Buying a new motherboard & processsor - Need Advice!! 5

[basepointdesignz]

Hi,

At the moment I have a MSI motherboard (don't ask me what model, cos i have got a clue) with a P4 3.0Ghz processor..

I'm at the stage where i want to upgrade but being a bit behind the times for a while, i need to get my head around the concept of which of these new Core Duo processors would be the equivilent so i can gauge the baseline of what i have already, so can someone explain to me what core duo / dual core processor would be the next step up from what i have, oh and a brief reason why..

I know that this question has no doubt been asked a million time already, so my apologies..


Cheers,

Paul
basepointdesignzltd..
P4 3.0Ghz / 2GB RAM
XP Pro SP2
Sapphire X1950 512MB Dual-DVi Graphics Card..

 

[Sleepsalot]

MY first question would be what price range are you looking? Do you want to stay with intel or maybe go with amd? do you want to reuse any thing you have or do a complete new build. CPU wise a dual core will out perform a single core cpu even at lower clock speed. Also what the main use of the machine would be. That would tell better what hardware to get.

Wayne

Life is a big Roleplaying adventure.

 

[basepointdesignz]

Basically, I have 2 hard-drives:

one for my company work, so dreamweaver, photoshop, office, autocad etc..

..and the other for my recording studio..

I want to keep all my existing hardware, but will upgrade my PSU to better one..

Looking to spend top price around £300ish but would rather spend less if i can of course.
Have seen this at Novatech (

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage?MBB-C2D620),

but as my original question, will it outperform my existing P4 3.0Ghz one?

....and at which clock speed range can i go down to, to equal my existing single core?




Cheers,

Paul
basepointdesignzltd..
P4 3.0Ghz / 2GB RAM
XP Pro SP2
Sapphire X1950 512MB Dual-DVi Graphics Card..

 

[ATLMatt]

As far as specs go, that system looks good. Without knowing the what motherboard and RAM is exactly, can't really say for sure. The Core 2 Duo line is by far the best choice, I've got mine overclocked by almost a Ghz and it runs like a champ. I tend to prefer NVidia based motherboards, but I am more of a gamer as well.

 

[Sleepsalot]

Well a dual core is like having 2 CPU's so yes it will preform better the single 3ghz processor. The cpu will pull less load and I saw that the MoBo supports hyper threading so it would be like having 4 CPU's. I'll use this as an example. I have a dual procssor Xeon machine both CPU's running at 2.8ghz with hyper threading. I run a program called BIONIC which uses cpu cycles for medical research. Runs 2 instances of the program at 50% CPU usage. My single CPU athlon running at 2.8ghz runs the same program with a single instance at 100% CPU usage. So you can see the Xeon runs with less load on the cpu. The board you are looking at should work real well. Also for a few pounds more you could get another video card case and HD for the other machine. It is always nice to have a spare. I myself have about 12 machines 6 stay running all the time.

Wayne

Life is a big Roleplaying adventure.

 

[Freestone]

Core 2 Duo CPUs do not have hyperthreading...

 

[Sleepsalot]

Hey Freestone,
I got it from the page he is looking at.

Interface Type LGA 775
Clock Speed 2.4 GHz
Cache Level 2 Size 4MB
Architecture Features Intel Hyper-Threading Technology supported
Performance Index 2.4GHz
But That doesn't meean they have the correct info listed.




Wayne

Life is a big Roleplaying adventure.

 

[jlockley]

If you are going to pay somewhere in the $600 range for mobo and cpu, I think you want to stay away from noname boards. Just my prejudice, but I want to know who to rip into/wheedle to if the board is doa, the north bridge overheats, you name it, and you can reach ASUS, ABIT and the rest.

Here, however, are some other issues you have to keep in mind (get accustomed to the fact that it is going to cost you more than you think from the get go)

You say you are behind the times. That probably means that what you have is over two years old. Bad luck, since everything changes for the more expensive on a monthly basis.
I know this, since I am in the process of making decisions similar to yours and did that about five months ago (and thank you again to all of you here who helped.)


Chances are you can't use your old ram..
Your new ram is going to be ddr2, which isn't all that cheap, especially since your new system will probably need more of it. (Your old ram is probably ddr, and won't fit on the new board)
There is a chance that your graphics card fits, but considering what you are going to do, you need a good one, and they again don't come cheap. Older cards are agp vs the new PCI format, which is faster, has more memory and runs h otter. You can still find a few boards out there with AGP, but PCI is the most common, and since you will have a helluva time replacing your current card when it goes all squirly a year from now, when AGP will be extinct, you might well want to upgrade that, too.
Did I say hot? HOT HOT HOT. THink fans. Not overly expensive save the chip fan, they are still a cost item.
Drive formats have changed, so if you have ATA (IDE) and not serial ATA (SATA) make sure the board also has headers (slots) for them. New boards will also have IDE headers. Fortunately there seems to be a connector for SATA/ATA, which apparently doesn't lose in the translation. Your optical drive is probably also IDE, so you can put one more drive on a single header card.
Energy: AMD uses less, but the consensus seems to be that Intle core duo is the only option for graphic use, so you need to go with that. I found with my last upgrade that I needed to up the power supply by 150 watts.

Hope I am wrong about your needs. I wish I were about mine. You might try tigerdirect.com or newegg.com (with terrific reviews of their boards and combos) to shop, then go to a local site to purchase. I don't know if Tiger sends overseas, but since there's no tax involved here, you might try it. Gee, I am glad we don't have VAT here.

 

[Freestone]

sleepsalot - the board referenced will support hyperthreading for CPUs that have the feature installed (Pentium 4). Core 2 Duos do not support hyperthreading.

basepointdesignz - not knowing the model of your MSI board makes it difficult to determine what parts are reusable. jlockley has brought out many good points about part compatibility, i.e. DDR vs. DDR2, AGP vs PCI-E (PCI Express), and SATA vs.IDE.

While not definitive, Tom's Hardware has a nice interactive CPU chart that will at least give you some basis of CPU performance comparison between 2 CPU's. Plug in your model and see how it stacks against the Core 2 Duos in various benchmarks.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html

 

[basepointdesignz]

Thanks everyone, that's a great help, apart from the fact that i know i have to spend loads of money now, more than i thought before, hahaha

Cheers,

Paul
basepointdesignzltd..
P4 3.0Ghz / 2GB RAM
XP Pro SP2
Sapphire X1950 512MB Dual-DVi Graphics Card..

 

[basepointdesignz]

Hi again,

Just another quick question. Is there an easy way to find out my motherboard details / model number etc? Is there anything in device manager or somewhere else it is stored? Is it in the BIOS or should it be on the board itself?



Cheers,

Paul
basepointdesignzltd..
P4 3.0Ghz / 2GB RAM
XP Pro SP2
Sapphire X1950 512MB Dual-DVi Graphics Card..

 

[626F62]

if i was you i would look on the board its self... often be somthing obvious writen on the board along the lines of a model name/number... also i do beleive that the software you run might not take advantage of the dual core... i read somewere that microsoft was throwing wobblers that games arnt using dual cores properly and are (in simple terms) only using 1 of the dual cores...

i might be wrong bout this but if anyone knows more their welcome to mail me

good luck with the new mobo!!

 

[jlockley]

Just another quick question. Is there an easy way to find out my motherboard details / model number etc? Is there anything in device manager or somewhere else it is stored? Is it in the BIOS or should it be on the board itself?"

Yep. Bellarc Advisor. (or open the case and read it off the board).
Get it free.

http://www.belarc.com

It's a lot of fun to run. (depending on your definition of fun) It won't tell you what is wrong with your computer (but it will report the security status, which can be surprising) but it lists all components and, more importantly, list all of your programs with their registration numbers. (I keep a printout at all times).

Just for fun, download it and cut and copy the information here. (Not the security stuff or software, but all the hardware data).

 

[Sleepsalot]

Or download aida32 from

http://www.majorgeeks.com

this program works off a pen drive.

Wayne

Life is a big Roleplaying adventure.

 

[kmcferrin]

also i do beleive that the software you run might not take advantage of the dual core... i read somewere that microsoft was throwing wobblers that games arnt using dual cores properly and are (in simple terms) only using 1 of the dual cores...

If he's running photoshop and autocad, they will take advantage of additional CPUs or cores. Most likely his audio encoding software would as well. And even if they didn't directly the OS can, which makes multitasking much easier on you (and we are all multitasking these days, what with antivirus/anti-spyware and numerous system processes running 24/7 in the background). The future is more about parallelism than anything else now.

 

[jlockley]

Another wrinkle comes to mind:
Adobe Illustrator would not function with my 64 bit xp. Something to keep in mind if an OS upgrade is added to te package.

 

[basepointdesignz]

Hi again, again, lol

Ok, right could someone check this out and see if this is ok too:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?mbb-m2422&P=1

Its an AMD one. I see that AMD are cheaper by far, but are they really lower cost for a reason or are they almost as good as intel?



Cheers,

Paul
basepointdesignzltd..
P4 3.0Ghz / 2GB RAM
XP Pro SP2
Sapphire X1950 512MB Dual-DVi Graphics Card..

 

[kmcferrin]

AMD CPUs tend to be cheaper, but if you find the Intel CPU that is at roughly the same price point the performance will be roughly the same. If you need maximum performance, go with Intel. Otherwise, go with whichever is the best deal at the time. But if you do go with AMD, make sure that you get a socket AM2 system, not 939. Socket AM2 will have some future upgradability via AM2+ CPUs, whereas 939 is dead.

 

[jlockley]

Well, a couple of things. First of all, as I said, I am in the same situation as you are, and I kind of like this:\

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3208228&CatId=2406

Second, from a thread I started, I got this information on my needs, which are les than yours, since you are doing a lot more visual stuff:

Helpful Member!kmcferrin (MIS)
1 Aug 07 11:09
256 MB would be fine for a graphics card if you aren't doing some hardcore gaming. My suggestion:

Abit IP35-E mainboard (or just the IP35 if you want RAID)
2 GB of DDR2-800 RAM, pick your poison (G.Skill, Crucial, Kingston, Corsair, whatever).
Core 2 Duo 6550 or thereabouts, whatever you can get for around $150 or so would be more than adequate. Go with something faster if you've got more money to spend.
For the video card, I'm not sure if you're saying that you want the ability to output it to a TV or watch TV on the PC. If it's the former, probably any of the new nVidia 8500/8600 or ATI 2400/2600 cards would be fine. If you want to watch TV on it, I'd go with an ATI "All-in-Wonder" card.

REmember, my needs are less than yours, since I type more than image.

I have an AMD chip on my office desktop, and it is wonderful, but it is just an office desktop. 2gb or ram, decent video card. But from what I hear, anyone doing graphics work really should consider Intel. Remember, you are not buying it for today, but for five years from now (you wish). There are going to be software updates you need, and they will need more power, more memory, more..well, whatever costs money.By getting a solid system today you put off your next upgrade.

The good thing about that combo is that you have 2 ATA headers, so you can use the drives you probably currently have. It's got enough potential to permit you to increase ram and upgrade cards in the future.

The bad thing is that you still don't have the mother model, just the make. ASUS has several AM2 boards. It would be interesting to check your board against those on the ASUS site. I would worry about their reticence to give the detail. One of the ASUS boards, by the way, supports dual monitors better than the rest. You might want to look into that, considering what you do.

AMD 2x64 is a decent chip. I think just under FX. Read more on Hardware secrets

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/272/4

or check Ted's hardware (don't have link). There's bound to be something there.

 

[basepointdesignz]

Hi,

Used Belarc on my system and this is a part copy of the html doc:

Main Board:
Board: Foxconn 661 7MI
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 01/12/2006

....thought my board was an MSI one, but that must have been my girlfriend's one, which used to be mine before i upgraded..


Cheers,

Paul
basepointdesignzltd..
P4 3.0Ghz / 2GB RAM
XP Pro SP2
Sapphire X1950 512MB Dual-DVi Graphics Card..