Posts by frozenridge2

I've got this old relic of an LGA 775 rig sitting around with a P5Q Pro and an Intel Core2Duo e8400, and I’ve realized that with a little bit of enthusiasm and not a massive budget, I could actually "refresh" it quite nicely.

I’ve been digging through a bunch of guides, and the most popular method seems to be dropping in some relatively cheap Xeon E5450, E5460, or X5460 chips (either the "modded" versions with shaved edges or just using a 771-to-775 adapter) into existing 775 socket motherboards.

Basically, a Xeon X5450 would run me about $22, and if I pick up an $33 Arctic 7 Freezer Pro to go with it, the whole project would cost me just over $67. In exchange, I'd end up with a machine that's at least 50% more capable for modern gaming and software. I'll also need to flash a custom BIOS by injecting the necessary microcode via MMTOOLs since I'm running an AMI BIOS. Has anyone here worked with similar CPU/motherboard combos? Any advice? Also, can I get away with using my current stock cooler from the e8400, or am I definitely going to need to invest in a decent used 775 cooler like the one I mentioned above?

Thanks, everyone. That purchase probably wouldn't even happen for at least another month—maybe a bit longer, actually, since I don't expect to be moving until then. Once the move is set, there's the whole process of hunting down a decent apartment that isn't immediately available, getting the phone line set up, ensuring the high-speed internet is solid, and all those other logistics.

I'll likely circle back and update this thread once the move is officially underway. I just needed a rough idea of the timeline for now, and I don't anticipate much changing before then. We'll see if any new graphics cards hit the market later this year... 👍

jadebison17 said:Yeah, you're right, my bad.😉 You can't overclock via the BIOS, but honestly, it's a fantastic board for what you're paying. When you look at the difference between an Intel Core i7-6700 and the 6700K, that "K" series processor is in a completely different league. Just stick with this for now, and in maybe 7 to 10 years, grab a new motherboard and go wild.😉

With the case he's running, I actually had to mount all three 80mm fans up front, plus two 120mm fans in the back along with that 120mm fan from the power supply. I even had to throw a Rajintek Temesis in there just to keep that temperamental Intel Core i7-950 cool during turboboost, let alone the GPU... 😁 And I was only running a Q6600 at 52 degrees with those exact same components, minus the motherboard and CPU swap...

Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. Here are a few shots for you to see. :P







Tested, proven, and tweaked... 😉

I don't have that exact case, but I have one similar to it (it's black) that's a bit wider. The power supply sits at the top, and it only has one vent for the cooler at the bottom. It features two heatsinks on a side-panel board that unlocks with a key.

wiredotter14 said:Honestly, he’d be better off just going with liquid cooling. 😵
With a 65W chip, you could basically smear some Nestlé ice cream over the processor and blow on it to keep it cool.
My experience comes from work; if I push an Intel Core i5-2400—which pulls 95W at full load—that old 4th gen stock cooler barely breaks a sweat. I've seen guys running 6 or 8-core AMD chips on basic air coolers at 4 GHz without much trouble.

An Intel Core i7-6700K paired with a motherboard that doesn't allow overclocking? That’s a waste of money. It makes way more sense to go with an Intel Haswell i7 (either K or non-K) like our friend suggested here.

Look, I haven't really messed with overclocking before. It's not that I'm not interested, but my budget hasn't really allowed me to play around with that kind of stuff, even though I probably could start dabbling now.

Is this MSI Z170M motherboard a good match for the Intel Core i7-6700K mentioned above?
https://www.bestbuy.com/product/...mortar/1274119

I still love gaming, but life happens—work and age mean my PC isn't primarily for gaming anymore. I need to dive into virtual machines and run a whole bunch of different operating systems on them. Plus, there's a stack of other tools for cloud work and administration, ranging from Windows remote desktop and PuTTY to TeamViewer. I'll likely experiment with video streaming too, since that interests me. I imagine 16 GB of RAM and a beefier processor will be absolute must-haves. Since I've been out of the loop for a bit, I'm not entirely sure what the current standard is, but I figure getting the latest architecture is the best way to ensure the machine stays reliable for the next 5+ years.

I’ve been looking over what you guys have on offer, and after tweaking some of your suggestions, I’ve put together my own custom build. I also have a few questions afterward:

Intel Core i5-6600 for about $600
MSI Mortar + MSI Interceptor combo for about $200 (honestly, a really solid deal)
16 GB HyperX Fury Black 2x8 GB $203
SanDisk X400 256GB SSD $217
Seagate Barracuda 1TB, 64MB, 7200rpm, High-Performance $147

I already have the power supply, monitor, case, keyboard, and speakers (I'm assuming a 650W TX unit is sufficient for this setup).

Now, for the questions. I noticed everyone keeps recommending the Intel Core i5-6402P. Why is that, especially since this one is only about 200 $100 more, and looking at some benchmarks, it seems significantly better for gaming?
Secondly, do I actually need an aftermarket cooler, or will the stock one suffice if I don't mind a bit of noise and don't plan on overclocking—unless a better cooler is already bundled with it? If an extra cooler helps extend the component lifespan, I'll definitely grab one...
Also, is this RAM a good choice?
Does the SSD come with a 2.5" mounting bracket (it's easy enough with the HDD since it's a standard 3.5" drive), or do I need to buy that separately?

jadebison17 said:$1.75 ($6,000) and you already have the power supply and case? 😁 (I actually own that case, though it’s nothing special... 😁 )

1. Intel Core i5-6500 - $550
2. MSI B150M Bazooka - $221
3. (2x) Kingston HyperX Fury 2x4GB, 2133 MHz - $221
4. ASUS TURBO-GTX960-OC-4GD5 - $613
5. Trion 150 Series 480GB - $327
6. ID-Cooling SE-214X - $82

(Newegg - $2.00)

or

1. SanDisk SSD PLUS 240GB SSD - $195
2. MSI B150M Bazooka - $233
3. Corsair 2x8GB DDR4 2133 C13 - $228
4. COOLERMASTER Hyper 212 EVO - $100
5. Intel Core i5-6402P - $522
6. GIGABYTE NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 GAMING GDDR5 4GB/128bit - $648

(Rolling Stone - $2.00)

I don't really need a new graphics card right now; my current one still holds its own. I'm not the type of person who needs everything cranked up to "Ultra" settings, nor am I playing competitive shooters or the latest Tomb Raider titles. I can always pull the trigger on a GPU in six months or a year. That’s where I want to save money—by reinvesting those funds into better, newer, or higher-quality components elsewhere. I'd rather focus on the RAM, the Processor, and an SSD paired with a 1 or 2 TB HDD (honestly, a 480 GB SSD feels like overkill for me).
$5,000 up to $2000 is my rough estimate, but if I'm not seeing any real gains from upgrading to an i7 or a newer i5, then I could probably stay under $1667.

I’ll probably pick up another monitor down the road, but that’s a conversation for another time... once I find someone worth falling in love with. For now, this gaming rig is mainly going to double as my workstation for system administration and programming, so having two or three monitors would definitely be a huge help.

In practice, that means I'll have a massive amount of software running in the background—everything from cloud services and MySQL to various IDEs and virtual machines like VMware or VirtualBox.
Given that setup, do you think it would be a smart move to go with 16 GB of RAM and a beefier processor?
I'd most likely be playing some Overwatch by Blizzard Entertainment on the side, though I don't think that's quite as demanding as my work stuff.

Hey everyone,

I’ve got a PC rig that I originally put together back in 2008. Since I still have some of these parts lying around, I don't think I need to replace everything at once, but I am looking to build a new one specifically for gaming. I’ll list out all the components I currently have, and I’d appreciate it if you could tell me which ones aren't worth keeping. Over the years, I’ve done a few incremental upgrades, but I also had some parts die on me, and since money was a bit tight at the time, I just patched things together—so it's a bit of a mixed bag:

Case: A Corsair big tower; I'm not sure of the exact model, but it looks similar to this:
http://img.dooyoo.de/DE_DE/orig/1/0/2/4/6/1024639.jpg
Power Supply: Corsair TX650W http://www.corsair.com/~/media/Corsa...650-angled.png
Processor: An old Core 2 Duo E8400. It can't handle anything modern anymore and is a massive bottleneck.
GPU: My old HD4850 died.
My current card is an AMD Radeon HD 6850 (about 4.5 years old).
Memory: G.Skill 2 + 2 + 2 (6 GB total).
Hard Drives: 80 GB + 160 GB + 120 GB (brand doesn't matter; they're just old drives pulled from retired PCs because the Western Digital 500 GB I bought with my newer build failed).
Motherboard: ASUS P5Q Pro https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5Q_PRO/
Monitor: Samsung 24-inch LED Full HD (bought mostly back in 2013 and it still works great).

So, those are the specs. For the new build, I could probably set aside about $1667 maybe even 6 $0.00 thousand dollars if I decide to take my time. My thought is that I could hang onto the power supply, monitor, keyboard, mouse, case, and speakers, while everything else (besides the data on my drives) goes either on a shelf for nostalgia or straight into the trash. Now, I'm wondering if it makes sense to wait for next-gen graphics cards, or if this AMD Radeon HD 6850 might actually hold up for medium settings if I paired it with something like a Skylake i5 or i7 while waiting for the new series to drop. I'm patient. I'll likely be playing World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Company of Heroes 2, and some other lighter titles, so the AMD Radeon HD 6850 shouldn't be too bad.

The main reason I'm looking to do this now is that I'm moving to a new place for work, relocating from Napa Valley to Monterey (and honestly, lugging this massive case around won't be fun). My other option is to just buy a high-end gaming laptop for a much higher price and just bring my monitor along, but I suspect building a desktop is the more cost-effective and better route. What do you guys think? If you could suggest a few build options, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

These aren't bad offers at all, but I think it might be worth looking at a few other options just so I have some actual variety to choose from. We can see how things look tomorrow. One thing though—does it really matter that the first motherboard only has two RAM slots? Personally, I’d much prefer having four. I always worry that if a slot burns out instead of just the stick itself, I'll be stuck. If there are two extra empty slots, it's easy to just swap things around rather than being forced to buy an entirely new motherboard...

Thanks for all the help so far 👍

Larry Ortiz5 said:A lot of people on here are probably going to tell you to stay away from that specific shop because they can be a real headache if you ever need to file a warranty claim or run into other issues.

Look, if the issue is specifically about the store's service, then please point me toward something affordable with free shipping that offers similar vibes—maybe something like Protis or ADM. Around Indianapolis, my only local option is Links, and man, those guys are expensive as hell. I'm looking for the same components, specifically that i3, since I'm pretty sure it's the best value you can find at this price point. Besides, if I ever have a warranty issue, I'd just be mailing it back through the post anyway...

Hey everyone,

A buddy of mine is looking to upgrade his rig, and since he's currently stuck with a slow processor on an old AM2 + Black edition platform, I’m going to have to swap out the whole core setup—CPU, motherboard, and RAM. I did some digging and found this to be the best bang-for-your-buck processor available right now:

Intel Core i3-4160 3,6GHz box processor

They offer free shipping on orders over $125. It would be ideal if I could grab the rest of the parts from the same place, so please let me know what you'd recommend. He’s working with a budget of up to $600 (though honestly, the less we spend, the better), so see if you can make it work within that range. Also, let me know if it's worth splurging on a slightly better motherboard, or if we should prioritize bumping the RAM from 4 GB to 8 GB instead. I haven't really kept up with the market lately, so I'm a bit out of the loop here. He's still running an old ATI 6700 HD, which actually handles his usual rotation just fine: Total War: Rome II, Guild Wars 2, Battlefield 3, and the original Total War: Rome.

Thanks!

Larry Ortiz5 said:It’s honestly not surprising that you're seeing those temperature spikes while gaming—especially when you're running something demanding. That kind of heat is pretty standard, but if I were in your shoes, I'd probably head over to a local PC repair shop. Or, if you happen to have an air compressor lying around at home, you could try blowing out the case yourself? After that, just clean off the old thermal paste on the processor and apply some fresh stuff, and you should be good to go. Most of the time, these high temps come down to simple dust buildup or just the fact that it's summer and the apartment is running warmer than usual.

Yeah, you're right—everything was running perfectly fine until this damn heatwave hit... I actually have some high-quality thermal paste on hand, so I'll get that applied shortly. I don't think the GPU is the culprit here. The real issue is my case airflow; I don't really have many fans installed. It's basically just the power supply fan and the stock cooler on the processor. I'm going to give it a thorough cleaning, re-paste the CPU, and maybe look into picking up a large aftermarket fan to help things along...

Alright everyone...
My PC keeps shutting down right after I finish gaming. My Radeon 6670HD (which uses a passive heatsink) has a built-in sensor showing temps staying under 75°C. I also went into my BIOS and set a thermal alarm to trigger if any system component hits 90°C, but that hasn't tripped yet. I’m honestly stumped. I have HWMonitor installed to track my CPU temps, and my Core i7 (running at 2.1 GHz) isn't crossing the 70°C mark either. As soon as I hear that alarm go off, I immediately check both temperatures, and they're sitting right around 70°C. I just don't know what else could be causing this or what else I should be looking at. I actually specifically picked up this 6670HD because my old setup used integrated graphics and would overheat and shut down constantly. Could this be an issue with the power supply overheating, or maybe the Northbridge? Either way, it only happens when I'm playing games...

fadedorca66 said:Just grab yourself a new 6570; you can find them for about $133 bucks brand new.

How much of an upgrade is that compared to my old GeForce 7600 gt, especially since it's still weaker than something like an HD6770? Also, will it handle medium-high settings at 1024x768 for those games I listed and similar titles?

Alright everyone,

I recently picked up some free parts and put together a PC that doesn't have a dedicated GPU (just integrated graphics), so I'm looking to grab a card so I can actually play a few games.
Apacer 2x1 GB 800 MHz RAM
Gigabyte GA M61SME-S2 Motherboard
Intel Pentium Dual-Core 2.1GHz Processor
Western Digital 160 GB Hard Drive
400W MS Power Supply (it’s nothing special, but you don't look a gift horse in the mouth)

I'm wondering what might work if I want to play things like Age of Empires II, Baldur's Gate 3, or some other strategy games from about 4 or 5 years ago. The catch is that my power supply lacks an extra 6-pin or 8-pin connector, so I'm limited to cards that don't require external power. I do have a 12-pin to 2x6-pin adapter I got from a card in another build, but I'm not sure if that's a safe move, especially since this power supply is pretty bottom-of-the-barrel.🙂
Please drop some suggestions for new cards, though I'm mostly interested in used models from 2, 3, or 4 years ago in the $200 range down to $133. I was looking at things like the HD 3850 or 3870, but I suspect they'll need that extra power connection...
Thanks

Bryan Evans77 said:http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=gtx560 ?

It’s looking a bit pricey for me, especially once I factor in shipping costs. Since I'm not living right here in Washington, D.C., those extra fees from an Utrina-based seller really drive the total price up...

wiredmarlin5 said:It probably died because of overheating.

Your best bet would be to grab an HD 6950 1GB

You can find one at Micro Center for about $510.

By the way, you should sell those 2x1GB sticks of RAM and pick up a 2x2 GB kit instead.

Yeah, honestly, I'm a bit short on cash right now... I saw these over at Micro Center, but I'm not really sure how much of a difference there actually is between them (I just don't have the budget for a 6950 right now).

and

Hey everyone,
After a lot of frustration, I think my Sapphire 4870 512MB might have finally kicked the bucket. Before I give up on it, though, I was hoping you guys could help me confirm if I'm reading the situation correctly:
1. The AMD driver keeps crashing (it usually shows a black screen preceded by white dots)
2. Aside from the usual fan noise, I frequently hear this high-pitched squealing sound coming from the card, almost like water reaching a boil.
3. Temperatures seem fine right now—about 40 C with the fan at 50%.
4. About four months ago, I ran into some overheating issues because I had a space heater running right next to my PC. Even though the ambient temp near the case stayed around 30 C all winter, I had to crank the fan up to 80% just to keep the card from hitting 90 C under load. (I actually fixed the temps to 45 C recently after replacing the thermal paste, which had completely dried out by the time spring rolled around).
5. I suspect that heat spike back then caused permanent damage, even though I've managed to get the temperatures back down since then.
6. These driver errors first started popping up while I was playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Dragon Age 2 with the overheated card. After I replaced the paste, the issue persisted across all other games after a little while.
7. I’ve tried swapping through various drivers and even went back to the stock ones, but nothing works—it still crashes, sometimes even during bootup.
8. I went as far as performing a clean reinstall of Windows (formatting the partition where the OS lives) to rule out any software bugs. It worked perfectly for exactly one day before the exact same thing happened again.
9. Every time I try to run FurMark, the driver immediately dies (this is after the fresh Windows install).
10. Even with a fresh OS, the driver crashes and the screen goes black whenever I launch any game.
11. It’s incredibly inconsistent; it might work fine for an entire day in one specific game, but as soon as I switch to another title, it crashes again.
12. My current setup is Windows 7, E8400, ASUS P5Q-PRO, a Samsung Spinpoint drive, a Corsair TX650W PSU, and 2x1024 Crucial Ballistix RAM. (Everything runs totally fine when I'm just browsing Windows, watching movies on YouTube, or using Word, Acrobat, and WinRAR).

three questions:
1. Is my GPU officially dead?🙂?
2. Would a 6850 be a decent replacement, or is the 6870 significantly better? (I noticed the price difference isn't too massive).
3. Any recommendations for shops? I'm located near St. Louis, so should I check out local retailers like Best Buy or Micro Center, or is it better to order online from places like Newegg or Amazon? Which specific model should I look for, and I'd prefer something with a 3-year warranty if possible, since my last one only had 2 years.🙂

Thanks! (Sorry for the long rant).