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Thread: Best balance option to get aboard C2D

  1. #1
    Senior Member Mithrandir's Avatar
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    Best balance option to get aboard C2D

    I've been thinking about upgrading my 3700+ to a dual core Opteron, but was thinking what would the cheapest C2D upgrade option be for a decent gaming setup to last around a couple of years.

    DDR2 Ram prices are rockbottom at the moment, the 4xxx series seem okay-ish but not so clued up about C2D mobos.
    It seems a budget of around £150 or more would be the region??
    Cavalier-X: Biostar TP45-HP ¦ E4600@3.1ghz - Xigmatek Red Scorpion (OCZ Freeze) ¦ OCZ ReaperX 2x2gb (792mhz @ 4-4-4--12) ¦ Xigmatek NRP-MC651 ¦
    Palit 8800gt ¦ X-fi Fatal1ty Gamer ¦ Coolermaster Cavalier 3 (Silver/Windowed) ¦

    Poseidon Magma: MSI P45 Zilent ¦ E6300@3.0ghz - Coolermaster Hyper 212 (MX-2) ¦ Corsair 2x2gb (880mhz @ 5-5-5-15) ¦ Corsair HX450w ¦
    xfx 9600gt Alphadog edition (780/1950/1000) ¦ X-fi Gamer ¦ Gigabyte Poseiden ¦

  2. #2
    Senior Member Pob255's Avatar
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    • Pob255's system
      • Motherboard:
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      • CPU:
      • FX8350 & CM Hyper 212+
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      • 4 x 2gb Corsair Vengence 1600mhz cas9
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    While I'm not 100% up on motherboards best 775 ones seem to be the Intel 965 or 975 chipset based.
    For a good board you're looking at £100-120 I think
    Scan currently have the Asus P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP for just under £110 with the e4400 at just under £90 you're looking at around £200 for cpu & mother board

  3. #3
    Senior Member Mithrandir's Avatar
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    • Mithrandir's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Biostar TP45-HP
      • CPU:
      • C2D e4600 (w/ Xigmatek Red Scorpion)
      • Memory:
      • OCZ ReaperX (2x2gb)
      • Storage:
      • Samsung F1 500gb
      • Graphics card(s):
      • xfx 9600gt Alphadog edition
      • PSU:
      • Xigmatek NRP-MC651
      • Case:
      • Coolermaster Cavalier 3 silver (windowed)
      • Monitor(s):
      • Fujitsu Siemens SCALEOVIEW D22W-1
    Ok. Also ram as I'm on DDR1.

    I was thinking there might have been some budget boards like the Asrock one I got for my skt 939.

    I think that'll be well over what I'd be prepared to spend at the mo. Think I'll continue with skt939 for the time being.
    Cavalier-X: Biostar TP45-HP ¦ E4600@3.1ghz - Xigmatek Red Scorpion (OCZ Freeze) ¦ OCZ ReaperX 2x2gb (792mhz @ 4-4-4--12) ¦ Xigmatek NRP-MC651 ¦
    Palit 8800gt ¦ X-fi Fatal1ty Gamer ¦ Coolermaster Cavalier 3 (Silver/Windowed) ¦

    Poseidon Magma: MSI P45 Zilent ¦ E6300@3.0ghz - Coolermaster Hyper 212 (MX-2) ¦ Corsair 2x2gb (880mhz @ 5-5-5-15) ¦ Corsair HX450w ¦
    xfx 9600gt Alphadog edition (780/1950/1000) ¦ X-fi Gamer ¦ Gigabyte Poseiden ¦

  4. #4
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    • kungpo's system
      • Motherboard:
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    You can do it (well) for just under £190. e4300 £73. asus p5b £67, 2x 1GB ddr2 5400, £47.

    or cheaper if you look at the e2140 £54 and 2x 512MB £25.

    With the same mobo you could do for under £150.

  5. #5
    finding nemo staffsMike's Avatar
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    • staffsMike's system
      • Motherboard:
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    you could do it very cheaply with something like this

    http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/122666

    or this

    http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/123837

    but the p5b above will give you at least some potential for overclocking which is the best thing you can do with a C2D..the lower end ones don't feel very fast at all with stock settings.
    Last edited by staffsMike; 17-06-2007 at 11:12 AM.

  6. #6
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    • daza's system
      • Motherboard:
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    Or just go with a Quad Gt for £100, then grap a E2160 for £50, then put a extreme 120 on it and overclock the hell out of it. , then find some cheap pc6400 ram and your guaranteed a 400fsb so you should be able to get to 3.0ghz at least, 3.6 if the chip wants to play ball.

  7. #7
    Senior Member Pob255's Avatar
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    • Pob255's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus M5A99X EVO
      • CPU:
      • FX8350 & CM Hyper 212+
      • Memory:
      • 4 x 2gb Corsair Vengence 1600mhz cas9
      • Storage:
      • 512gb samsung SSD +1tb Samsung HDD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EGVA GTX970
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic GX 650W
      • Case:
      • HAF 912+
      • Operating System:
      • W7 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • iiyama XB3270QS-B1 32" IPS 1440p
    Well if you can only afford to upgrade in stages,
    ASRock 4CoreDual-Vsta
    It's socket 775, supports c2d (upto the e6700) DDR or DDR2, AGP or PCI-e (although the pci-e is only x4), sata and IDE cost £38
    I'm useing one atm, it's not a bad little board, only 2 memory slots of each type, but ddr2 is cheap now. it's not great for overclocking.
    You probably could get away with one of the other cheaper boards Like the vanillia P5b just don't expect any major overclocks, most cheaper components are fine as long as you run them at spec and don't thrash the hell out of them.

    If you're on the ASRock 939Dual-Vsta then there is a plugin card thing that lets you use ddr2 and an AM2 cpu on that board, but they are hard to find now.

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