Need CPU gurus

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pillar

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Ok guys, heres the situation. I have decided to upgrade my moms desktop since shes had it for like 3 years (if that) & its just as slow as my hand-me-down laptops (im just takin a guess there). Anyways, ill be going down to San Antonio to visit my mom & get the latest info on her computer. Heres where you guys come in. The following info is what I need:

1. CPU - Dual or Quad core?
2. Motherboard - preferably mATX if not smaller.

Just a lil info to help in the search. My mom is a current MSGT in the US Air Force Reserves & she will be more than likely getting a promotional to Chief MSGT. She is not a gamer like us guys, so she doesnt need a beefed out machine. I guess you could say entry level will work. Depending on how things go, I may keep the case. I will check every aspect of what she has tho. I know for a fact that she has Win XP (not sure which version tho, most likely Home tho). Ill take care of memory info, but need help w/ the above info.

If you need more info, please feel free to ask questions. Right now all I know is its a single core cpu, prob 512mb-1gb memory, typical stuff. I even talked with her about upgrading it & she says she wishes it was faster so that she could get more work done on it, even tho she has a netbook. No offense to the technology of the netbook, but a business person always needs more than an internet searching laptop. Anyways, look forward to the info that I receive & welcome all suggestions/comments.
 
Get a dual core, she won't be needing a quad. A mini-form factor would be nice for her i guess so a mATX is a good choice.

I say get an intel core 2 duo and a cheap/decent mobo as she won't be gaming or anything/Overclocking so she won't be needing anything special.

I say get whatever is the best for price/cheap. She doesn't seem to need anything expensive so just get the best you can for the cheapest you can.
 
Agreed, no quad necessary. Unless the price is right ... Any core 2 duo, and a highly rated motherboard would be best to avoid any problems for mom. If something goes wrong, she'll be after you not dell ! lol
 
great info phalanx! i have a question about the amd dual core cpus. what is the difference between the athlon & the phenom family of cpus? im sure theres a noticeable difference. i do apologize because ive always gone in the direction of intel for their cooling power, but since i dont plan on overclocking this cpu & will just use the heatsink that amd sends, just curious bout the difference. it seems that the athlon family of dual cores are cheaper.

btw phalanx, love the avatar!
 
Are you going to be reusing the RAM or are you buying new RAM? Because that will be a factor to consider when selecting a motherboard which in turn will reflect on which processor we will need.

So if so, what type of RAM is it? DDR, DDR2, DDR3?

If you're buying new ram and are going off of Phalanx's suggestion, then you'll need to buy DDR2:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...231144&cm_re=DDR2_1066-_-20-231-144-_-Product

That will work for you, and I suggest getting 2GB of RAM if she's complaining about it being slow. 2GB is the current recommended for most programs as well as Windows OS's.

Also does the current case support mATX boards?
 
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pillar said:
great info phalanx! i have a question about the amd dual core cpus. what is the difference between the athlon & the phenom family of cpus? im sure theres a noticeable difference. i do apologize because ive always gone in the direction of intel for their cooling power, but since i dont plan on overclocking this cpu & will just use the heatsink that amd sends, just curious bout the difference. it seems that the athlon family of dual cores are cheaper.

btw phalanx, love the avatar!
Click to expand...



Well the athlon quad cores do not have any l3 cache as where the phenom line does. There isnt much of a differance and your mom wont notice it at all. I dont think i would even notice. The athlon II x4 chips are some pretty powerful chips for the cash your dishing out. I know your mom will like it. any others questions needing answered?
 
that is a decent quad for its price, so ya that would work or just the athlon ii x2 250 for 70 bucks, but i think the quad would be worth 30 bucks for sure. won't need anything higher than 2gb, that will allow her to open programs in a split second, as well as have many many windows open, which i assume is what is in stock for her computer
 
If you can find a quad for $100 and all she needs is a dual core... Why not buy a dual core for $50?

For performing "normal" computer tasks a dual will more than suffice and you'll have an extra $50 in your pocket!
 
But, he was looking at intel dual cores in the $100 rage, so i figured, "why not have a quad for the same price?"

btw, quad just makes thing feel faster. There is a noticeable difference between my moms quad and my dual both at 2.4GHz (hers is much faster)
with the quad every thing seems to just be faster


oh yea, as the others have said, the lack of L3 cache on Athlon x4's has been show to have little affect on the preformance.

BAM benchmarks
 
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ok guys heres the latest info. she has a rather old hp machine. celeron dual core w/ 3.2 ghz cpu, i upgraded the ram in the past to 1gb, but she also has win xp home. more than likely, she has an ide hard drive due to how old the technology is, so im gonna attempt to backup the info on either my external hard drive (over 400gb on it & her current hard drive is 70gb, so not an issue) but shes using win xp home & im using pro. do you guys think her desktop will recognize my external hard drive? its using the ntfs kernal so im hoping it will. so ya, shes pretty much gettin a complete overhaul. this is the following that i need:

1. definitely dual-core cpu (dont mind going w/ amd as long as the stock hs will behave) but will consider quad core if theres a slight difference in price
2. motherboard to compliment the cpu
3. definitely ram upgrade, but question is which is a better value: ddr2 or ddr3? im definitely gonna get her 2gb, as she doesnt need anything more.
4. definitely gonna get her a hard drive upgrade; prob 250gb hard drive, unless theres a better deal on something less.

not sure about power supply. ill update you guys on the power supply, but more than likely, due to such old technology, ill get a newer power supply to compliment the new equipment.

btw, not sure who all knows me, but i do try to find as many free shipping items as possible since i am a college student, not to mention a smart shopper.
 
hey all, just got home from my moms place & started doin research. found a great deal on a diy combo. they have a dual core amd cpu w/ 2x1gb gskill ddr2 (same pair i have) w/ a gigabyte mobo & a raidmax case. im a lil iffy on the case, but for the price, i def dont mind it @ all.

heres my question. why does the mobo have an 8 pin connector for the cpu fan? intels only require 4 pin, so whats the deal on that?

btw heres the link for the diy combo that i found: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.303820

now if you can help me find a better deal, then please hit me up with your suggestions.
 
that is a very decent set, so long you don't mind that case...because that is ugly as sin
however i don't see what you mean about the cpu fan, i only see a 4 pin connector when i look at other pictures of the motherboard
 
That looks like a good deal to me! I guess selling ugly cases with bundles is the only way newegg can rid themselves of them, :P

Are you talking about the 8 pin power connector? You need the proper 8 pin connector coming from your power supply for that. The fan connectors look normal to me.
 
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well then i guess amd is weird like that cause all intel cpu fans are 4 pin connectors, so i guess ill have 2 get used to this amd cpu & get it a decent cpu fan.
 
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im right now tryin 2 do comparison of doin the diy combo vs picking individual parts & seein the difference in price. need help finding a good motherboard for an am3 socket cpu.

remember, no overclocking will be done. just need a good or decent mobo.

also preferably free shipping. (if possible)
 
also since the power supply is goin away as well, what would u say is the best power supply for a possibly dual-core amd cpu?
 
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