Hi all, I am finally going to upgrade from my HP dc5100 sff machine, as its up to its limits and can't really cut it anymore, I was going to go for all new, probably an i3 or mid range i5 chip, new board that supports ddr3 etc, but after a convo with one of my mates he said why not build a core2quad based system, he has done so, and it's quick, it can hold its own against a more modern i3 or lower end i5 system pretty well, admittedly his is overclocked to about 3.5ghz from the standard 2.83 (his machine has the Q9500 CPU) and the whole thing cost him about 100 pounds to build, I've decided to do the same and use the following parts.

an Intel DQ45CB motherboard, a Q9650 CPU (the fastest one the board can support) a good cooling system (with good cooling my friend reckons I could run an OC at 4ghz no problem) and then use an existing dell dimension 3000 case I've got (standard micro ATX) the existing 500gb sata HDD, the 4GB of DDR2 800 (4x1gb) ram and the hd5450 gpu I already have in my current machine, plus I have a 500w micro ATX PSU at my parents from another machine as well, so I can realistically build this for less than 100 pounds, I've found the mobo for about 20 quid, and the CPU for just under 60, I may go up to 4x4gb ram at a later date so it's maxed out but even with that added to the costs its still much cheaper than buying an entry level celeron PC off the shelf, and several times cheaper than an i5 based machine.

I can't really see any down sides to this plan, sure I'm still working with (at least) 5 or 6 year old tech but for something quick ish and being on a budget this seems to fit the bill.

Am I correct or is there some massive flaw in my plan that I haven't spotted?

Many thanks in advance

I wouldn't advise to spend any money in a system that old.
That GPU is not going to handle any game, no matter what CPU you throw at it. I have an HD5750 1GB, and while it can run games at 60fps I have to turn almost every setting to the minimum.

You need a new CPU, MB and GPU if you want to enjoy any game. And I'm pretty sure that DDR3 would be a good improvement in general performance, though I have not look at any kind of benchmark to back this.

A friend of mine just got himself a second hand 4970k, 16Gb DDR3 1666, GTX980, SSD 512 Gb, 3Tb HDD, Gigabyte mATX mobo, Noctua cooler, BeQuiet PSU and 27" screen for just 1200 Euros (around £900?). So I think a decent machine is quite afordable nowadays in the second hand market, no need to get such an old platform. I would try to get the best CPU and GPU available withing your budget, that is what you need for sim racing. The rest is not that important, you can invest in a proper wheel.

Cheers guys, although to be honest I don't really game anymore, and for the initial outlay, which will basically be the CPU cooler and a mobo, I'm going to have something with significantly more guts than the single core P4 I have at the moment, I don't really know how it all works but my friend swears that his build, which has a smaller CPU than my chosen one can beat i3s and keep with i5s so that'll be more than I'll ever need, even if I can only maintain an OC of say 4ghz stable, that's going to give me 16ghz of speed in comparison to the 3.6 I have at the moment, plus A far better cache, and presuming I do get extra ram I'll see gains there, what I basically want is to be able to encode say an hour of music in 320k MP3 format and it not take nearly 20 minutes to save lol.

I have an Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme in my 6 years old laptop, combined with 8Gb of ram and an SSD and I must say, if it wasn't for the GPU (9800m GTS) I could play any current game on high settings with no problem. It handles everything else like a boss, even my 3D modeling software and rendering, so it is true that it will be up to the level. Just make sure you get it dirty cheap though.

Quote from NitroNitrous :

if it wasn't for the GPU (9800m GTS) I could play any current game on high settings with no problem

I call bullshit on that. I've got a similar CPU (desktop version) with a faster GPU, and my CPU is definitely the biggest bottleneck with a few games. Games like GTAV, BF3, BF4, BFH (and other CPU-demaning games) simply run terrible because of ~100% CPU usage. Even with some overclocking to 4GHz the performance is meh. Even a fast i3 or a random modern i5 will be a lot faster than those old Core 2 Quad's in my experience.

@danthebangerboy, the build you have in mind should be fine, but only for browsing the internets and play some simple games like LFS. Don't expect anything spectacular. Do yourself a favor and atleast get a SSD for Windows or something. The GPU speaks for itself I think. The CPU is fine, but it most certainly won't compete with modern CPU's. You might have similar performance as a low-end i3, but you certainly won't get near the performance of a modern stock i5.

I would just get a modern i3/i5 build. Spend a few more quid and get a proper and modern system. You can upgrade it along the way and it will last longer. Also the power usage will be a LOT lower.

I'm unsure of how it all works as I say but my mate swears his games well within the leagues of an I5, admittedly he is running a modest overclock though, as I also will be as well, it'll still be a heck of a lot better than I've ever been used to be for that's for sure, as my comp history is... 486dx266, p3 866, p4 1.9, p4 2.53, p4 2.8 and now p4 3.6, never anything good, so in comparison this will be nuts haha

I agree that the 775 boards will run with many i3's and i5's but with caviets.

I don't think the intel boards are worth using as they offer no overclocking and thats essential to get the speed up.

A Q9650 will O/C to 3.6 easily, 12 Meg lvl 2 cache helpswith speed and keeps it rocking on.

I'd look for a good ASUS or similar board that allows good O/Cing and you'll find it will play nearly anything.
Spend your cash on a good video card and you'll have a great time.

If you already have the Q9650 thats great but if not, don't buy one. The (some) 775's will let you drop in a 771 xeon with minor mods are they are far cheaper than a Quad core.



They also O/C really well, run a semi decent cooler and they are great.

Quote from Bose321 :

Quote from NitroNitrous :

if it wasn't for the GPU (9800m GTS) I could play any current game on high settings with no problem

I call bullshit on that....

What is your GPU? Just curious

I have a AMD HD6950, but that card isn't near getting maxed out games that are heavy on the CPU because in a lot of cases the graphics settings don't affect my FPS because the CPU just can't keep up. Sure, it's not a beast of a GPU, but I'm pretty sure that the CPU can't keep up in a lot of cases.