Paranoid Hardware Upgrade Questions

Post by **bicostp** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 12:35 pm

My HTPC just has a Celery D in it (it came bundled with the motherboard, okay?), and I'd like to step up to a C2D and 2 matching sticks of DDR2. Why? The new video card cooks through just about everything I throw at it, but the processor is the weakest link now. 3DMark 06 runs at about 14 FPS through the GPU tests, but the CPU tests bog down to about 2 FPS, occasionally dipping down to 2 seconds per frame.

It can run some things like Unreal Tournament 2004 and most Source games just fine. Games like DiRT and the last couple Need for Speed games, on the other hand, run at about the same lousy frame rate no matter what the quality settings and resolution are set at. (About 10 FPS.) It's got to be the processor.

The new 45nm processors are appealing, since they're faster and run cooler than the older ones. (Cooler = less fan noise.) However, I've read some reviews that say people were having problems running them on less-than-brand-new motherboards, due to BIOS problems. Apparently they can be fixed by upgrading the BIOS, but I'm a little uneasy with that procedure.

Is there really any benefit to getting the new 45nm C2D processors in this case (versus one of the older C2Ds that runs on a 1066 bus natively)?
If I did get one, would it just run at the motherboard's 1066 FSB speed?
How noisy are Intel's stock fans? (I've got a cheap all-aluminum Masscool thing on there now and it sounds like a small jet engine. Not good for movies, but somehow it manages to keep that furnace at 34 degrees at idle, and below 45 under a heavy load.)

And just to clear this up now, I am not[/i] switching to AMD processors. I'd have to get a whole new motherboard, and the new video card would have been a waste of time.

Thanks!

Current setup:
PC Chips P23G motherboard
Intel Celeron 3.2 ghz (Prescott)
ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro (256 MB DDR2)
2 gigs RAM (2x 1024 MB Corsair DDR 400)
450 gigs total HD space
DVD+-RW DL drive

Here's a screenshot of CPU-Z and GPU-Z. If you want a video of how the system performs, I can put one together and upload it to tomorrow.

Yes I know it's not the best card, and it's AGP. But it was only about $60 after rebate, has dual DVI, and does what I need it to.

tom61 · Post by **tom61** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 2:11 pm

You should do research on how well the BIOS upgrades go on the PC Chips P23G motherboard, and if there's ways to recover from a bad flash. Usually, BIOS upgrades go without a hitch, but sometimes there are bad versions around. On a motherboard I had before, if a BIOS flash went wrong, you inserted a floppy with a good image and held a key combination and it would re-flash from the floppy.

Pending the bus setting doesn't get increased by the BIOS update, the processor will run slow by default. More specific research should be done to see how well the C2D you're looking at upgrading to works with your board.

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 4:28 pm

I was looking into this before and I came up with 6500 as the lowest C2D model to get. Something about anything lower using inferior (Allendale?) cores or something. I dont remember why, but I remember the number.

Currently I think the best priced chip is the 6750 at $200 (at least around here in Canada), but that uses a 1333mHz bus (its quite a nice chip).

Post by **bicostp** » Fri May 23, 2008 7:49 pm

Night of the Living Thread

I'm pricing things out again, and Tiger Direct has a retail 2.66 ghz 6750 for $200:
Link

The motherboard has the VIA P4M800 Pro chipset, and unfortunately everything I've come across says the new Wolfdale processors won't work on it.

Still, the motherboard was designed in mid 2006 and the book says it supports C2D processors...

Now for the new questions:

1. How loud are the OEM Intel fans? Remember, this machine is used about 50/50 for games and multimedia, so it should be fairly quiet. (The cheap garbage fan it's got now sounds like a taxiing 747.)

2. Should I go for a retail set, or get an equivalent OEM processor and a separate fan? This would take the uncertainty out of the fan volume...

3. It says it's a 1333mhz FSB CPU. The motherboard only handled 1066. Is that a problem? (I don't think it is, but second opinions are always helpful.)

4. Conroe or Allendale? Is there much of a price/performance ratio difference? (That is, the extra cache in a 2.4 ghz Allendale makes up the difference in clock speed vs a 2.6 ghz Conroe?)

Thanks!

lifeisbetterwithketchup · Fri May 23, 2008 8:07 pm

bicostp wrote: 1. How loud are the OEM Intel fans? Remember, this machine is used about 50/50 for games and multimedia, so it should be fairly quiet. (The cheap garbage fan it's got now sounds like a taxiing 747.)

My friend's computer has an E6550 with the stock cooler on it, and it's a pretty quiet computer (the graphics card (8600GTS) is the loudest part of the system, and even that is way quieter than my desktop with its "lawn-mower-quiet" fans). You should be fine with that.

HotDog-Cart · Post by **HotDog-Cart** » Fri May 23, 2008 9:01 pm

How does Halo 1 run? My freind has the same problem with Halo. It may be the processor.

Post by **bicostp** » Fri May 23, 2008 9:23 pm

No idea. (I don't have it.)

Tomorrow I'll download the demo and put together a video.

Current entires:
3Dmark06 (the newest XP one)
TrackMania Nations Forever (it DIES when you hit grass)
Half-Life 2
Portal
Running an HD movie trailer on QuickTime 7
NFS:ProStreet (demo)
DiRT (demo)

I'll record with the TV-out port and DVD recorder, so it's not skewed by a screen recorder. Everything will run at 4x anti-aliasing, 1024x768, with most everything turned all the way up.

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Sat May 24, 2008 10:57 am

3. It says it's a 1333mhz FSB CPU. The motherboard only handled 1066. Is that a problem? (I don't think it is, but second opinions are always helpful.)

Yes, that would be a problem. The motherboard does not meet the minimum requirements of the processor.

Presumably, all the wolfdale processors are 1333, which is why the motherboard is not compatible with them.

So stick with the 6750 (had my eye on that one too), and just get a motherboard that supports it.

Wait I just looked up the p4m800. That is a pentium 4 motherboard! It does not support any core chips, and the fsb is max 800. Are you sure you gave the right model number?

Bibin · Post by **Bibin** » Sat May 24, 2008 11:19 am

Get the E8400 wolfdale at 3GHZ; it's amazing. I have it on the PC I just built. Runs very cool, and is ridiculously efficient. So efficient it hurts!

Post by **bicostp** » Sat May 24, 2008 12:58 pm

Bibin wrote:Get the E8400 wolfdale at 3GHZ; it's amazing. I have it on the PC I just built. Runs very cool, and is ridiculously efficient. So efficient it hurts!

I don't know if it will work on my VIA P4M800Pro / VT8237R+ based, 1066mhz motherboard. I'll probably wind up getting something like an E7200, which will definitely work.

The good news is that it's the V3.0 board, which does support C2D processors.

3DMark Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtubYurefns

Gameplay video coming later.

HotDog-Cart · Post by **HotDog-Cart** » Sun May 25, 2008 8:01 am

My friend told me that, Halo ran well on his pc for two days. And then started running slower than a slideshow (like 2 fps) the 3rd day.

Also the 3rd day he installed photoshop, if that makes a difference. He has win XP.