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Upgrade processor
speedyxjs - 14/6/08 at 12:16 PM

I need to speed up my computer. I have quadrupled my Ram at a cost of £100 this morning but its still not as fast as i would like. After a bit of research it seems i need to upgrade my processor.
I currently have Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (1.86GHz) but would like 3.0GHz at least but i havnt got a lue where to get it from or how easy it is to fit.
Any help much appreciated

iiyama - 14/6/08 at 12:23 PM

I doubt very much that you can do what you want without changing out the MoBo as well

Fatgadget - 14/6/08 at 12:23 PM

A dual core E6300 is not fast enough for your needs? What the hell are you computing to warrant anything faster?....The meaning of life??

cerbera - 14/6/08 at 12:28 PM

The core2Duo's are very easy to overclock. I am a complete noob at this but even I mahaged a stable 2.45GHz with the only change being an aftermarket cooler and some decent thermal paste.
Remember the 2.45GHz is per processor.

BenB - 14/6/08 at 12:31 PM

Have you tried re-installing Winblows? It's amazing how much rubbish it installs. Broken registry links etc slow down the computer no end. A good defrag as well works wonders....

britishtrident - 14/6/08 at 12:58 PM

Sounds like you have something running in the background hogging processor time.

Fresh install and get rid of any programs such as NAV which notorious for slowing PC down.

madmandegge - 14/6/08 at 01:04 PM

1.86 isn't that fast anymore, I'm running a 2.5 amd dual core slightly o/c and it isn't blisteringly fast.

Really depends on the motherboard, if it supports an E6300 you *should* be able to upgrade to a faster Core2Duo, ebuyer.co.uk is probably the easiest to order from, good range for comparison too.

speedyxjs - 14/6/08 at 01:08 PM

Im trying to run Racedriver Grid. It says on system requirements it needs pentium 4 3.0 GHz

mcerd1 - 14/6/08 at 01:10 PM

what motherboard have you got ??

speedyxjs - 14/6/08 at 01:17 PM

MS 7255?

madmandegge - 14/6/08 at 02:08 PM

MSI 7255 is a socket 775 board, so you can upgrade to a faster dual core.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139971 is the cheapest 3ghz that I can see, but techncally your 1.86ghz dual core should be faster than a 3.0 Pentium 4, cause it has two cores compared to hyperthreading.

There isn't much difference in the prices of the 775 processors now, everythings on Core 2 Extreme quad cores!

If you go onto ebuyer, into Processors - Intel, there's a 775 socket section that you can browse through, but you really want the "Core2" section

iank - 14/6/08 at 02:57 PM

quote:
Originally posted by speedyxjs
Im trying to run Racedriver Grid. It says on system requirements it needs pentium 4 3.0 GHz


core 2 duo at 2GHz runs two processors EACH of which is faster then a Pentium 4 at 3GHz as they are much more efficient clock for clock.

Games tend to be graphics card limited rather than processor limited. What card do you have? If it's the S3 unichrome built in to your motherboard that will be your problem.

Callright are very good and run by a forum member. ebuyer are very cheap, but terrible if you need to return something, even if it's obviously DOA.
http://www.callright.co.uk/

[Edited on 14/6/08 by iank]

speedyxjs - 14/6/08 at 03:44 PM

Graphics card is (i think) NVidia Geforce 7300se

rf900rush - 14/6/08 at 04:04 PM

Don't forget things like some anti virus software realy screws performance.
I seen Norton 360 bring a freinds PC down to a stop/crawl.

less installed prgrams = more speed.

bigfoot4616 - 14/6/08 at 05:13 PM

quote:
Originally posted by speedyxjs
Graphics card is (i think) NVidia Geforce 7300se


thats a fairly old, low end card. wouldn't think it would play newish games very well at all.
changed a 7800gt for a 8800gts 6 months ago and the difference in games was amazing.

bigfoot4616 - 14/6/08 at 05:53 PM

just had a quick look as i might get that game, liked the demo.
ignore minimum specs for games, they wont look good or perform well.
recommended cpu is c2d at 2.66 and recommended graphics card is 8800 or radeon 3800

Davey D - 14/6/08 at 06:21 PM

If you need more performance for gaming, then with your current setup you NEED a better graphics card.

If you dont want to spend too much money, then id recommend getting an Nvidia 8800GT. you can pick them up for around 100quid.

As for your processor... it should be easy to overclock it to get a little more performance from it.
I have a Core2Duo E6750. standard clock speed is 2.6ghz. Mine is running at 3.4Ghz

As mentioned already... C2D are Much better than the old P4's Clock for Clock

Davey D - 14/6/08 at 07:14 PM

Out of interest.. you said you quadrupled your amount of ram, and spent 100quid.

you can get 6Gb for around 100quid (meaning you had 2gb before. Thus giving a total of 8 Gb.

If this is the case, and you havent got a 64bit O.S, then youve wasted your money, as a 32bit O.S cant address that amount

speedyxjs - 14/6/08 at 07:29 PM

No i had 2 512mb sticks in the only two slots and i went out to buy two 1GB sticks but the bloke said for an extra £20 i could get 4GB