best CPU for 250 - 300 taxes in?

[$uperman]

im upgrading my 3.0 northwood
whats the best CPU for apllications not gaming
i can get for 250-300 all in ?

which motherboard to get with it?

so clueless

[mpt]

I'd probably get the AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core Processor S939 Manchester 2Ghz Retail Box. Its 340 at ncix. I know its more than you wanted but you can't go wrong with this upgrade. In the 250 dollar range I wouldn't upgrade your system. The amount of gain you will get won't be very much for the price you spent, considering a 3.0 800FSB 775 chip is 200 bucks.

[Amourek]

$250-$300? Don't bother.

[$uperman]

i dont mind buying used... and 250-300 is just for the CPU

[alpha_tot]

wait for conroe

[LNahid2000]

Yeah, wait for conroe. I have a 3ghz northwood as well and won't be upgrading until conroe is down to a reasonable price.

[willy]

Just curious .... Why do you want to upgrade your 3GHz CPU ?

[Silver Bullet]

If you're running a P4 Northwood, you have an AGP graphic card and DDR1.

Really there is nothing worth upgrading too for $300 that is going to save your system. If you have $1500 around, then maybe an Opteron 165/170, Asus A8N SLI Preimium and a 7800/7900GT would make a worthy upgrade. This of course assuming you looking for gaming performance....

But with AMD DDR2 and Core Duo E6xxx (Conroe) so close to coming out it's probably best for you to just save up during the summer and hit the stores around back-to-school time (aug/sept). A new Conroe system will probably set you back $1500 or more depending on what your really aiming for (gaming, workstation, etc), but it will for sure be a HUGE improvment to what you're running now.

Here are the Conroe prices ($US), i would suspect a E6400 would be a great buy for you in August.

http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/9749/conroe1di.jpg
Source: VR-Zone

[$uperman]

the reason why im upgrading is because i got a SIS based ASUS mobo which is nowhere near solid.... i would like to replace it but a P4C800E... costs around 100 so i figured i might as well get a new system.


what do you guys think of

Intel Pentium D 820, 2.8GHz, EM64T XD Dual Core, 2X1MB

[LNahid2000]

I haven't heard many good things about the Pentium D's and since conroe is just around the corner, there is really no point buying them.

[Tofu Drift Shinji]

I agree; hold off until Conroe. If you search for Conroe benchmarks on Google, you'll find some very impressive stats.

[SkeptiKal12]

Conroe like the others have stated.

[tdotcbc84]

what everyone is trying to say is:

WAIT~!! right now is the WORST time to buy a computer~!

[Silver Bullet]

what do you guys think of an Intel Pentium D 820, 2.8GHz, EM64T XD Dual Core, 2X1MB

Moving to an P4 D system is pretty much a whole system upgrade in itself, you will need new mobo, ram and cpu. Really not worth it again unless you get what i suggested above (Opteron, X2) as these overclock to around 2.7Ghz which will last you a while. I still say wait it out and buy a Conroe in July/Aug it be a huge improvment and with the money you save over the summer maybe you can even get a faster speed grade or a better gfx card.

If your only problem right now is your motherboard, find a good used one (based on an intel chipset) and get that for now... $100 for a stable system is worth it, if it makes you wait a while longer to buy a completely new system.

[$uperman]

conroe it is then, thanks for your input everybody


how will conroe compare to something like an overclocked Athlon 64 X2 ?

[alpha_tot]

Conroe @ 2.67ghz vs FX-60 @ 2.8ghz: http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=4843&page=1

[Oversized Rooster]

Conroe is your best bet I think, but you'll need a complete system upgrade. Alternatively there are several people on the forums selling Pentium D processors.

There is a man selling two of them for $200 each and another man for $195 right this moment.

[Tofu Drift Shinji]

conroe it is then, thanks for your input everybody


how will conroe compare to something like an overclocked Athlon 64 X2 ?

Like alpha_tot's link attests, Conroe easily beats $1000+ AMD chips. From what the benchmarks I've seen are like, Conroe can manhandle anything it goes up against from this generation of AMD products.