Possible Motherboard+CPU upgrade

[Harris Petrushko]

Hello,

My current specs..

GPU: GeForce GTX 650 Ti

RAM: 16 GB ECC DDR2

CPU: Intel® Xeon(R) CPU E5345 @ 2.33GHz × 4 .

I've slowly been upgrading my Dell Precision Workstation 490 to be primarily a gaming machine. I'm happy with my current RAM and GPU benchmakrs but my CPU seems to be cutting a bit short.

What CPU would be the best suited for my current machine?

Thanks.

 

[NormH]

what is the budget we are working with?

 

[Harris Petrushko]

what is the budget we are working with?

$175 is the absolute highest I will go.

 

[NormH]

at 175 budget its hard to beat a 4 core 2.33 cpu and still include mobo you can do an old platform and get a core2 quad or get a dual core pentium g or i3.... what is it about the xeon you are not liking? are you open to amd?

 

[beyondlogic]

Hello,

My current specs..

GPU: GeForce GTX 650 Ti

RAM: 16 GB ECC DDR2

CPU: Intel® Xeon(R) CPU E5345 @ 2.33GHz × 4 .

I've slowly been upgrading my Dell Precision Workstation 490 to be primarily a gaming machine. I'm happy with my current RAM and GPU benchmakrs but my CPU seems to be cutting a bit short.

What CPU would be the best suited for my current machine?

Thanks.

youll run into problems upgrading ecc ram is server ram and that wont work on regular motherboards

you need non ecc

and on a 175 budget theres really no way

as youd need
cpu
motherboard
ram
os if you dont have a existing copy with product key

 

[Harris Petrushko]

at 175 budget its hard to beat a 4 core 2.33 cpu and still include mobo you can do an old platform and get a core2 quad or get a dual core pentium g or i3.... what is it about the xeon you are not liking? are you open to amd?

Thank you for your input.

My main goal is to get a solid 80+ FPS on Team Fortress 2 with moderately high settings and I thought perhaps a CPU upgrade would achieve that.

I have looked into some AMD CPU's and reviews, people say they are not as good as intel (hope this doesn't start a war) but they are definitely cheaper.

 

[NormH]

most games AMD is fine except rift and WoW which both favor intel heavily. you can get an AMD and a mobo in that price range and still have money for the ram that needs upgraded.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2Jfwh $179 and i went with 1 8gb stick of ram so you can get another later to match the ram you have now in performance. you may be able to get 4gb x2 cheaper though

 

[Harris Petrushko]

most games AMD is fine except rift and WoW which both favor intel heavily. you can get an AMD and a mobo in that price range and still have money for the ram that needs upgraded.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2Jfwh $179 and i went with 1 8gb stick of ram so you can get another later to match the ram you have now in performance. you may be able to get 4gb x2 cheaper though

Thank you so much for your help!

Hope this will be worth it in the end..

 

[NormH]

it should my friend has the same cobo and it runs every game he plays at a minimum of mid settings and 25+ fps