Would this be better upgrade

A

AARGH!

Gawd
Joined
Jun 13, 2003
Messages
766
Okay due to friend moving I got one of his machines he didn't want to have to move to TX. I've stripped it out of it's beat up case and got the following:

1. Intel Pentium D 805 Smithfield 2.66GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Dual Core,EM64T Processor
2. GIGABYTE GA-8I945GZME-RH LGA 775 Intel 945GZ Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
3. PNY 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory

My daughters each have their own PC's which are still running on P4 3.0Ghz Socket 478 CPU's with ATI X800XL's on the following two motherboards:

IC7G
Asus P4P800

A new video card is required for PCI-E, is their a $150 range card that would make this a worthwhile upgrade along with the dual core cpu even though it has a slightly lower clock speed?

Usage is primarly gaming and school work. Nothing that would make use of the dual core aspect, except for the game that may support it (which will only get better moving forward hopefully).

Thanks in advance!
 
try a evga 7900gs 256mb gddr3 card, i think it even has a step-up program!:cool: 134 dollars after rebate,149 dollars retail. that should do it for a while.
 
Video card is secondary issue, but thanks for info. I need to know if going to the dual core/slower clock is a detriment or not.

Thanks,
 
I think the hard decision is which daughter gets the new hardware :eek:

Personally if they aren't worried about upgrading then I wouldn't worry about it either.

If you are worried about the slower clock @ 2.66 then just oc the beast to 3.0, I've read a lot of articles saying it does 4.0 on extreme air so 3.0 shouldn't be a problem.

Or build yourself a folding rig and or file server for the house.
 
its kind of relative. are your daughters doing anything besides im, myspace and word?
i built my kid an x2/ultra-d/2gb g.skill ram/7900gto machine last year and when i finally paid attention to what he was using it for i bought him a core duo mac mini instead.
 
well that 805 could hit 3.0++Ghz with absolutely no problem at all.
and still be perfectly stable. Most people OC them to 3.8-4.0Ghz

So there would be NO negative effect of "slower clock".

And the dual core would really help in some multi-tasking situations or with new games and newer drivers which can give you a 10% advantage b/c of the extra helper threads they use.
 
Abit FTW.

I had an IC7 before I built a new PC. I say give the PC to the daughter that requires a more powerful PC. Probably the daughter that is in a higher grade, or maybe in college (I do not know) will be doing more things with it.
 
Thanks for all the info guys, think I will throw it in one of my cases and test it out for overclocking and see how far it goes, before ripping apart one of the girl's machines. If it O/C's well then will do the deed. As much as I love Nvidia and it currently dominates the house except for the girls machines, the latest [H] review sounds like the ATI X1950 is the card for my price range (or my wife's actually).

Will see how the O/C testing goes, and report back. As far as which daughter gets it? Probably my oldest she games more, my other daughter does more music/art stuff on hers mostly.
 
Well I see why my friend gave this board up so easily. Has zero overclock options even with the included EasyTune5 utility. Though it is a Micro ATX board, should not be too surprised. Just aggravating.
 
You can pick up a cheap older mobo, something from the days of the 805D, or maybe even a cheap P965. The Biostar TForce965PT is supposed to be pretty high quality for ~$100 or less. That'll easily push your CPU as far as it'll go
 
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