Posts by Bryan Taylor6

The processor should fit, but you really need to check the BIOS compatibility first...

As for the power supply, if it doesn't have that 6-pin connector for the graphics card, you can just grab an adapter at a local Walmart to convert 4-pin to 6-pin$6.75

It does have a 6-pin connector

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/corsa...supply-review/

Man, that's a bummer about the GPU... It’s definitely not anything special, though it might pull through at lower resolutions. Maybe it's better to just grab something older but more powerful??? What resolution are you planning to play at?

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...ming+on+hd6450





https://www.youtube.com/results?q=ga...ck+simulator+2

An older 4850 for $67 absolutely crushes the 6450, and you might even find something better if you look closer

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-HD-64...Radeon-HD-4850

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid...vs%20hd%204850

http://www.ebay.com/itm/graphic-card-listing

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/pro...aspx?pID=2644#

Check which CPU fits your setup and what version of the BIOS you're running

The platform is pretty dated. I'm not sure which GPU you're eyeing, but for $67 it's nothing special... You might get some early COD titles running... I haven't seen many Phenom chips clocked at 2.2 GHz... maybe this one

AMD Phenom X4 9550 2200MHz 512KBx4 2MB Agena 65nm B3 95W

As for raw power, just hit up Google. Compare the specific Phenom model against that Athlon and look at the benchmarks...

Your power supply is a disaster... and those older cards can be huge power hogs if you decide to grab one...

The integrated graphics on the motherboard might be struggling because there isn't enough RAM, and honestly, you're low on RAM across the board... That card is fine for browsing the web, though...

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid...hlon+64+x2+240

If we're talking about those processors, you're probably better off grabbing a cheaper Athlon. The performance is similar, and for older games, single-core strength matters more. Not many people were looking for quad-core back then... plus, it draws less power, assuming the BIOS supports it

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...+athlon+x2+240

You could actually get some decent gaming out of that Athlon, especially if you overclock it a little...

This is what gaming looks like on a Phenom (if that's the one you mean)

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...Phenom+X4+9550

You really ought to just grab everything at once because picking things up piece by piece like this is pointless... what motherboard are you actually using? Will that Phenom even fit on it?

So, what kind of budget are we looking at?

Because if you want a winning combo, you should go with all-new parts.

A Celeron 1820 is roughly $100
some cheap motherboard around $117
4GB of DDR3 RAM around $70

Of course, you could definitely aim higher. I'm just throwing out rough numbers here, assuming you can find a Celeron for $90 and maybe an even cheaper board.

If you have a SATA hard drive, you might be able to reuse it, since newer boards don't really support PATA anymore... well, they support EIDE, but still...

And then you've got a little extra left over.

It would also be a smart move to swap out the power supply; 700W is a lot...

1 x Asrock H81M-HDS, s1150, Intel H81, M-ATX, dual Channel 2 xDDR3
1 x Pentium G3258
1 x FORTRON 400W PSU, HEXA plus 400, 12cm fan
1 x MS KNIGHT midi tower case (no PSU)
1 x 8GB (1x8GB) Kingston DDR3, HyperX Fury, 1866MHz, CL10
1 x 1TB Seagate HDD, SATA III, 7200 rpm, ST1000DM003
1 x SSD
1 x decent aftermarket cooler for overclocking

crimsonstag84 was asking if this setup is actually any good... and how far I can push the overclock...
Do you really need software that requires 4 cores specifically?

If the integrated graphics on that CPU can't handle 4K, just pick up a cheap used card... maybe around $67

Chris Robinson25 said:Honestly... I'd just move the RAM up there and leave everything else alone.

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I think the HD 5770 can handle a triple-monitor setup, and you can find one used for about $133
...

Benjamin Campbell55 said:But what about running an Intel Celeron G1840 in an ITX case? Is that actually gonna work without melting everything? I'm talking about the CPU temps here.
Like this Linkworld case 920-03C-C2121—slim, 200 W, mini ITX

Generic 400W power supplies never actually hit 400W. And just imagine using some random no-name 200W unit instead...

Gregory Hayes87 said:GPU is hitting 80, CPU is around 70...

I’ve got an AMD Phenom II 965 Black Edition clocked at 3.4GHz with a liquid cooler... and my temps have never even touched 55 degrees... running the exact same browser tabs...

There's no need to keep swapping thermal paste at your current rate. Once you apply decent paste, it holds up for two years easy...

Look, you've got a few posts down there featuring office PCs or cheap internet machines. We're talking numbers starting around $467 and climbing if you want decent new components. Basically, you're looking at an AMD Athlon processor, some budget motherboard, a 500GB hard drive, a basic case and power supply, plus 4GB of DDR3 RAM... that's the baseline. From there, just grab whatever graphics card fits your budget. You can skip the GPU entirely, but don't expect to play much of anything... Just keep in mind this is a modern office machine. That old system with the Intel Core i7 is basically a relic... you can barely even browse the web properly with it

I'm not really an expert on used gaming rigs from Craigslist or anything, but I honestly don't think you can build anything worthwhile for gaming if you're under $800-$333... unless someone wants to correct me if I'm wrong

Your processor is just too weak... grab a used i5 or something better, you've already got plenty of RAM... upgrading should be easy enough for you...

I don't see any point in buying an i7 just for browsing the web.

The fastest AGP cards you could grab were either the Radeon HD3850 or the Radeon HD4670. Finding a 3850 is a real challenge these days, but you can still track down a 4670 if you're willing to pay a premium:

can an hd 3450 agp work for $50

fadedorca66 said:
It’s a bummer they aren't offering $17 for that 9600 since it's actually a bit stronger than what he has now. He'd still be able to play everything he could before. I'm signing off on crimsonstag84's post—he should just grab a used rig that can at least fit a PCI-E card and enjoy himself

I agree, if he has the cash from rowdypilot53...

If he doesn't have this, it's still a solid deal for $17. He gets the GPU and 760MB of RAM

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com...ut-3/10793?p=r

And I didn't really find any better cards on eBay for that kind of money... maybe I missed something. I'm guessing most are just old x600 series PCI cards?

for $17 you get better graphics and some extra RAM if it fits

http://www.ebay.com/itm/graphics-card-listing

that’s the strongest card on the list. after that, maybe go for a 9600GT or a 9550

you should probably be able to run

http://www.systemrequirements.net/game-requirements.html

this one looks more realistic... maybe too demanding

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/sysreq/can-i-run-it

http://www.craigslist.com/graphics-card-listing

http://www.craigslist.com/graphics-card-listing-2

http://www.craigslist.com/graphics-card-listing-3

basically, with a bit more RAM and a better GPU, everything will run smoother... even the internet...

If you're doing video editing, an SSD is basically non-negotiable... you could just burn everything to a DVD once you're finished... honestly, I'd even skip the graphics card if it meant getting an SSD inside

Maybe you're looking at a faulty power supply... if you can grab a different one just to test things out, it might be worth a shot...

So, what's the consensus on the AM1 platform? Is that integrated 8400 graphics actually better than the Radeon 3 found on an AMD x2 7300 APU?

Gigabyte AM1M-S2H, AM1, Build in AMD Sempron & Athlon-Series APU $73

AMD X4 5350 Athlon 2.05GHz 4cores,cache : 2MB L2,25W $148

together $221 in AMD

Ryan Hayes82 said:overclocking the CPU to 4 GHz or higher

1 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x Intel Pentium G3258 Processor (3.20GHz,512KB,3MB,54 W,1150) Box
1 x Asrock H81M-HDS, s1150, Intel H81, M-ATX, dual Channel 2 xDDR3
1 x Zalman ZM-T2 PLUS micro tower case. 189(W) x 427,5(H) x 364(D)mm
1 x XFX 430W P1-430S-XXB9 PSU, TS series
1 x TOSHIBA 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA100
1 x AMD Radeon R9 270, R9-270A-CDFC, Double Dissipation Edition 925M Boost

$1129
techcrunch.com

Can I actually overclock this CPU to 4 GHz on this board? ...is the multiplier unlocked?

You drop a grand on a GPU and another 500 on an SSD, and you'll honestly feel like you're running a brand-new rig 🙂

If the motherboard is the issue, you can fix that pretty cheap too

But if you've got money to burn, just buy everything brand new

It feels like all these price drops are completely skipping us over

Check this out—they're asking $120 for a Celeron 1820, when you could easily snag one for 240... 😵