600 and Q8200 go for around R800, Q9550 around R1,000. 2x4GB DDR2-800 R300-R400. AMD HD6850 R1,400. You will get way better than medium 1024x768. You'd be able to max out SC at 1920x1080. Remember to check CPU compatibility with your mobo.

But by all means, if you can afford i5, go for that.

Is screen 1024x768? Bit small. :D
 
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Reaper84 said:
I have a C2Q(Q9400) and it is more than enough for modern games. Have a look at Carbonite for a second hand CPU and definitely a better Graphics card(maybe a Radeon 6850). You should also bump up that memory to 8gb
Click to expand...
That was what I was wondering about, maybe I didn't ask properly :)
So if I can get a decent core 2 quad CPU secondhand, some ram and a newer graphics card I should be set for a while vs spending more on the LGA 1155 (which will be 'old' vs LGA 1366 in the near future)?
 
kolaval said:
That was what I was wondering about, maybe I didn't ask properly :)
So if I can get a decent core 2 quad CPU secondhand, some ram and a newer graphics card I should be set for a while vs spending more on the LGA 1155 (which will be 'old' vs LGA 1366 in the near future)?
Click to expand...

Yep.

Quad CPU is enough for gaming. Put everything else into graphics card.

Btw I have a P35 mobo here that will OC well (MSI P35 Neo), if you would like to OC. I would recommend it. Best way to get a bit more out of the older quads. Not sure what mobo you have now, since you mentioned E2160 it could be the older LGA775 945G (doubt they OC well), opposed to newer P35's etc.
 
PostmanPot said:
Btw I have a P35 mobo here that will OC well (MSI P35 Neo), if you would like to OC. I would recommend it. Best way to get a bit more out of the older quads. Not sure what mobo you have now, since you mentioned E2160 it could be the older LGA775 945G (doubt they OC well), opposed to newer P35's etc.
Click to expand...

http://www.jetway.com.tw/jw/motherboard_view.asp?productid=326&proname=N650GE
The mb is a jetway (!!?) with:

NVIDIA nForce650i SLI + nForce 430 Chipset
Support Intel LGA775 Core Processor Family
1 PCI Express x16@16-lane;2 PCI-Ex16@8-Lane
Support FSB 1333MHz
Advanced 4-Phase PWM Design
Dual Channel DDR2 800 Memory DIMMs Supported
Support 4 Serial ATA2 Devices with RAID 0, 1
Gigabit LAN Supported
Azalia 8 Channel Audio CODEC
1 * IEEE 1394a 9-Pin Headers
CPU Vcore 8-Shift
Embeded Aluminum Heat-pipe Thermal Kit
ATX Form Factor

You don't have the DDR2 ram I need by any chance :) ?
 
kolaval said:
http://www.jetway.com.tw/jw/motherboard_view.asp?productid=326&proname=N650GE
The mb is a jetway (!!?) with:

NVIDIA nForce650i SLI + nForce 430 Chipset
Support Intel LGA775 Core Processor Family
1 PCI Express x16@16-lane;2 PCI-Ex16@8-Lane
Support FSB 1333MHz
Advanced 4-Phase PWM Design
Dual Channel DDR2 800 Memory DIMMs Supported
Support 4 Serial ATA2 Devices with RAID 0, 1
Gigabit LAN Supported
Azalia 8 Channel Audio CODEC
1 * IEEE 1394a 9-Pin Headers
CPU Vcore 8-Shift
Embeded Aluminum Heat-pipe Thermal Kit
ATX Form Factor

You don't have the DDR2 ram I need by any chance :) ?
Click to expand...

Only 2x1GBs currently in the mobo.

Can't comment on that mobo, sounds pretty good though. You would need to check the OCability of nForce 430. Nvidia chipsets were never great.
 
I have the Gigabyte GA N650SLI-DS4L mobo in my LGA 775 system, still chugging a long nicely, overclocking a E6850 C2D and RAM without issues, that jetway will do good I think.
 
Got a 2 x 2GB patriot set from esquire, could not see it cheaper anywhere else incl secondhand
 
kolaval said:
Got a 2 x 2GB patriot set from esquire, could not see it cheaper anywhere else incl secondhand
Click to expand...
So for now I have 4GB DDR2 800 and 2GB DDR2 667
Which is going to be better if possible 4GB DDR2 @ 800 or 6GB DDR2 @ 667?
Keeping in mind its purely for gaming, development is done on my laptop :)
 
kolaval said:
So for now I have 4GB DDR2 800 and 2GB DDR2 667
Which is going to be better if possible 4GB DDR2 @ 800 or 6GB DDR2 @ 667?
Keeping in mind its purely for gaming, development is done on my laptop :)
Click to expand...

What games use more than 4GB?

I vote keep the 4GB for now, as it's faster, and keep an eye on your RAM usage.... If you ever need more, you could pop it in.
 
xera said:
What games use more than 4GB?

I vote keep the 4GB for now, as it's faster, and keep an eye on your RAM usage.... If you ever need more, you could pop it in.
Click to expand...

I know for a fact a friend's computer starts lagging (stuttering) on 4GB RAM while playing BF3 on Medium. This was with a single HD5850 and 1GB VRAM. All stuttering stopped when upgraded to 8GB.

It seems 4GB is sometimes not enough to stop the paging of data from the HDD.
 
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I was hoping it would help rage
But let me test if adding it makes rage slower
If not why not...
 
kolaval said:
So for now I have 4GB DDR2 800 and 2GB DDR2 667
Which is going to be better if possible 4GB DDR2 @ 800 or 6GB DDR2 @ 667?
Keeping in mind its purely for gaming, development is done on my laptop :)
Click to expand...

Use both, DDR2-800 will down-clock to 667MHz. No perceivable performance difference between them, only noticeable if you're benching. Need 64-bit OS to use more than 3.5GB.
 
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