Good place to buy older processors Intel core 2 Quad

Victor_M

Hi folks I'm looking to buy a processor to upgrade my existing core 2 duo 2.16GHz from an old dell dimension E520.
The pc is perfect for my needs only issue is as I'm using it as a htpc it struggling with some HD content, only barely so a processor upgrade should sort it out.
I've been reading up about it and the Intel Q6600 core 2 Quad like THIS will work on the motherboard in an E520.
Where would the best place to pick up one of these new or second hand be?

I've been looking at eBay and adverts and it's going to be pot luck if one comes up for sale there, are there any good online resources out there that I may not be aware of?

The one in the amazon link seems very expensive for a 4 year old CPU.

Thanks

Tar.Aldarion

get it off this guy http://www.cadred.org/Forums/Thread/147281/
will get it cheap

marco_polo

Victor_M wrote: »

Hi folks I'm looking to buy a processor to upgrade my existing core 2 duo 2.16GHz from an old dell dimension E520.
The pc is perfect for my needs only issue is as I'm using it as a htpc it struggling with some HD content, only barely so a processor upgrade should sort it out.
I've been reading up about it and the Intel Q6600 core 2 Quad like THIS will work on the motherboard in an E520.
Where would the best place to pick up one of these new or second hand be?

I've been looking at eBay and adverts and it's going to be pot luck if one comes up for sale there, are there any good online resources out there that I may not be aware of?

The one in the amazon link seems very expensive for a 4 year old CPU.

Thanks

Alternatively it may work out cheaper to consider a new graphics card that supports full hardware acceleration of newer HD formats such as H.264 etx (Which the fairly old Intel GMA X3000 cannot do to the best of my knowledge), which should take the pressure off the CPU.

EDIT: A cheap second hand ATI HD4350 or something like that would be ideal.

Victor_M

marco_polo wrote: »

Alternatively it may work out cheaper to consider a new graphics card that supports full hardware acceleration of newer HD formats such as H.264 etx (Which the fairly old Intel GMA X3000 cannot do to the best of my knowledge), which should take the pressure off the CPU.

EDIT: A cheap second hand ATI HD4350 or something like that would be ideal.

Thanks Marco-polo I was literally about to post the very question, my mate has a graphics card from a few years ago but it was a good one at the time, I'm going to nab it later and try it out, I don't know the make of model but I'll give it a try if it doesn't work ill get one of the ATI cards you posted, I'm trying to source an upgrade chip on adverts at the moment.

I'm looking at a 3.0 GHz dual core or a 2.4GHz quad core, which would be most effective for playing high bandwidth HD through a Black gold sat card?

Just found this http://www.adverts.ie/hardware/ati-radeon-hd-2900xt/578795 what do you think? would it be up to the job? What are the main requirements to look out for in a video card for my needs? Not too familiar with CPU or Video upgrades as I've never had to do anthing like this before, so thanks a million for your help!

Cuddlesworth

Doesn't sound like you should need a upgrade. I run a 1.8ghz single core Opteron with a cheap 40 euro 3460 Ati card and play 1080p movies with ease.

What is your current gfx card or chip?

marco_polo

Victor_M wrote: »

Thanks Marco-polo I was literally about to post the very question, my mate has a graphics card from a few years ago but it was a good one at the time, I'm going to nab it later and try it out, I don't know the make of model but I'll give it a try if it doesn't work ill get one of the ATI cards you posted, I'm trying to source an upgrade chip on adverts at the moment.

I'm looking at a 3.0 GHz dual core or a 2.4GHz quad core, which would be most effective for playing high bandwidth HD through a Black gold sat card?

I wouldn't be 100% sure on this I must be honest, as don't know a great deal about sat cards. My hunch would be that it could probably can use all 4 cores which would make the quad a better bet but I will have to stay on the fence for this one.

Someone in one of the the AV forums (or even here) would probably be much better placed to answer.

Just found this http://www.adverts.ie/hardware/ati-radeon-hd-2900xt/578795 what do you think? would it be up to the job? What are the main requirements to look out for in a video card for my needs? Not too familiar with CPU or Video upgrades as I've never had to do anthing like this before, so thanks a million for your help!

It would work, but that is a power hungry gaming card from a few generations back, not really suited to a HTPC. Something passively cooled and low powered would be ideal for your needs. Anything from the past few years by NVidia or ATI will have all the harward acceleration support you need (I am thinking along the lines of cards such as AMD HD 4350/5450, Nvidia 210 for example)

Something like this would be ideal.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-11166-01-20R-5450-512MB-Graphics/dp/B0036DD4CY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1304945217&sr=8-2

marco_polo

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Doesn't sound like you should need a upgrade. I run a 1.8ghz single core Opteron with a cheap 40 euro 3460 Ati card and play 1080p movies with ease.

What is your current gfx card or chip?

Seems to be be a GMA X3000 on that Dell.

Victor_M

Thanks folks for all your help,

I have the option of buying a quad 2.4 at the moment for €70-€80 if I need to, but it encouraging to see that the GFX card may be the weak link!

One of the lads in work has a spare one of these asus 4870 512 cards at home he's going to bring in for me tomorrow.

I'm going to try the older Nvidia one that my mate has tonight and the ASUS one tomorrow, it would be nice to not have to spend the money on a CPU if I can avoid it.

Thanks again for all you help, I'll let you know how I get on with both cards.

Victor_M

Just an update

I stuck in an old nVidia Gforce 6800GT and it's made a huge difference brought the CPU usage down from 100% to 65-75, I'm getting the Asus 4870 tomorrow so that should be even better again.

I think I'm going to upgrade the CPU too as I'm so close to maxing out the CPU and streaming will probably push it over the edge.

I'm looking at a http://www.adverts.ie/hardware/intel-e6850-3-0ghz-skt775/533041 E6850 dual core would this work with my E520? My understanding is that certain FSB's once they are the same socket can throttle down to a lower speed if they need to is that true?

Again thanks for your help.

ibFoxer

Victor_M wrote: »

Just an update

I stuck in an old nVidia Gforce 6800GT and it's made a huge difference brought the CPU usage down from 100% to 65-75, I'm getting the Asus 4870 tomorrow so that should be even better again.

I think I'm going to upgrade the CPU too as I'm so close to maxing out the CPU and streaming will probably push it over the edge.

I'm looking at a http://www.adverts.ie/hardware/intel-e6850-3-0ghz-skt775/533041 E6850 dual core would this work with my E520? My understanding is that certain FSB's once they are the same socket can throttle down to a lower speed if they need to is that true?

Again thanks for your help.

Do you have any idea what chipset it has? I'd put money on a G965???

Without looking into it i'd imagine your mobo is rated for 1066Mhz FSB at most? That may rule an E6850 out. I would imagine a Q6600 or Q6700 would run happily on the latest bios (basing this on the E520 not being a gazillion miles away from the 9200) BUT i'd have to look into it more. If you find out the chipset it will point you in the right direction, CPU-Z should help there

marco_polo

I know you may to be getting it cheap but I would be very concerned about putting a HD4870 in there as it is a very hot running, power hungry gaming card and you only have a 305W PSU as far as I can tell (The HD4870 also requires two additional PCIe power connectors which your PSU may not even have).

Although I have doubts over the exact the figures in this chart linked below is still serves a reasonable guide as to the relative power consumption of various graphics cards nonetheless, just compare the numbers for a single HD4870 to those of the HD4350/5450 or NVidia Geforce 210 for example.

You can ignore the multi gpu entries Crossfile(CF) and SLI.

http://forums.atomicmpc.com.au/index.php?showtopic=264

I know there is a good chance you would never be doing any 3D intensive applications such as gaming and so may never get anywhere near to fully loading the GPU (HD acceleration is not very stressful for a GPU), but if you ever combined a quad core CPU and it with the HD4870, and both were under full loaded for some reason, I'd wager you would be pushing the PSU right to its limits or over.

Victor_M

The chipset is an Intel G965 Express.

Thanks Marco_polo, there are 2 pci power connectors required alright! I may be better off with the nVidia and upgrading the CPU so.

Even the older nVidia makes a small, amount of extra noise compared to the stock one I removed.

Would a quad core use much more power than the one I have (2.13 Dual core) never really thought about that aspect before, but it makes sense more computing power uses more PSU power.

So I have ruled out the Q6850, my chip set doesn't seem to support that one.

I have also tracked down a Q6600 Quad 2.4 or an E7600 3.06 Dual core both for sale at the moment.

Although the Q6600 wasn't officially supported by Dell because they didn't sell it with the E520 at the time there are a fair few examples of it working perfectly in a E520 with the lasted BIOS, so i'm happy enough it would work.

The E7600, was at the time the top of the range chip available when I bought my E520 so it definitely works.

so my given the choice of those 2 is there any one that stands out as an obvious one to go for?

Just to reiterate i don't game with this machine at all this is a HTPC & media streaming machine only.

Thanks again lads, you've all been a great help and i've learnt loads over the last few days.

ibFoxer

Victor_M wrote: »

The chipset is an Intel G965 Express.

Thanks Marco_polo, there are 2 pci power connectors required alright! I may be better off with the nVidia and upgrading the CPU so.

Even the older nVidia makes a small, amount of extra noise compared to the stock one I removed.

Would a quad core use much more power than the one I have (2.13 Dual core) never really thought about that aspect before, but it makes sense more computing power uses more PSU power.

So I have ruled out the Q6850, my chip set doesn't seem to support that one.

I have also tracked down a Q6600 Quad 2.4 or an E7600 3.06 Dual core both for sale at the moment.

Although the Q6600 wasn't officially supported by Dell because they didn't sell it with the E520 at the time there are a fair few examples of it working perfectly in a E520 with the lasted BIOS, so i'm happy enough it would work.

The E7600, was at the time the top of the range chip available when I bought my E520 so it definitely works.

so my given the choice of those 2 is there any one that stands out as an obvious one to go for?

Just to reiterate i don't game with this machine at all this is a HTPC & media streaming machine only.

Thanks again lads, you've all been a great help and i've learnt loads over the last few days.

I'd tend to lean towards the quad in that scenario, but thats personal choice. If you do end up getting the Q6600, make sure its G0 stepping and not B3. Other than that, you just need to be sure that your PSu can support the extra power, and that your cooler is up to scratch. Pretty surei have a couple of coolers lying around if you need one. Check out the PSU to be sure, although i know a lot of cases where people have put quads into E520's etc without any hiccups.

ibFoxer

marco_polo wrote: »

I know you may to be getting it cheap but I would be very concerned about putting a HD4870 in there as it is a very hot running, power hungry gaming card and you only have a 305W PSU as far as I can tell (The HD4870 also requires two additional PCIe power connectors which your PSU may not even have).

Although I have doubts over the exact the figures in this chart linked below is still serves a reasonable guide as to the relative power consumption of various graphics cards nonetheless, just compare the numbers for a single HD4870 to those of the HD4350/5450 or NVidia Geforce 210 for example.

You can ignore the multi gpu entries Crossfile(CF) and SLI.

http://forums.atomicmpc.com.au/index.php?showtopic=264

I know there is a good chance you would never be doing any 3D intensive applications such as gaming and so may never get anywhere near to fully loading the GPU (HD acceleration is not very stressful for a GPU), but if you ever combined a quad core CPU and it with the HD4870, and both were under full loaded for some reason, I'd wager you would be pushing the PSU right to its limits or over.

What about a 5570? 1gb ddr3, runs at 55w if memory serves, i had one of these in an optiplex, very nice little card and can be had for shillings hese days.

Victor_M

Ok so I have the ASUS card, look great, before I try it out I want to check a few things.

THIS website reviews it and under load running at 334watts with a pc setup a bit more demanding then mine by the looks of it.

The PSU for my PC is rated at 305Watts, I assume from what marco_polo said GFX cards (all components for that matter probably) only pull more power when they need it, my absolute lack of gaming is going to put it under almost no pressure, what sort of risk do I run if the PSU gets too close to its limit does it short or just prevent the board/component demanding the power from getting it?

I've made an offer on the Quad core CPU, if I get it's I'll take both of your advice and get a higher spec PSU.

The Dual core is THIS ONE its an SLGTD what's the difference between this one and the GO rev number? Is it a nono or is the other one just a slight improvement? Just in case the quad doesn't work out and I go for the Dual.

Again thanks you've been more than helpful.

ibFoxer

The G0 in the Q6600 runs at cooler temps, I don't think it draws any more or any less power.

As far as the gfx/psu- do you know what make the psu is?

marco_polo

Victor_M wrote: »

Ok so I have the ASUS card, look great, before I try it out I want to check a few things.

THIS website reviews it and under load running at 334watts with a pc setup a bit more demanding then mine by the looks of it.

The PSU for my PC is rated at 305Watts, I assume from what marco_polo said GFX cards (all components for that matter probably) only pull more power when they need it, my absolute lack of gaming is going to put it under almost no pressure, what sort of risk do I run if the PSU gets too close to its limit does it short or just prevent the board/component demanding the power from getting it?

I've made an offer on the Quad core CPU, if I get it's I'll take both of your advice and get a higher spec PSU.

The Dual core is THIS ONE its an SLGTD what's the difference between this one and the GO rev number? Is it a nono or is the other one just a slight improvement? Just in case the quad doesn't work out and I go for the Dual.

Again thanks you've been more than helpful.

Yeah the the power consumption varies dramatically depends on the load on components, <<first figures pulled from google disclaimer>> there about a 60W difference between idle(40W) and load (100W) of a Q6600 and 90W or so difference for the HD4870 (Idle 60-70W / Load 150-160W).

It is also worth noting that this puts just the idle power consumption of a HD4870 at 2-3 times the load and 5-6 time the idle power levels of the low end HTPC cards, worth noting in a machine that will be potentiallty be switched on for very long period.

If you go for a low power HTPC card and the Q6600 then there would definately be no need to get a new PSU which, would work out much cheaper than sticking with the HD4870 and shelling out €50-60 for a new 400-450W+ PSU (Any card around the €30 mark should do the trick).

You would be no worse off from a performance point of view, as you don't need the extra 3D processing power, just the HD hardware accleration which is pretty well the same across the low, mid and high end cards.

As for what would happen if it went over limit, the answer was in your first link. Best case some system instability, worst case boom!

bad 3D performance
crashing games
spontaneous reset or imminent shutdown of the PC
freezes during gameplay
PSU overload can cause it to break down

What happens depends largely the quality of the PSU, decent ones will have overcurrent protection which when it kicks in will cause cause shutdowns, freezing etc. A crappy PSU on the other hand could blow at least itself up, and take out a few of the other components as well (Unlikely in the dell I would think as the usually have reasonably solid PSUs).

Victor_M

Me again!

I've found a Q6600 2.4GHz core 2 quad for €75, the only thing is it has been overclocked before? The guy Said it was OC'd to 2.8GHz, what sort of risk or potential damage is there done to the chip? Can they handle overclocking? He said he used a silent night cooler and has never had a problem with it? It's a private sale so I don't have a huge amount of comeback.

Do you think it's safe enough proceed with the purchase? Or should I wait and try and trackdown an unclocked example?

Although my nVidia 6800GT has helped when I'm watching one thing and recording another the pc really struggles. So a better gfx card may be required too!


Or would my €75 be better spent on a more
Modern gfx card?

marco_polo

Victor_M wrote: »

Me again!

I've found a Q6600 2.4GHz core 2 quad for €75, the only thing is it has been overclocked before? The guy Said it was OC'd to 2.8GHz, what sort of risk or potential damage is there done to the chip? Can they handle overclocking? He said he used a silent night cooler and has never had a problem with it? It's a private sale so I don't have a huge amount of comeback.

Do you think it's safe enough proceed with the purchase? Or should I wait and try and trackdown an unclocked example?

Although my nVidia 6800GT has helped when I'm watching one thing and recording another the pc really struggles. So a better gfx card may be required too!


Or would my €75 be better spent on a more
Modern gfx card?

There is a risk in buying a second hand chip of course but that is a mild enough overclock, presuming he knew what he was doing and installed the cooler properly etc, the actual overclock in itself shouldn't affect the lifespan of the chip much if indeed at all.

As to the second question I owuld just monitor CPU usage while watching and recording, if the needle is at a constant 100% you pretty well have your answer (I suspect it is more likely to be the CPU).

Victor_M

Thanks again Marco_polo, I've just ordered one of THESE Radeon HD6450 1 Gb DDR3, it supports UVD3 and does full onboard decoding of all the common video formats, plus is passive (€55 from Pixmania) this should lighten the CPU load considerably.

I still want to get a CPU and im in 2 minds as to either go for the C2Q 2.4 tonight @€;75 and take the risk as it was over clocked or hold off and try and snag a Q6700 C2Q 2.66GHz while I'm at it, as this is from what I can see the fastest most powerful CPU the socket 775 can take.

As for the PSU, the HD6450 only consumes 27Watts and uses passive cooling so I should be able to up the CPU a bit without needing a new CPU.

It's mental how much choice there is out there once you start looking, I've learn't loads this week, thanks again for all your advice.

P.S. any opinions on the GFX card are welcome, I hope I made a good choice.

Effluo

I would sincerely doubt that you would need near the processing power of a quad-core cpu.

Wait till you get the GPU install it and then you can look at getting a new processor if you want. tbh though, I don't see why you would bother.

Even the gpu you bought for 50euro seems excessive to me, although saying that, I'm really not familiar with what you're doing with the pc and so am not 100% sure if it is really demanding or not.


You should check out the av forums, to get clarification or do some googling. Ignore the people which say "Oh I'm running this thing off a i7, 8 GB of Ram blah blah" as it seems v much to me that you really don't need any of that.

Victor_M

Thanks Effluo, I'm fairly certain the GPU will be capable of way more than I want it to do, I'd prefer to only have to make one purchase and for €50 it seems like a fair amount of tech for a relatively low cost, I looked at afew €30 ones earlier in PCworld and they seem to be rubbish.

As for the CPU, I have 2 issues that need to be addressed, the GFX card will address the decoding, so the cpu wont be pushed hard any more, but I have a couple of hundred TV channels and radio stations tunded via my blackgold tuner card and regularly use the PC as a PVR recording HD content whilst watching other HD content, often with the kids streaming content onto another TV via PS3 server, so the CPU is being tortured, it works fine there is just a lag between keystrokes on the remote which the slowish CPU is probably responsible for, the PC is over 5 years old and doesn't owe me anything so I'm going to inject a new lease of life into it by way of the card and CPU.

Victor_M

Just an update folks, stuck the Q6600 C2Q 2.4 in earlier, what a difference!
My W7 CPU benchmark went from 5.2 to 7.8, massive difference in response to MCE remote commands and some 1080p content that stuttered even with the GForce 6800GT is playing seamlessly now.

Once I put the new radeon card in on Monday I will have injected a very fresh lease of life into the oul trusty dimension E520.

Thanks again for all the advice during the week as I said I learnt loads and know a lot more about PC modding then I did last week.