Need a little help with my PC...

Hey everyone. I could use a little guidance here..
I’m not exactly an expert on this stuff, so I was hoping someone could clear things up for me..

I've got a machine that's about 7 years old now...

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix
Graphics Card: Radeon HD4670
Memory: 4GB Hynix....

I mainly use this rig for converting movies from DVD to DivX or MKV... depending on what I need at the time...
I don't do any gaming on it...

I'm wondering if adding some more RAM and swapping in a faster processor would actually speed up my encoding tasks?
The board is Socket AM3 Ready...

I was thinking about hunting down an Intel Core i7 on Craigslist......
And I can probably grab the RAM on eBay....

Will that give me a noticeable boost, or am I better off just buying all new components altogether...?

Money is a bit tight right now...

Thanks for the help...

You definitely can, it’ll help... I guess the CPU and RAM are really the most important parts for what you're trying to do.

You’ll probably need to do a BIOS update to version P1.40 to support those Socket AM3 Ready processors.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/processors...listing-18489101

What kind of RAM are you running right now? Is it Micron 2 x2GB or maybe 4x1GB? And what's the frequency? You can surely find some decent deals on eBay if you look around.

I've already flashed the latest BIOS...
I managed to track down a $167 processor on Craigslist...

The RAM is Micron 2 x2GB....
DDR2 800MHz...

I spotted some 4x4GB kits on eBay for about $30—same brand, too....

http://www.ebay.com/processors/intel...listing-18440162

If it’s just $67, then you might as well go ahead and grab 4x4GB; your current setup wouldn't really matter then. Just make sure it isn't high-density RAM.

I'm well aware this isn't top-tier memory..
If I had the cash lying around, I’d just build a whole new rig..
But for now, I'm stuck patching this old thing together.....

Well, I'm not sure which one you're looking at 😬 High-density memory is compatible maybe 70% of the time, compared to over 99% for low-density RAM, so 😉

http://www.ebay.com/itm/hynix-16GB-4x4GB-PC2-6400-DDR2-800Mhz-240pin-Desktop-Memory-For-AMD-Motherboard/361324030930?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkpa rms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3 D35830%26meid%3D7b87f4336cda4d0584ec83acb4048437%2 6pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D3514404535 58

Whenever they slap an "optimized for AMD" label on it, you can bet it’s high-density

I’d suggest grabbing a decent cooler too—you don't have to rush, but it’s probably a good move. An LC-CC-95 should do the trick, and it’s running about $33.

I'm currently running a Cooler Master Katana 2...

Right now, I've got this Zalman CNPS5X PERFORMA sitting on the processor:

Just wanted to chime in on this..
I might be able to snag an Intel Core i3 for next to nothing...

Will it actually speed things up?
Mainly, I'm just converting video files...

Robert Booth19 said:Just jumping in here..
I can snag an Intel Core i3-2100 for basically nothing.....

Will it actually be faster?
The thing is, I'm converting video files.....

obviously 2 cores < 4 cores