Trying to find cpu upgrade answers, I'm new!

[theoneanarbr]

Well not new to using them, just new to upgrading/understanding them.


i have


Intel
Family Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E5200 @ 2.50GHz
Architecture 64-bit
Internal Clock 2.5 GHz
Internal Clock Maximum 2.5 GHz
External Clock 200.0 MHz
Socket Designation SOCKET775 M/B

on a nvidia7100 series motherboard.(?) im 90% sure its what i have
rocketfish 500w power supply
xfx radeon 5770 card
4gb ddr2 800mhz ram
and vista

First of all this current system plays l4d2 starcarft and the new medal of honor (beta) very well. Solid performance, no jittery stuttering nothing, with graphics cranked at 1920x1200. I'm just sure it can be better. My questions are:

1) With a budget of around $200 (max of $300) is there are processor out there that will improve what I have here.

2) From the reading I have done it looks like my cpu is weakest part of my system closely followed by the motherboard and then ram. Is this an accurate statement, meaning am I on the right track of comprehension?

3)I'd like to not replace my motherboard as it's an intimidating thing to do for me at this point, which is why I'm wondering if a simple cpu upgrade will give me a NOTABLE increase in performance.

Thanks for any insight!

http://www.gateway.com/product_spec.php?product_recid=529668198 l

^^ link to my exact model. I added psu and video card.

 

[hell_storm2004]

1. For $300 you can have a Core i7 920. That is a beast of a processor.

2. Yes and No. E5200 was certainly not the top line of Intel's E series. But it depends on your needs. For normal office work, its quite fine. And E5200 is quite a nice overclocker!

3. If you go for a new line of Intels processors then you certainly would have to change your mobo. LGA775 is more or less history!

But Rocketfish PSU?? What is that?

 

[moody89]

As far as I can see, most boards with the GeForce 7100 chipset support any Core2 CPU with a FSB up to 1333MHz. This will include the Core2 Quads which are a four core processor. This would probably be your best bet for an upgrade and give your system a significant boost over your current chip. Get the best one you can afford.

I can't see any reason that your motherboard wouldn't support that chip but you never no for certain with pre-built systems. You may need to perform a BIOS update if you have any problems. Hope this helps!

 

[Blckhaze]

Please download FFXIV benchmark and tell us your score on high and on low... It doesn't matter if they are good scores or not. That will help determine the bottleneck
http://www.finalfantasyxiv.com/media/benchmark/na/download.html

I think that you would be wasting money if you spend 200-300 dollars without buying a new motherboard. For that price, while staying on the current board, you're not going to be satisfied. Let's see the benchmark results first though.

CPU-Z will tell you the motherboard you have, for sure.
http://www.filehippo.com/download_cpuz/download/b783a72da95bc3686edae734c45261ac/
Then you can tell us your motherboard, so we can then see what we're working with to help ya out.

 

[theoneanarbr]

As far as I can see, most boards with the GeForce 7100 chipset support any Core2 CPU with a FSB up to 1333MHz. This will include the Core2 Quads which are a four core processor. This would probably be your best bet for an upgrade and give your system a significant boost over your current chip. Get the best one you can afford.

I can't see any reason that your motherboard wouldn't support that chip but you never no for certain with pre-built systems. You may need to perform a BIOS update if you have any problems. Hope this helps!

say i got a core2 cpu with a fsb of 1333mhz. Is it a waste because my memory is only 800mhz. Still working on my knowledge. Ty!

Also downloading ffxiv benchmark now, results shortly

 

[theoneanarbr]

Final Fantasy benchmark scores

low - 2372
high - 2177

ms 7399 model motherboard
nvidia 7100 chipset
nvidia 630i southbridge
this was a gateway boxed system and they are very vague as to what exactly this motherboard is and what would be compatible with it.

 

[Blckhaze]

Looking here http://www.fixya.com/support/t3111565-gateway_msii Seems like the most you'd get out of that motherboard is a intel core 2 with a 1066 bus speed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007671%2050001157%20600005560%20600005761&IsNodeId=1&name=1066MHz

But you have 800mhz ram, so that is going to slow down a 1066 processor.

Seems pretty well balanced though, I wouldn't spend the money on it until you plan on upgrading the motherboard and ram too.. for $400, you can get a Athlon II X3 3ghz processor, MSI military certified board, and 2gb of gskill 1066 ram. (recently built this setup for someone, went together flawlessly)

 

[theoneanarbr]

Best answer selected by theoneanarbr.

 

[The_OGS]

"But you have 800mhz ram, so that is going to slow down a 1066 processor."
This is inaccurate and incorrect.
DDR2-800 (PC2-6400) RAM has 6.4GB/s bandwidth.
In dual-channel, this gives 12.8 GB/s, far in excess of the CPU.
To match a 1066 CPU exactly, would require only DDR2-533 RAM (in dual-channel).
To increase this system's performance, you need a CPU with faster FSB!
Yours runs at 200MHz (800QDR).
Something like my E6420 runs 266MHz (1066QDR).
Newer socket775 CPUs run 333MHz (1333QDR) but most motherboards cannot support this speed...
So, any 1066 CPU you could put in there would be just fine, and run perfectly well with DDR2-800 RAM.
Regards

 

[Blckhaze]

That's good to know... I thought I had it right but apparently not. Sorry about the confusion about the 800mhz ram vs 1066 processor!

Atleast the link to the 2 1066 processors is still good. Thanks for correcting me OGS

 

[theoneanarbr]

thanks for the info all, I appreciate it! one last quick question...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5664659&CatId=2851

^^ this would be a nice cheap little upgrade then?

or even

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115056

with bigger l2 cache (if that helps?)

 

[Blckhaze]

For gaming, your benchmark will probably favor more cache over 100mhz difference.

For smaller programs, processor speed..

So I would go with the the 2nd one. Plus it's from Newegg, and that's good business. They have an excellent RMA process if the CPU comes in defected too.