20 replies to this topic

[Acebopata]

The monitor is connected to the videocard and not the connectors on the motherboard right?

I think the video card connects the motherboard to the monitor, if I remember correctly.

[ub3rman123]

It's hooked into the video card, indeed. I think the 500W PSU is adequate for the job. It was new when I installed it a few months ago, and my reason for updating it from the stock 350 W was in case the old one couldn't handle it.

What's a reasonable price to spend on a used processor? I see new ones range from 150-300 dollars.

Edit: I've settled on a choice between two CPUs, the i5 650 and the i5 750. Which I'll get mostly depends on how much he's willing to spend on them (I'll find that out later today).

[Acebopata]

It's hooked into the video card, indeed. I think the 500W PSU is adequate for the job. It was new when I installed it a few months ago, and my reason for updating it from the stock 350 W was in case the old one couldn't handle it.

What's a reasonable price to spend on a used processor? I see new ones range from 200-500 dollars.

If your upgrading and going to use a used one, I'd say perhaps, $100-$250, for a general or upgrade replacement, though you could find a good one cheeper. Unless you want to perform an extreme overhaul on the computer, and don't care about expense, I'd steer clear of the used ones that are over $300.

[FMod]

What's a reasonable price to spend on a used processor? I see new ones range from 150-300 dollars.

About $150 for a quad-core would be the top dollar. They retail for more, that's because they're so old.

Edit: I've settled on a choice between two CPUs, the i5 650 and the i5 750. Which I'll get mostly depends on how much he's willing to spend on them (I'll find that out later today).

It's a no brainer. i5 650 isn't any better than i3-530. Both are dual-cores with 4MB cache. i5-650 has a tiny bit higher stock clock, that's it.

If you can't get i5 750, don't even bother.

[ub3rman123]

I managed to win an eBay bid on an i5 750 for about a hundred dollars. It was in good condition, I'll see how well it performs when it gets here. Thanks for the help, everyone! It's always confusing to me when I get into a new set of hardware. So many different numbers..

[ub3rman123]

I took delivery on the new CPU today and tried it out. Oddly enough, performance doesn't seem to be improved. I check out the system and while the i5 650 I have in my PC is reporting 3.2 GHz, the one in his (The i5 750) is reporting 2.67 GHz. Shouldn't his be better than mine? Is there a software change I need to make to accommodate for its being a quad core?

[Erik005]

The clockspeed of the 650 is higher but that says nothing about preformance.

I saw the pc has a green hdd, this could also cause lag these harddrives are not meant to be the primairy drive.

Edited by Erik005, 05 July 2012 - 09:15 AM.

[ub3rman123]

Would swapping it for a 1 Tb Seagate Barracuda improve performance?

[Erik005]

If its a 7200rpm disk yes,
WD caviar blue or black are also fast drives

[ub3rman123]

Okay, I'll give that a try then. I need to go find my HD cloning CDs before I can, though.