Upgrade advice

Shadowdust · Jan 15, 2009

I recently purchased one of the GTX 280 deals on Buy.com. It was quite a bit of an impulse buy. What I didn't think about when I bought it is how badly my current 939 rig will bottleneck that card. So I'm considering upgrading my CPU, Motherboard, and RAM. Unfortunately, I don't even know where to begin. I'm trying to keep a budget of about $150 give or take. I would prefer to find something with decent overclock capabilities to help produce the best bang for the buck. So what would be my cheapest performance upgrade option? Is $150 even realistic for well performing parts?

HolyCow02 · Jan 15, 2009

Uhh for a $150 your limiting yourself. I mean your in essence limiting yourself to $50 for the mobo, $50 for the ram, $50 for the cpu. Personally, I don't think thats gonna happen my friend

1Kurgan1 · Jan 15, 2009

Bottlenecking is mostly benchmarking. Yes your 939 rig will not get you the max you can from that card, but your gaming performance will increase.

PaulieG · Jan 15, 2009

1Kurgan1 said:
Bottlenecking is mostly benchmarking. Yes your 939 rig will not get you the max you can from that card, but your gaming performance will increase.

Maybe, but his cpu is probably already bottlenecking his 8800GT, even in gaming.

spearman914 · Jan 15, 2009

Hmm. U bought a 280 when u know it's impossible to run it w/o bottlenecks for a budget of upgrading for $150. Save up some money and then start talking.

EDIT: Ur using MicroATX so will it even fit?

r9 · Jan 15, 2009

It is simple get E5200 you should be able to overclock it to 3.7 with P31 (I`v head that Gigabyte P31s are great and cheap too) and there are cheap DDR2 kits I`v read that it can buy 2 gb kit for 15$ after rebate and if keep it to WinXP should be enough in most of the cases.

Newegg links:

OCZ 2GB kit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227060

GIGABYTE GA-P31-ES3G
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128356

Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072

165$ total

BarbaricSoul · Jan 15, 2009

Best I could come up with from NewEgg-

2 gigs ddr2 800 4-4-4-12 RAM $19 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161063
Gigabyte P31 motherboard $65 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128356
Intel e2200 dual core $70 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116063

Total price without shipping $153.97

AltecV1 · Jan 15, 2009

just bump up the grafics and you be okay!!!!

Shadowdust · Jan 15, 2009

spearman914 said:
Hmm. U bought a 280 when u know it's impossible to run it w/o bottlenecks for a budget of upgrading for $150. Save up some money and then start talking.

EDIT: Ur using MicroATX so will it even fit?

My Antec Solo is just big enough to handle the card. Also, the Solo is a mid-tower not a micro-atx case.

r9 said:
It is simple get E5200 you should be able to overclock it to 3.7 with P31 (I`v head that Gigabyte P31s are great and cheap too) and there are cheap DDR2 kits I`v read that it can buy 2 gb kit for 15$ after rebate and if keep it to WinXP should be enough in most of the cases.

Newegg links:

OCZ 2GB kit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227060

GIGABYTE GA-P31-ES3G
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128356

Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072

165$ total

BarbaricSoul said:
Best I could come up with from NewEgg-

2 gigs ddr2 800 4-4-4-12 RAM $19 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161063
Gigabyte P31 motherboard $65 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128356
Intel e2200 dual core $70 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116063

Total price without shipping $153.97

Thanks for your suggestions. That sounds like it would boost the performance to where I would like it after checking reviews of the CPU.

I know $150 is very little to work with but that's why I was seeking advice. I haven't stayed updated on the whole CPU thing since Socket AM2 and the Core 2 E6000 series of CPUs came out a while back so I wasn't sure what was the best bang for the buck currently. Again, thank you for all of the help thus far. I'm sure I seem like an idiot for purchasing such a powerful card for my limited system but like I said, it was an impulse buy.

paulo7 · Jan 15, 2009

I second R9's reccommendation E5200 is a great processor dead easy to achieve a decent oc on most motherboards due to the high mult.

mrhuggles · Jan 15, 2009

i would get used stuff from TPU members, get an e2140, they are great overclockers, get a good p35 board, i suggest an asus p5k [NOT SE], and if you cant find some used ram you like, this is mine...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227178

Processor	AMD Ryzen 5800X
Motherboard	MSI X570 Gaming Plus
Cooling	Corsair H100
Memory	32 GB Team Xtreme DDR4 3200
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon 7900 XT
Storage	2 TB Corsair MP600/2 TB Intel 660p
Display(s)	31.5" Acer ED323QUR
Case	Corsair Carbide 500R
Audio Device(s)	Sound Blaster Z
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNova 1000 GT
Mouse	Havit HV-MS735
Keyboard	Corsair K68 RGB
Benchmark Scores	3DMark Time Spy Graphics 26359 CPU 11728 Total 22203

System Name	Shredder
Processor	Phenom II 955 @stock (for the time being)
Motherboard	MSI 790FX-GD70
Cooling	Noctua U12P
Memory	8 GB muskin DDR3 1600 @ 7-7-6-18
Video Card(s)	2x Sapphire 4870 1GB
Storage	64 GB Super Talent UltraDrive SSD \| 2 x WD Caviar Black 500GB in RAID1
Display(s)	Samsung 22" 2ms GTG
Case	Thermaltake Spedo Advanced Package
Power Supply	Corsair HX1000
Software	Vista Business 64-bit

System Name	My Comp \| Fiancees Comp
Processor	i7 5820k @ 4.6Ghz 1.285v\| i5 2500k
Motherboard	MSI x99 SLI Plus \| AsRock Z77 Pro 3
Cooling	Watercooled
Memory	16GB DDR4 2400 @ 2666 \| 12GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s)	AMD R9 290x \| MSI 5850 OC
Storage	128gb SSD + 2x 2TB \| 2TB
Display(s)	Asus 27" LCD \| 25" Hanns G
Case	CM Storm \| CM Elite 430
Audio Device(s)	Creative Recon 3D PCIe
Power Supply	Enermax Galaxy 1250W \| Rosewill 630w
Mouse	Logitech G700s \| Logitech G100s
Keyboard	Logitech G901 \| Logitech G105
Software	Win 8.1 Ultimate x64 \| Win 8.1 Ultimate x64
Benchmark Scores	3D Mark - Fire Strike Extreme - 4403

Processor	5800x(2)/5700g/5600x/5600g/2700x/1700x/1700
Motherboard	MSI B550 Carbon (2)/ MSI z490 Unify/Asus Strix B550-F/MSI B450 Tomahawk (3)
Cooling	EK AIO 360 (2)/EK AIO 240, Arctic Cooling Freezer II 280/EVGA CLC 280/Noctua D15/Cryorig M9(2)
Memory	32 GB Ballistix Elite/32 GB TridentZ/16GB Mushkin Redline Black/16 GB Dominator
Video Card(s)	Asus Strix RTX3060/EVGA 970(2)/Asus 750 ti/Old Quadros
Storage	Samsung 970 EVO M.2 NVMe 500GB/WD Black M.2 NVMe 500GB/Adata 500gb NVMe
Display(s)	Acer 1080p 22"/ (3) Samsung 22" 1080p
Case	(2) Lian Li Lancool II Mesh/Corsair 4000D /Phanteks Eclipse 500a/Be Quiet Pure Base 500/Bones of HAF
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova 850G(2)/EVGA Supernova GT 650w/Phantek Amps 750w/Seasonic Focus 750w
Mouse	Generic Black wireless (5)
Keyboard	Generic Black wireless (5)
Software	Win 10/Ubuntu

System Name	Mine \| Dad + Mom
Processor	E8500 E0 Wolfdale @ 4.6GHz 1.5V \| E2180 M0 Allendale @ 3.0GHz 1.3V
Motherboard	Asus Maximus Formula (X48) w/ Rampage BIOS \| Asus P5Q Pro (P45)
Cooling	Xigmatek Rifle HDT-S1283 w/ SFF21F Fan \| Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
Memory	G.Skill Pi Black 2x2GB 1.02GHz CL5 \| OCZ Reaper 2x2GB 1.05GHz CL5
Video Card(s)	Sapphire 4870X2 2GB 820/1020MHz \| Sapphire 4850 1GB 700/1100MHz
Storage	WD VR 150GB 10K RPM + WD 500GB 7.2K RPM \| WD 200GB 7.2K RPM
Display(s)	Acer P243WAID 24" 1920x1200 LCD \| Acer V193W 19" 1440x900 LCD
Case	Cooler Master HAF 932 Full-Tower \| Antec Twelve Hundred Mid-Tower
Audio Device(s)	Fatal1ty Xtreme Gamer w/ Z-5500 5.1 \| On-Board Audio w/ S-220 2.1
Power Supply	PC Power and Cooling 750W Non-Modular \| Corsair HX-520W Modular
Software	Windows Vista Home Premium X64 \| Windows Vista Home Premium X64
Benchmark Scores	Not Wasting Time!

Upgrade advice

Shadowdust

HolyCow02

New Member

1Kurgan1

The Knife in your Back

PaulieG

spearman914

New Member

r9

BarbaricSoul

AltecV1

New Member

Shadowdust

paulo7

New Member

mrhuggles

System Name	Primary\|Secondary\|Poweredge r410\|Dell XPS\|SteamDeck
Processor	i7 11700k\|i7 9700k\|2 x E5620 \|i5 5500U\|Zen 2 4c/8t
Memory	32GB DDR4\|16GB DDR4\|16GB DDR4\|32GB ECC DDR3\|8GB DDR4\|16GB LPDDR5
Video Card(s)	RX 7800xt\|RX 6700xt \|On-Board\|On-Board\|8 RDNA 2 CUs
Storage	2TB m.2\|512GB SSD+1TB SSD\|2x256GBSSD 2x2TBGB\|256GB sata\|512GB nvme
Display(s)	50" 4k TV \| Dell 27" \|22" \|3.3"\|7"
VR HMD	Samsung Odyssey+ \| Oculus Quest 2
Software	Windows 11 Pro\|Windows 10 Pro\|Windows 10 Home\| Server 2012 r2\|Windows 10 Pro

System Name	Barb's Domain
Processor	i9 10850k 5.1GHz all cores
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z490 GAMING EDGE WIFI
Cooling	Deep Cool Assassin III
Memory	2*16gig Corsair LPX DDR4 3200
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080 FE
Storage	500gb Samsung 980 Pro M2 SSD, 500GB WD Blue SATA SSD, 2TB Seagate Hybrid SSHD
Display(s)	Dell - S3222DGM 32" 2k Curved/ASUS VP28UQG 28" 4K (ran at 2k), Sanyo 75" 4k TV
Case	SilverStone Fortress FT04
Audio Device(s)	Bose Companion II speakers, Corsair - HS70 PRO headphones
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x (2021)
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Logitech Orion Spectrum G910
VR HMD	Oculus Quest 2
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
Benchmark Scores	https://www.3dmark.com/spy/34962882

Processor	C2D E8400@3.6 ghz
Motherboard	ASUS P5KPL-AM
Cooling	Freezer 7 pro
Memory	Kingston 4GB 800Mhz cl6
Video Card(s)	Sapphire HD4850 700/1000 + Accelero S1 Rev. 2
Storage	WD 250 GB AAKS
Display(s)	22" Samsung SyncMaster 226BW
Audio Device(s)	int.
Power Supply	Forton Blue Storm II 500W
Software	Windows 7 64bit Ultimate

Processor	Intel® Core™ i5-750 Processor
Motherboard	MSI P55-GD80
Cooling	standard atm
Video Card(s)	4870
Storage	Samsung F1
Display(s)	24 inch ocuk value (ace4price)
Case	Antec 900
Power Supply	SilverStone Zeus ST65ZF 650w

System Name	:3
Processor	Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 - 3ghz
Motherboard	GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Dynamic Energy Saver Ultra Durable II Intel Motherboard
Cooling	cm 212 EVO
Memory	G.SKILL 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model
Video Card(s)	BFG GTX 275
Storage	WD black 500gb Samsung 1tb
Display(s)	27" 1366x768 Olevia 527v
Case	Antec Three Hundred
Audio Device(s)	ALC889
Power Supply	CORSAIR TX Series CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Ac
Software	Windows 8 pro