Need Help Choosing CPU

[sir daniel]

I need a replacement CPU and motherboard for a broken computer; however, the selection available is very small since it's older technology.

I will be reusing all the parts that work. (DDR-400 RAM, EIDE hdd, 500 Watt PSU, DVD-ROM, and case). It needs to cost about $200 or less, but I'm not sure what CPU to choose.

I found a motherboard I like: Abit IP-95

If you can find a better motherboard, I need it to have & support:

EIDE / PATA connectors
AGP Slot (preferably not a combo PCI-E & AGP motherboard since they have issues).
DDR-400 / PC3200 RAM

 

[lunyone]

Have you considered upgrading with a motherboard with onboard GPU?? Not sure why your stuck on an AGP slot, but in the long run your better off with at least a PCI-e (v1.1 or 2.0) slot available for GPU upgrades. Your going to have a time finding a mobo with AGP/2 IDE slots. It can be done, but I think it's wasting your $. I'd consider getting a mobo with an onboard GPU, assuming your not gaming too much. AMD has some good mobo's with a decent onboard GPU (780g/790gx chipsets). They are about $70-120, depending on which one you get. Than just add CPU (60-100) and DDR2 (15-40 after MIR's). Than consider getting a faster HD for about $50-75 and your set! Intel has offerings too, so don't rule them out in this price range, their onboard GPU's aren't quite up to AMD offerings yet.

AMD 5000+/Asus 780g mobo - $125 shipped!!
2nd combo from the top!

Memory - $37 - $25 MIR = $12!!! Hard to beat 2 gb's for $12!!!
OCZ SLI-Ready 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

HD (SATA saving IDE port for other optical drives, aka DVD's/CD's) - $55 shipped!! Fast and not too expensive!
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500AAKS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

DVD Burner - $28 shipped!! Retail version shipped with software to read/burn DVD's. Also this would free up the single IDE port on the mobo for your existing HD's (assuming they are IDE too).
LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - Retail

If you opt to upgrade/change the DVD burner instead of the HD, than you'd save about $27 on the total below.

Total (CPU/Mobo/RAM/HD) = $217 - $25 MIR's = $192!!! And if you drop the HD upgrade and insert the DVD burner above your total would be:
$190 - $25 MIR's = $165!!! Now I don't know what kind of graphics your looking for so if your a hard core gamer on AGP than that would change things up, but the 780g onboard GPU can easily handle WoW and similar games. It's up to you, but you'd be better off with a PCI-e slot than sticking with a dated and pretty much dead AGP slotted mobo.

 

[lunyone]

Intel option:
CPU/Memory combo - $98 - $25 MIR = $73!!! e2200 (@2.2 gHz, easily OC'd to 2.8-3.2 gHz) and DDR2 800mHz RAM!!
4th combo from the top!

Mobo - $89 - $20 MIR = $69!! Still good p35 based mobo. p41/p45 based mobo's are about $10-40 more.
BIOSTAR TForce TP35D2-A7 LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

HD/DVD - Same ones listed on above post. $55 or $28, depending on HD or DVD selected.

Total - $242 - $45 MIR's = $197!! or if DVD selected = $214 - $45 MIR's = $171!!!

 

[bobbknight]

I like the intel option.
it's not asus
but I don't like that it relies on rebates.

 

[lunyone]

I like the intel option.
it's not asus
but I don't like that it relies on rebates.

Well that tends to be the usual with Intel builds. AMD mobo's tend to be a bit cheaper and usually don't always need rebates to sell them. Not that Intel mobo's are bad, they just tend to be more expensive over AMD ones.

 

[lunyone]

Oooops! Just notice that the Intel build has no GPU 🙁 Will need to rethink those options!

 

[sir daniel]

I'm not really stuck on AGP. It's just that I RMAed an AGP video card yesterday (BFG Tech 5500 FX OC), and if I buy an AGP motherboard, I won't have to buy a video card. I thought it would save some money.

I looked up the price of RAM, and surprisingly, DDR-400 is about the same price as DDR2-800. I think it would be best to sell what I've got and buy a higher speed. It would give me a bigger selection.

While Newegg is a great website, they have a distribution center in my state (unfortunately) so I have to pay tax on everything I buy from them. Pretty much every other website has better deals if I do items on newegg with tax Vs. some other site without tax.

 

[lunyone]

Trust me when I say the AMD 780g or 790gx onboard GPU is much better than a 5500fx!! Now you can still get any of the options above and still get a decent dedicated GPU later. Hopefully you can get some decent $ for what you have and use it for a nearly complete upgrade!