500$ for upgrade, it worth it?

atm i have a amd opteron 165 @ 2.8gig, 2gig ddr1, and a dfi board

i have 500$ to upgrade my pc and i figured core 2 duo would be the best bet.

now i would need

cpu, motherboard, ddr2 ram (2gig atleast), cpu cooler.

if you had 500$ to get all these items what would your choices be? (cant sell old parts they are going to a 2nd pc for the woman )

E2140, GA-P35-DS3L, 2x1GB Ballistix, AC Freezer 7 Pro

E6850 3.0GHz Core 2 Duo for $280.
Abit IP35-E for $75
4GB G.Skill DDR2 800 (4x1GB) 5-5-5-15 2.0V for $135
$490 Total.

This setup does 3.3GHz on stock cooling for me. A little over $500 with a cooler, but you could give up 2GB of RAM to get that below $500. An E6750 is about $80 less. If you really want to overclock you can go much lower. The entry price for Core 2 Duos is about 75 bucks, but you may have to buy better memory to compensate.

The prices above are from Newegg last week.

-Mike

^^ Either or, depends on how much of the $500 you want to spend.

ok i looked at the motherboards...

i should have said this in the first place...

i need atleast 5 sata ports (4x HD, 1x dvdrw)

dont need sound, pata, floopy plugs, or sli

how does this look? i can deal with the stock cpu cooler for a few weeks untill i get the cash to upgrade it. and last question... will this setup give me a visibal jump over my current setup (insig)


G.SKILL 4GB(4 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Quad Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5Q-4GBNQ - Retail

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0 LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6750 - Retail

Gods_oMekone said:

and last question... will this setup give me a visibal jump over my current setup (insig)

Click to expand...

Considering you could clock it to ~3.8ghz with proper cooling, it would give your video card some room to stretch its legs. So that's a yes.

No reason to get a E6850 IMHO. Either get the E6750 or if you want to spend the money for an E6850 just get a Q6600 which will OC to 3.6Ghz anyway and perform better down the road.

Then get Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 for like $70 after MIR which is arguably the best DDR2-800 available on the market. Spending the $135 for G.Skill, while a good set of chips, is just a waste of $$ if the Ballistix perform better then them.

Not checking any prices online....a Q6600 would net you ~$280 so that would leave about $150 for a decent mobo. If you still want the Duo, get the E6750 which might put another $50 into your pocket to put towards a $200 mobo.

EDIT: It looks like you are settling on the E6750. Get the Ballistix RAM and throw some more money at the mobo . I'm trying to push the $500 limit though. If that is an issue, stick with that mobo, get the Ballistix RAM and save some cash.

yea the Q6600 is to pricey for me atm. the only reason i was going for the gskill... its 4 gigs vs 2gigs of ballistix for 35$ more upfront.

how about the board? does this choice look ok to you?

Gods_oMekone said:

yea the Q6600 is to pricey for me atm. the only reason i was going for the gskill... its 4 gigs vs 2gigs of ballistix for 35$ more upfront.

how about the board? does this choice look ok to you?

Click to expand...

Complaints about not getting the ballistix rebates turned me off to them.

As for how much to spend on the CPU that depends on how fast you want it, what minimum you want guaranteed, and how much time you want to spend getting it stable.

For the ultimate economy box, go for the ~75$ Core 2 Duo
For a middle of the road E6750.
For guaranteed decent performance there is Q6600 or E6850.

I went E6850 because I'm mostly concerned about older single threaded sim games and I wanted single core GHz. The E6850 I bought is good for 3.6 GHz, maybe 3.8 GHz on air. I went 4x1GB because I'm sticking with XP for the foreseeable future, it wasn't that much more than 3GB, and it was a whole lot less than any other alternative for 4GB of decent memory.

You pays your money and takes your chance. It sounds like your $500 quote was on the high side. You sound like good candidate for one of the E2180's or similar. At minimum you are talking $75 (cpu), $70 (mb), $135 (memory) for $280. If you have to have the Gigabyte board, you are still at $380. From what I have read, this should be good for 3.0 GHz or so. Keep in mind that I have not done this, this is only based on my research, meaning its worth about what you paid for it .

-Mike

G0 x3210 - $250 (ClubIT)
2GB Ballistix - $70
Ultima-90 - $45
P35-DS3R, Blood Iron, or IP35 - $130

You'll have quad-core performance on the cheap w/ this setup. I doubt you "need" 4GB RAM, and you can always easily upgrade that later. P35 chipset for the MoBo for sure. ICH9R southbridge in case you decide you want some Matrix RAID action down the road. Ultima-90 should allow you to run 3.6GHz on this quad pretty efficiently.

Edit: I got my Ballistix rebate very quickly.

jason4207 said:

G0 x3210 - $250 (ClubIT)
2GB Ballistix - $70
Ultima-90 - $45
P35-DS3R, Blood Iron, or IP35 - $130

You'll have quad-core performance on the cheap w/ this setup. I doubt you "need" 4GB RAM, and you can always easily upgrade that later. P35 chipset for the MoBo for sure. ICH9R southbridge in case you decide you want some Matrix RAID action down the road. Ultima-90 should allow you to run 3.6GHz on this quad pretty efficiently.

Edit: I got my Ballistix rebate very quickly.

Click to expand...

i think i might go for the G0 x3210 at that price, and the ballistix. and a p35-dr3s V2 for 157$. will have to wait on the heatsink for now tho. only have like 512 in paypal.

I'd research your question to the point where you should be able to answer it yourself. That's what I do.

jcw122 said:

I'd research your question to the point where you should be able to answer it yourself. That's what I do.

Click to expand...

Hey, there is a sound piece of advice.

TexasOC said:

E6850 3.0GHz Core 2 Duo for $280.
Abit IP35-E for $75
4GB G.Skill DDR2 800 (4x1GB) 5-5-5-15 2.0V for $135
$490 Total.

This setup does 3.3GHz on stock cooling for me. A little over $500 with a cooler, but you could give up 2GB of RAM to get that below $500. An E6750 is about $80 less. If you really want to overclock you can go much lower. The entry price for Core 2 Duos is about 75 bucks, but you may have to buy better memory to compensate.

The prices above are from Newegg last week.

-Mike

Click to expand...

Except for the RAM I have the same setup, belive me you will not be dissapointed with the E6850 and Abit IP35-E combination, even the E6750 will be a good choice, save $100...

Save and go for the $300 12mb cache Yorky Quad later this year.

i'd personally also say just wait for penryn.

othersie...

x3210
2 x 1 crucial ballistix
gigabyte ds3r/ip35pro/p5k-e OR for x38: asus maximus

yep decided on the G0 x3210, 2x 1g pc800 ballistix, gig ds3p, and a ultima-90. should put me at like 550-575 shipped

I just got all my stuff from Clubit

CA4330509
TWIN2X20486400
CORSAIR DDR2-800 2GB TWIN2X2048-6400 $78.50

CA4802848
MASUS Maximus Formula (Special Edition)
LGA775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard Retail $259.99

CA1938254
BX80557E6750 Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 G0 $192.99

Subtotal: $531.48 plus shipping

ShawnTRD said:

I just got all my stuff from Clubit

CA4330509
TWIN2X20486400
CORSAIR DDR2-800 2GB TWIN2X2048-6400 $78.50

CA4802848
MASUS Maximus Formula (Special Edition)
LGA775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard Retail $259.99

CA1938254
BX80557E6750 Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 G0 $192.99

Subtotal: $531.48 plus shipping

Click to expand...

Not exactly sure if he needs to get the best of the best motherboard but what fits the bill ...i think getting a X3210 would be better lol