The issue is we don't even know which motherboard you actually need. Plus, that old rig probably has a junk power supply and an ancient hard drive in it. To start, just tell us what kind of port the hard drive uses—SATA or PATA (SATA uses those thin cables, while PATA is wide; maybe just Google the difference if you aren't sure).
Once that's settled, let us know the brand and specific model of the power supply. You could also just snap a photo so we can see what we're dealing with.
The catch is, if both the power supply and the hard drive are outdated, you're probably going to have to swap them both out.
Look, if you're messing around with new parts, you're eventually going to have to drop the cash anyway... so you might as well save up and tackle it in this order:
1. power supply (roughly $100) 2. GPU (depends on how much you actually game) 3. CPU + mobo + RAM (cheapest route is probably around $367 or more) 4. extra RAM
Once those upgrades are done, you've basically got a decent rig (like a brand new PC 😁) and you can still play stuff without issues in the meantime. Plus, you can probably flip your old parts for a little extra cash
So, my suggestion would be to grab a used card like an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 for maybe 600-700-$267 and get a fresh power supply. Or just do the PSU first and save at least $267 toward the GPU later
Dennis Carter3 said:Just because it came from an online retailer doesn't mean you're getting a dud right out of the box, I guess. And motherboards don't fail that often, especially the ones that aren't meant for overclocking since there's basically nothing you can do to break them.
Processors might be reliable, but you just can't make that same assumption about motherboards.
I'd probably just grab a separate cooler if I were you. Those Athlons tend to run pretty hot, and those Box coolers are honestly just loud and inefficient
Adam Moore3 said:I found the CPU support list, and it says it supports Core 2 Quad processors. Even though the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 has a 95W TDP, which isn't exactly small, especially for motherboards like this 🤣 We'll see. That was the original plan, but I actually suggested they save some cash for an Intel Pentium or an AMD Athloncic instead. 🙂 Everything else is there; even the RAM on this board is DDR3.
Yeah, and then you'll probably have just enough luck to find out the exact chip you bought isn't even supported 🤣
Man, just stay away from that old relic. You buy a new CPU and then the motherboard probably dies on you anyway. Who knows what kind of junk HP was packing in there or if it even supports the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400. That socket is like 8 years old; I wouldn't sink more than $33 into it.
If they can swing $133, they could probably grab an 800 too, since there's a newer Pentium that actually overclocks. Crank it to 4ghz—it'll likely outperform a Quad in anything that benefits from raw speed, plus it runs cooler, so everything's working in its favor. In a year or two, maybe just snag a used i5 for $333 and call it a day for the next few years.
And since you're working with that case, you'll have to figure out how to 😁 either hand it off to someone who actually knows how to use a grinder to get a clean cut, or maybe just try messing around with some pliers. Personally, I'd probably go the pliers route, though I'd probably check if you can just strip the plastic off the GPU first and see how much that messes with the temps
It’s not really about how much power it pumps out; if it's a decent unit (and we can assume it has an 80 Plus rating), then the wattage listed on the label is what it actually delivers. So, if it says 400W, it's 400W. But since no power supply is perfect—just like any AC to DC converter—you're always going to have some losses (like energy turning into heat, etc.).
Basically, if it's 80% efficient and your PC pulls 100W, it'll pull an extra 20W from the wall (120W total) because those 20W just vanish into nothing. I guess the better the certification, the better, though the difference isn't huge enough to obsess over. Maybe just Google the 80 Plus certifications to see the specific requirements for each level (Gold is top tier, Bronze is middle ground, and Silver sits in between).