I have an XW4600 workstation and as you can see my specs to the left you notice I have HP. I have an OEM motherboard which locks out my bios and I am not able to overclock now. I don't know too much when it comes to changing the motherboard, as I am still learning new things every day. I would like to upgrade to a decent motherboard, preferably a Gigabyte motherboard. Also I am a bit confused with the Motherboard Form factor. I believe it's a certain size of motherboard to fit certain types of cases such as SFF(Please let me know if I am wrong). The CPU socket I would like to have is an 775(I know, I know, it's not 1155 like everyone else on the site haha) If there is a 1155 though that's not too expensive, I might consider buying it. It's just that I don't have a lot of money to spend not only on motherboards, but on CPUs such as the Sandybridge code for i5 and i7s I believe. Please give me some opinions. I am not trying to spend over $60-70. Thanks guys, love this site
It's not going to be easy finding LGA775 boards anymore. It's best to rebuild your rig from scratch. LGA775 is very outdated. Plus, not all OEM machines follow the ATX series standard, hence you might not be able to replace the board itself if it goes bad. This is why it is recommended to avoid OEM desktops. deltatux
Should I buy a new case and I'd rather not start from scratch, but I might have to. I know ebay will have atx motherboards.
It's probably the best idea, cases are rather cheap, you can get a decent one for $46: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119243 The one I quoted is very durable, it's the same one my college uses for their workstations, students abuse the machines but the case is able to withstand most kicks and other dents which other cases have failed. You do need to purchase a power supply separately, maybe something like the COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS500-PCARD3-US 500W ($49.99) would do: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171031 You probably can get a decent 2nd hand Intel LGA775 motherboard for another $50 depending on seller. deltatux
Thanks for the links they both look nice and have a good price. I will look for a decent Motherboard and consider buying the case and PSU Edit:Are there any particular PSU brands to stay away from? I have heard that some aren't good quality PSUs or their power efficiency isn't quality made. Such as Starlogic
I added up everything I wanted for a Sandy bridge pc and it totaled up to $478, that's not too bad. I understand now to build pcs rather than buy OEM pcs. Overclocking is not enabled on OEM, but with most non-OEM motherboards one can overclock in their bios. I don't understand what the problem is with an OEM case though. Could I still use the original case, because it is very nice. Note that I am NOT creating a sandy bridge 1155 pc, but a 775 pc. I was just wanting to make a plan of my future build. Does this look like a good Gigabyte GA-8I915P motherboard? http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd198/UNCLETANG2007/8I915PDUO-1.jpg Supports LGA775 Intel® 90nm Pentium® 4 processor FSB800 with HT technology Supports Dual Channel DDR2 and DDR memory architecture Features PCI-Express interface Gigabit Ethernet connection Features PCI-Express x1 and Serial-ATA interfaces Features ATA133 interface with RAID 0, RAID1 & RAID 0+1 Features the new generation 7.1 channel Intel® High Definition Audio
That motherboard probably came out in 2005, only supports up to 800MHz FSB and even has ddr1 support.. Massive NO!
I really don't recommend you spending more money on an outdated architecture. The only reason why stores still stock LGA775 parts is so that companies still have a chance to replace their older computers when they fail before their upgrade cycle. Other than that, there's really no good boards out there. As for your case, seeing how the case doesn't support a standard ATX power supply, I doubt it'll fit an ATX motherboard. ATX is a standard that most cases, power supply and motherboards follow. OEMs, in their effort to differentiate their products and to discourage people from modifying and upgrading their systems would use proprietary form factors so standard commodity parts will not fit. deltatux
Just start saving to build a fully custom rig, like delta said its not worth upgrading what you have now bit by bit. You really need a new motherboard, cpu, ram, psu and case. If you can't afford it just keep what you have till you can imo.
Probably the cheapest board you'll find that supports 775 1333 fsb, DDR2/DDR3, 1 x PCIE x16 (v1.1), 4x Sata 2 ports, GB lan etc.. Gigabyte G41M-Combo or G41MT-E2SL. But either of these boards will hit a wall while trying to bump up the FSB above 350 (that's what I've found on 4 of these boards) In your case the E6850 cpu is 9 x 333 to get default 3Ghz. So you'l not get a decent oc as 9x350 = 3.15Ghz In my case I had a E7500 that was 266 fsb with a 11 multiplier at default 2.93Ghz So I bumped the fsb to 333 x 11 = 3.66Ghz.. no fuss. Either of these boards seem to sell for around $20 ~ $40 US Buy it now on Ebay. Rarer to get but a better board would be GA-EP45-UD3P, these have better options for OC voltages and PCIE v2 slot. Reading of others with the P45 chipset most could hit 400+ fsb quite easy. Meaning your E6850 would probably do 9 x 400 = 3.6Ghz fairly easy. But you'll find that the ones that are for sale as Buy It now are asking as much as a current day z77 mobo. To be truthful you really should just save the bucks and forget about trying to buy 775 mobo/cpu. You won't be happy with the performance increase over what you have now. Buy the time you get the 775 mobo/cpu you'll soon realize you saved bugger all over the i5/1155 setup and your performance gain on an updated 775 will be minimal in comparison to the 1155. Each his own though.
Where should I start to build a sandy bridge pc? Where can I sell my current rig? I don't want to spend a whole lot haha. I am still in high school I don't have a whole lot of money. I should start by buying a new ATX case.
sorry for double post. Tell me if this is a good build Raidmax ATX-238WU Tornado ATX Mid Tower Gaming Case $43 nVidia GeForce GTX560 SE 1GB DDR5 PCI-Express $137 Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3, LGA 1155 ATX MB $113 Corsair Vengeance 4GB memory $23
I would start by picking parts and working out how much it will cost all up. You will have to set a budget and tell us if you need help picking parts.
If you're tight on budget you can simply go with an AMD APU build, they're cheaper and offer great performance levels for gaming. Much better than your current set up. AMD A6-3670K ($104.99) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819106002 ASRock A75 PRO4 ($79.99) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157258 Patriot Signature 2 x 4 GB DDR3-1600 ($41.99) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220570 Cooler Master 330 ($45.99) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119243 COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS500-PCARD3-US 500W ($49.99) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171031 SAMSUNG SpinPoint F3 500GB HD502HJ ($79.99) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181 LG GH24NS70 DVD-RW ($17.99) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136236 Subtotal: 420.93 All prices in US Dollars from NewEgg.com. Prices are current as of May 10, 2012 and are subject to change without prior notice. Taxes and shipping extra. That's a complete build, if you already have a SATA HDD and SATA DVD, you can take those out. The onboard graphics in the APU is better than your GeForce 440GT. Black Edition AMD processors also mean that they easily overclockable. If you want even more graphical power, just pop in a Radeon HD 6670 for another $90 and you can combine the APU and the GPU's graphical abilities together through CrossFire to make it even faster. MSI R6670-MD1GD5 Radeon HD 6670 ($89.99) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127586 deltatux
Myself I'd say forget about the case ftm. Nice looking case from the outside, but for the money you spend on that you could buy 8GB of DDR3 ram Aim at the PSU/Mobo/Cpu/Ram. A case is cosmetic, sure you want it to be housed nicely, but the killer of the budget is PSU/Mobo/Cpu/Ram/Video card. In a pinch you run new hardware on a bench with no case. Or even use an old skool white case from 1990's (laugh you might, but I've actually raided the bin behind a local coputer shop quite often and found cases and parts to get me by), makes no difference to your frame ratre and performance.
reread my post Also, look at the AMD rig quotation, I think it suits you the best as you're tight on budget. deltatux
