Need help picking out a new CPU

Hey everyone, hope you're all having a great day!

I'm looking for a little bit of guidance here,
basically... I've got this ancient rig from back in 2005. It's running an old Intel quad-core at 3GHz, and because of those whole "melted" processor issues people were dealing with, I swapped in a new graphics card—an NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS—a few years back, along with 2 gigs of RAM.

About a year or two ago, when I first started poking around this idea, someone told me my motherboard wouldn't support a beefier processor. They suggested I’d have to ditch the motherboard entirely and upgrade all my RAM just to get a better CPU, but I really want to double-check that before I go throwing money down a rabbit hole. It would be amazing if there was a way to avoid that massive bill.
If anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know; I'm really trying to avoid buying a whole new computer if I can help it. I'd love to give this thing a bit of a facelift—mostly I use it for college work, but after all these years, I thought it might be fun to actually play a few games for a change!

Here is what my motherboard specs look like (according to Everest):

--------[ Motherboard ]-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Motherboard Information:
Motherboard ID 63-1402-000010-00101111-111805-I915$A0092001_BIOS DATE: 11/18/05 09:25:04 VER: 08.00.10
Motherboard Name: ASUS P5GD1-VM

FSB Information:
Bus Type: Intel GTL
Bus Width: 64 bit
Base Frequency: 200 MHz (QDR)
Effective Frequency: 800 MHz
Bandwidth: 6400 MB/s

Memory Bus Information:
Bus Type: Dual DDR SDRAM
Bus Width: 128 bit
DRAM:FSB Ratio: 5:6
Base Frequency: 167 MHz (DDR)
Effective Frequency: 333 MHz
Bandwidth: 5333 MB/s

Chipset Bus Information:
Bus Type: Intel Direct Media Interface

Physical Information:
Number of CPU Upgrade Slots: 1 LGA775
Number of Expansion Slots: 2 PCI, 1 PCI-E x1, 1 PCI-E x16
Number of Memory Slots: 4 DDR DIMM
Integrated Devices: Audio, Video, LAN
Form Factor: Micro ATX
Dimensions: 240 mm x 240 mm
Motherboard Chipset: i915G
Additional Features: Q-Fan

Motherboard Manufacturer:
Company Name: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

--------[ Chipset ]-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Northbridge: Intel Grantsdale-G i915G ]

Northbridge Options:
Northbridge: Intel Grantsdale-G i915G
Supported FSB Frequencies: FSB533, FSB800
Supported Memory Types: DDR-333 SDRAM, DDR-400 SDRAM, DDR2-400 SDRAM, DDR2-533 SDRAM
Maximum Memory Capacity: 4 GB
Revision / Stepping: 04 / B1
Package Type: 1210 Pin FC-BGA
Dimensions: 3.75 cm x 3.75 cm
Core Voltage: 1.5 V
In-Order Queue Depth: 12

Memory Controller:
Type: Dual Channel (128 bit)
Active Mode: Dual Channel (128 bit)

Memory Timings:
CAS Latency (CL): 2.5T
RAS To CAS Delay (tRCD): 4T
RAS Precharge (tRP): 4T
RAS Active Time (tRAS): 7T
Refresh Period (tREF): 7.8 us

Error Correction:
ECC: Not Supported
ChipKill ECC: Not Supported
RAID: Not Supported
ECC Scrubbing: Not Supported

Memory Slots:
DRAM Slot 1: 512 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
DRAM Slot 2: 512 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
DRAM Slot 3: 1 GB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)

Integrated Graphics:
Graphics Card Type: Intel GMA 900
Graphics Card Status: Not in use

PCI Express Controller:
PCI-E 1.0 x16 port #2: In use @ x16 (NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS Video Adapter)

Chipset Manufacturer:
Company Name: Intel Corporation
Product Information http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets
Driver Download http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets
BIOS Upgradehttp://www.esupport.com/biosagent/in...m?refererid=40
I've been digging through some driver updates over at http://driveragent.com?ref=59

[ Southbridge: Intel 82801FB ICH6 ]

Here is what I managed to pull regarding the Southbridge options:
The Southbridge is an Intel 82801FB ICH6
Revision / Stepping D3 / B1
Package Type 609 Pin mBGA
Dimensions 3.1 cm x 3.1 cm
Core Voltage 1.5 V

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can throw my way!

Unfortunately, that board is strictly limited to Pentium 4 processors, so you don't really have any other options here:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5GD1VM/HelpDesk_CPU/

So, if you want a new CPU, you’re looking at a new motherboard and RAM too. I guess you should also check your power supply; maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to swap that out as well... Plus, your optical drive and hard drive need to be SATA, since PATA won't work on a modern board.

What were you planning on playing on this PC?

fadedorca66 said:Unfortunately, this board is strictly limited to Pentium 4 processors, so you really don't have much room to maneuver here:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5GD1VM/HelpDesk_CPU/

Basically, if you want a decent upgrade for the processor, you're looking at a whole new motherboard and RAM setup. From there, we’d probably need to take a look at your power supply—it might be worth swapping that out too, just to be safe. Also, keep in mind that both your optical drive and your hard drive need to be SATA; modern boards aren't going to play nice with those old PATA drives.

So, what kind of games were you actually planning to run on this rig?

fadedorca66, thanks a million for the heads-up!
Yeah, I've got a bunch of old hard drives lying around, so I'm thinking about picking up an external one... mostly because I'm running desperately low on storage, and I assume I could just hook that up via USB.
I actually swapped out my power supply way back in 2011... my old one basically gave up the ghost because my graphics card started demanding more juice than it could handle, so I went out and bought a Spireone unit. I can't recall the exact voltage, but man, it wasn't cheap... it cost me about $133
Looking at the list, I see a few CPUs that are slightly beefier than what I'm currently rocking, though I highly doubt I'll find them sitting on a shelf anywhere. I might try hunting them down on Amazon or eBay, but do you have any specific recommendations from the ones you listed? Those 3.8 GHz models might actually make a noticeable difference.

I've always been a huge fan of playing Football Manager, so I was hoping to check out some of the newer versions released since 2010, maybe some FIFA or PES... though I'm leaning more toward PES.
Even though "Can You Run It" told me I met the absolute bare minimum requirements to get FM running, I tried to install it and launch it, only to have my computer throw an error message saying the processor just couldn't handle the load... I used to love playing Stronghold (the old HC version), Call of Duty, and stuff like that. A few people have also mentioned Assassin's Creed as a must-play title... and things along those lines.

I won't even get started on 😉 World of Warcraft... I pretty much hit a wall during Wrath of the Lich King and just walked away. I haven't exactly been loyal to the franchise since then, but honestly, I might find myself drifting back for a look sometime—maybe even diving into one of those private servers to check out the newer expansions.

So, this is what I'm currently running under the hood:

Processor details:
Processor Intel Pentium 4 530, 3000 MHz (15 x 200)
Processor core Prescott
CPU stepping D0
Supported instruction sets x86, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3
Base frequency 3000 MHz
Min / Max CPU multiplier 14x / 15x
Engineering Sample No
L1 Trace cache 12K Instructions
L1 data cache 16 KB
L2 cache 1 MB (On-Die, ECC, ATC, Full-Speed)

Multi CPU:
Motherboard ID INTEL
CPU #1 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz, 2992 MHz
CPU #2 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz, 2992 MHz

Physical processor information:
Package type 775 Contact LGA
Dimensions 3.75 cm x 3.75 cm
Transistor count 125 million
Manufacturing technology 7M, 90 nm, CMOS, Cu, Low-K Dielectric, High-K Metal Gate, Strained Si
Die size 112 mm2
Core voltage 1.425 V
I/O voltage 1.425 V
Standard power consumption 84 - 115 W (depending on frequency)
Max power consumption 101 - 151 W (depending on frequency)

Processor manufacturer:
Company name Intel Corporation
Product information http://www.intel.com/products/processor

CPU Occupation:
1. CPU / 1. HTT unit 0 %
1. CPU / 2. HTT unit 25 %

That’s pretty old school... For maybe $600 you could snag a processor with integrated graphics, 4GB of RAM, a hard drive, an optical drive, a power supply, and even a brand-new case. Not to mention how much faster the computer would actually run...

Check out this find I stumbled upon
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Pentiu...item27dd0e38ef

Honestly, what's the point? You'll maybe get an extra 800MHz out of that CPU, but even then, it's probably not enough to run FM or anything similar since it's just ancient. And don't even get me started on AC—it won't run, period. It’s just too old...

Instead of blowing your cash on an external drive, I'd say just grab a decent 1TB internal drive. At least you can actually reuse it when you upgrade your other parts later.

After that, your only real move is to buy everything else new or used, depending on how much you're willing to shell out.

For example, check this out. For $300 plus the cost of a new drive, you'd have a setup fast enough to actually make you happy:

1 x Asrock H81M-VG4, Intel Socket 1150
1 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x Intel Celeron G1820 (2.70GHz,512KB,2MB,54 W,1150) Box

$292

Jesse Williams22, thanks a million!

This setup looks awesome and honestly seems like a steal, but I'm wondering—what kind of damage am I looking at if I want to throw some internal hard drives in here?

You can probably find 500GB for $117, and anything 1TB from $133 up isn't even that much more expensive

Jesse Williams22 said:Thanks a lot, unknown!

This looks great and seems like a steal. Any idea how much extra I'd be looking at for internal hard drives?

What kind of budget are we talking about if you were building a full rig from scratch?

The setup unknown put together is fine if you aren't gaming. For browsing, streaming movies, or basic office stuff, it works... but that's about as far as I'd go with it.