Need to upgrade ancient rig

I have and old Pentium D 3.0 Ghz with intel 946gz board lying around in dirt.Wanna Revive it and use it for movies,browsing and download.
Things i wanna replace are:
1>CPU
2>MOBO
3>RAM(4gb)
4>PSU(Was thinking of GS 600)

Hdd(500 GB) and case(some cheapo case) will be same and would try to sell old junk too.
Kindly suggest appropriate replacement.
Budget:16k(including psu,strict).
Thank you in advance. :razz:

A

if its only for movies, browsing then any entry level dual core processor will do the job.

Pentium G620 @ 3.2K
Gigabyte GA-H61M-D2H @ 3.4K.
Corsair 4 GB 1333 Mhz @ 1.2K
FSP Saga II 350W @ 1.6K.
Total 9400.

if you want more powerful processor then go for Core i3 2100 for 6.3K. Thats perfect for all the tasks other than gaming.

Component Make Price
CPU AMD A6 3650 6344
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-A55M-S2V 3536
RAM Corsair DDR3 4 GB 1200
PSU Seasonic S12II-620 4619
TOTAL 15699

OR

Component Make Price
CPU AMD II 960T 6957
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P 2600
RAM Corsair DDR3 4 GB 1200
PSU Seasonic S12II-620 4619
TOTAL 15376

The PSU is a serious overkill for this configuration but I'm assuming that it'll help you in future upgrades.

Check this 6 core config-

CPU - AMD FX6100 Zambezi 3.3GHz @ 8.2k
Mobo - Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P/4.0 @ 2.6k
RAM - Corsair/RipjawsX 4 GB 1333 Mhz @ 1.2K
PSU - FSP Saga II 500W @ 2k
TOTAL - 14k

(OPTIONAL)
GPU - Asus HD6450 Silent @ 2.8k
RAM - RipjawsX/Corsair 8 GB 1333Mhz @ 2k
Better Mobo

Buddy, FX6100 is a very poor performer and gets beaten by old 1090T all the time. Gaming performance is worse as it is below the older Phenom II 955.

Here is my suggestion:-
Pentium G620 @ 3.2K
Gigabyte GA-H61M-D2H @ 3.4K.
Corsair 4 GB 1333 Mhz @ 1.2K
Corsair CX 500V2 @ 3K
MSI HD 6770 Cyclone/OC @ 6.4K

Total 17.2K

^^OP wants to use it for movies, browsing and downloading. So why waste money on a GPU? And AMD A6 will get the job done right?

^^GPU is optional if he wants. More-over the PC is to be used only for browsing and multimedia, and not for gaming. In that case FX6100 might be a good option because performance is should not be an issue and the 6 cores in FX6100 makes it quite futureproof if no gaming has to be done on the pc.

Cilus said:
Buddy, FX6100 is a very poor performer and gets beaten by old 1090T all the time. Gaming performance is worse as it is below the older Phenom II 955.

Here is my suggestion:-
Pentium G620 @ 3.2K
Gigabyte GA-H61M-D2H @ 3.4K.
Corsair 4 GB 1333 Mhz @ 1.2K
Corsair CX 500V2 @ 3K
MSI HD 6770 Cyclone/OC @ 6.4K

Total 17.2K

If performance is an issue, then i3 2100 should be used with a suitable mobo instead of Pentium G620 because GPU i not required.

Another config could be-

PROCESSOR - AMD A8-3870K with Radeon HD 6550D Graphics @ 7.5k
MOBO - Asus F1A55-MLX Plus @ 3.9k
RAM - Corsair 8 GB 1333 Mhz @ 2k
PSU - Corsair CX 500V2 @ 3k / FSP Saga II 500W @ 2k
TOTAL - 16.4k / 15.4k

This will have enough performance and will provide good graphics if needed.

^^lol check out. benchmark scores of fx4100 vs old phenom ii x4 lineup.You will know what cilus meant.

anyway spending extra cash for gpu for HTPC setup is. justified since it will boost HD Movie playback and other media decoding tasks.

Stick with G620 for cpu.

ajaymailed said:
if its only for movies, browsing then any entry level dual core processor will do the job.

Pentium G620 @ 3.2K
Gigabyte GA-H61M-D2H @ 3.4K.
Corsair 4 GB 1333 Mhz @ 1.2K
FSP Saga II 350W @ 1.6K.
Total 9400.

if you want more powerful processor then go for Core i3 2100 for 6.3K. Thats perfect for all the tasks other than gaming.

For Now yes,but after a year or so will add a GTX 560Ti to it when i upgrade my other rig.So will G620 hold? i3 is good but still has only 2 cores.

RiGOD said:
Component Make Price
CPU AMD A6 3650 6344
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-A55M-S2V 3536
RAM Corsair DDR3 4 GB 1200
PSU Seasonic S12II-620 4619
TOTAL 15699

OR

Component Make Price
CPU AMD II 960T 6957
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P 2600
RAM Corsair DDR3 4 GB 1200
PSU Seasonic S12II-620 4619
TOTAL 15376

The PSU is a serious overkill for this configuration but I'm assuming that it'll help you in future upgrades.

Buddy i opted for GS 600 so that it can support GTX 560Ti in future.Seasonic is good but corsair is a little easier to get.

Siddharth_1 said:
Check this 6 core config-

CPU - AMD FX6100 Zambezi 3.3GHz @ 8.2k
Mobo - Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P/4.0 @ 2.6k
RAM - Corsair/RipjawsX 4 GB 1333 Mhz @ 1.2K
PSU - FSP Saga II 500W @ 2k
TOTAL - 14k

(OPTIONAL)
GPU - Asus HD6450 Silent @ 2.8k
RAM - RipjawsX/Corsair 8 GB 1333Mhz @ 2k
Better Mobo

Was thinking of FX 4100 and a little better mobo since there is no need for GPU now.

Cilus said:
Buddy, FX6100 is a very poor performer and gets beaten by old 1090T all the time. Gaming performance is worse as it is below the older Phenom II 955.

Here is my suggestion:-
Pentium G620 @ 3.2K
Gigabyte GA-H61M-D2H @ 3.4K.
Corsair 4 GB 1333 Mhz @ 1.2K
Corsair CX 500V2 @ 3K
MSI HD 6770 Cyclone/OC @ 6.4K

Total 17.2K

Don't need a GPU.Rest of rig seems good for just now not future.

RiGOD said:
^^OP wants to use it for movies, browsing and downloading. So why waste money on a GPU? And AMD A6 will get the job done right?

Yeah don't want a GPU now.Guess A6 will work.

Siddharth_1 said:
^^GPU is optional if he wants. More-over the PC is to be used only for browsing and multimedia, and not for gaming. In that case FX6100 might be a good option because performance is should not be an issue and the 6 cores in FX6100 makes it quite futureproof if no gaming has to be done on the pc.

If performance is an issue, then i3 2100 should be used with a suitable mobo instead of Pentium G620 because GPU i not required.

Another config could be-

PROCESSOR - AMD A8-3870K with Radeon HD 6550D Graphics @ 7.5k
MOBO - Asus F1A55-MLX Plus @ 3.9k
RAM - Corsair 8 GB 1333 Mhz @ 2k
PSU - Corsair CX 500V2 @ 3k / FSP Saga II 500W @ 2k
TOTAL - 16.4k / 15.4k

This will have enough performance and will provide good graphics if needed.

FX6100 is an overkill...given config will serve but i need at least 600W power.

Sujeet said:
^^lol check out. benchmark scores of fx4100 vs old phenom ii x4 lineup.You will know what cilus meant.

anyway spending extra cash for gpu for HTPC setup is. justified since it will boost HD Movie playback and other media decoding tasks.

Stick with G620 for cpu.

G620 won't do,need something that supports a GPU like GTX 560Ti without much bottleneck.

W

at full HD resolution even a 6950 will not be bottlenecked by G620.& btw after a year 560Ti will most probably be a mid range card.only point against G620 as of now is if you need more cores for other usages besides gaming.

One thing isn't clear to me... Is this system for Movie, Browsing etc or you wanna upgrade it to a gaming system step by step? however, in both the cases FX 6100 is a big No from me because of its poor performance and Windows 7 problems with all the Bulldozer processors.

Here is my suggestion if you want a powerful rig:-

AMD Phenom II X4 965 @ 6.4K
Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 @ 4.8K
G-skill RipjawX 1600 MHz DDR3 4GB @ 1.5K
Seasonic 520W Bronze @ 3.6K

Total: 16.3K. This config is more than enough for your current requirements and you can throw a high end GPU later without getting bottle-necked by the CPU. But if you wanna go with Phenom II X4, make it very quick as they are disappearing from the market.

A

For Now yes,but after a year or so will add a GTX 560Ti to it when i upgrade my other rig.So will G620 hold?

You didn't tell in your first post that gaming was the requirement. Phenom II X4 955 to 980 or X6 will do good for gaming. Despite having two cores, Core i3 can easily match any Phenom quad core or even six core processors in many of the old games. Its only multithreaded games these 4/6 cores have some advantage.

Cilus said:
One thing isn't clear to me... Is this system for Movie, Browsing etc or you wanna upgrade it to a gaming system step by step? however, in both the cases FX 6100 is a big No from me because of its poor performance and Windows 7 problems with all the Bulldozer processors.

Here is my suggestion if you want a powerful rig:-

AMD Phenom II X4 965 @ 6.4K
Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 @ 4.8K
G-skill RipjawX 1600 MHz DDR3 4GB @ 1.5K
Seasonic 520W Bronze @ 3.6K

Total: 16.3K. This config is more than enough for your current requirements and you can throw a high end GPU later without getting bottle-necked by the CPU. But if you wanna go with Phenom II X4, make it very quick as they are disappearing from the market.

Cilus what would be the best budget CPU (for 5 - 6K) for gaming with high end discrete card if entire phenom series disappears from the market.

^^perhaps i3 will be the next option then.

+1 to Cilus. But if you can wait for 2-3 months, you might get a dual core i5 (Ivy Bridge) processor which would be quite future proof.

M

Better go for this as suggested by siddarth modified littlebit
PROCESSOR - AMD A8-3870K with Radeon HD 6550D Graphics @ 7.5k
MOBO - Asus F1A55-MLX Plus @ 3.9k
RAM - Gskill ripjaw 1600 MHz 4gb @ 1.5k
PSU - Seasonic 520W Bronze @ 3.6K

whitestar_999 said:
at full HD resolution even a 6950 will not be bottlenecked by G620.& btw after a year 560Ti will most probably be a mid range card.only point against G620 as of now is if you need more cores for other usages besides gaming.

Buddy G620 is good.I think its still Better to have four cores for future. :razz:

Cilus said:
One thing isn't clear to me... Is this system for Movie, Browsing etc or you wanna upgrade it to a gaming system step by step? however, in both the cases FX 6100 is a big No from me because of its poor performance and Windows 7 problems with all the Bulldozer processors.

Here is my suggestion if you want a powerful rig:-

AMD Phenom II X4 965 @ 6.4K
Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 @ 4.8K
G-skill RipjawX 1600 MHz DDR3 4GB @ 1.5K
Seasonic 520W Bronze @ 3.6K

Total: 16.3K. This config is more than enough for your current requirements and you can throw a high end GPU later without getting bottle-necked by the CPU. But if you wanna go with Phenom II X4, make it very quick as they are disappearing from the market.

This rig will be for movies and browsing for a year or so.Later when i change my graphic card i would simply add old one to it.
Phenom II 960T + ASUS M5A78L-M LX good?No need for USB3.0 now.

ajaymailed said:
You didn't tell in your first post that gaming was the requirement. Phenom II X4 955 to 980 or X6 will do good for gaming. Despite having two cores, Core i3 can easily match any Phenom quad core or even six core processors in many of the old games. Its only multithreaded games these 4/6 cores have some advantage.

Cilus what would be the best budget CPU (for 5 - 6K) for gaming with high end discrete card if entire phenom series disappears from the market.

Sorry i thought it was not relevant.To my knowledge most budget cpu bottleneck gpu but not greatly.i3 has great architecture.

Siddharth_1 said:
+1 to Cilus. But if you can wait for 2-3 months, you might get a dual core i5 (Ivy Bridge) processor which would be quite future proof.

Need this rig up and running by sunday....

Minion said:
Better go for this as suggested by siddarth modified littlebit
PROCESSOR - AMD A8-3870K with Radeon HD 6550D Graphics @ 7.5k
MOBO - Asus F1A55-MLX Plus @ 3.9k
RAM - Gskill ripjaw 1600 MHz 4gb @ 1.5k
PSU - Seasonic 520W Bronze @ 3.6K

Thinking of going with Phenom II 960T + ASUS M5A78L-M LX now. :razz:

T

Go with Cilus Config. I am using exact same config with Cosair PSU.

Its very fast for any day to day work and also for Gaming (Provided you got a good GFX).
and it wont bottleneck any GFX even the Mighty GTX 580 + Black Edition = 4 Ghz OC for free

W

ASUS M5A78L-M LX is just a budget board(supporting upto 95W TDP processors) so do not try unlocking 960T to 6 cores or overclocking it unless you want to take the chance of frying your cpu/mobo.for unlocking a 960T & overclocking minimum recommended is asus M5A97(~6100).for mild overclocking without unlocking at least get a mobo which supports 125W TDP processors(gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P rev3.1 for ~2600 or GA-880GM-D2H rev3.1 for ~3600).

Intel's Pentium G620 and AMD's Radeon HD 6670 achieve roughly 17% slower application performance than a stock A8-3870K. However, they offer roughly the same margin of advantage over AMD's APU when it comes to minimum frame rates in games. The A8 might be not be matchable to G620 for gaming, but no gaming has to be done on the computer.

Dont believe me, then take a look at this-
Click here.

Go for the A8-3870K APU.

A

Siddharth_1 said:
Intel's Pentium G620 and AMD's Radeon HD 6670 achieve roughly 17% slower application performance than a stock A8-3870K. However, they offer roughly the same margin of advantage over AMD's APU when it comes to minimum frame rates in games. The A8 might be not be matchable to G620 for gaming, but no gaming has to be done on the computer.

Dont believe me, then take a look at this-
Click here.

Go for the A8 APU.

AMD APU won :shock:

for the first time.

Pentium G620 two Cores is creating a bottleneck in multithreaded apps, games limiting 6670 performance compared to the four core AMD A6 APU.

BF3, Dirt 3 doesn't seem to favour multicore CPUs, hence G620 is able outperform the APU.

A budget quadcore from Intel disabling advance features like HT, Turbo Core, lower frequency like it did with G620, would be gr8 against AMD APU line.

By "the four core AMD A6 APU" you mean A8 APU. Anyways, i told you to go with the AMD APU, because it would still give you enough graphics performance. You will not use the rig for browsing, apps, other threaded and multitasking, so the A8 apu is best. Also, the apu a good graphical performance for non-gaming applications.

A

Siddharth_1 said:
By "the four core AMD A6 APU" you mean A8 APU. Anyways, i told you to go with the AMD APU, because it would still give you enough graphics performance. You will not use the rig for browsing, apps, other threaded and multitasking, so the A8 apu is best. Also, the apu a good graphical performance for non-gaming applications.

yeah i meant A8.
In this rig, he will add GTX 560 Ti , So getting A8-3870K for 7K is not that much worth. Better to go for any Phenom II X4.

Also, i looked up some sources and found that FX6100 has more than double benchmark score than G620.

if you are planning to add a gpu later on grab Phenom II x4

A

Siddharth_1 said:
Also, i looked up some sources and found that FX6100 has more than double benchmark score than G620.

FX6100 is six core high end bulldozer clocking 3.3 Ghz,
G620 is low end two core Sandybridge with many features disabled clocking 2.6 Ghz. FX 6100 should be compared with Core i5 not with G620.

You should compare FX6100 and the Phenom II X4 you like, before you come to a conclusion. I think the performance and benchmark score could still be better.

Final selection:

AMD Phenom II X4 965 or 960T-lets see what i can get.

Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 @ 4.8K-Where is it for 4.8k?
or
GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3-Any idea about price and where can i get it from?

G-skill RipjawX 1600 MHz DDR3 4GB @ 1.5K
Seasonic 520W Bronze @ 3.6K-Will ask shops nearby for it.

Any changes are welcome.Thanks a lot. :razz:

anikahead2010, couple of points after seeing lots of suggestion:

1. There is no point of getting a AMD high end APU if you're planning to add a powerful GPU later. CPU performance wise Phenom II 955 or higher models are better performer than the highest APU 3870K. When you will add a powerful Gfx card, anything over HD 6670, your IGP will be disabled. Moreover, all the K series APUs are semi unlocked and offer lesser overclocking potential than black edition Phenom II.

2.If you wanna buy the GPU later then no point of getting G620. All the latest titles like Battlefield3, Crysis2 are highly optimized to utilize up to 8 cores. So in future a quad core will be better choice.

3. Don't go with cheaper FX series processors from AMD like FX 4100 (4 cores) or FX 6100 (6 cores). In most of the cases the older Athlon II X4 3 GHz+ CPUs are beating them in gaming performance. A 3 GHz+ Phenom II X4 is any day better option as per the current scenario. 1090T, available at the same price point of FX6100, performs better than it.

My option is to grab the best phenom II quad/hex core available now. Flipkart has couple of them and so do some of the Online shops. In fact Phenom II X4 960T Zosma @ 6.9K in Flipkart is the best choice as in can be unlocked to a 6 core processor. So, you better hurry if you want Phenom II.

anikahead2010 said:
Final selection:

AMD Phenom II X4 965 or 960T-lets see what i can get.

Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 @ 4.8K-Where is it for 4.8k?
or
GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3-Any idea about price and where can i get it from?

G-skill RipjawX 1600 MHz DDR3 4GB @ 1.5K
Seasonic 520W Bronze @ 3.6K-Will ask shops nearby for it.

Any changes are welcome.Thanks a lot.

Go for a 960T as Cilus said.

Can anyone explain that how can Phenom II X4 960T be unlocked into 6 cores?

Cilus said:
anikahead2010, couple of points after seeing lots of suggestion:

1. There is no point of getting a AMD high end APU if you're planning to add a powerful GPU later. CPU performance wise Phenom II 955 or higher models are better performer than the highest APU 3870K. When you will add a powerful Gfx card, anything over HD 6670, your IGP will be disabled. Moreover, all the K series APUs are semi unlocked and offer lesser overclocking potential than black edition Phenom II.

2.If you wanna buy the GPU later then no point of getting G620. All the latest titles like Battlefield3, Crysis2 are highly optimized to utilize up to 8 cores. So in future a quad core will be better choice.

3. Don't go with cheaper FX series processors from AMD like FX 4100 (4 cores) or FX 6100 (6 cores). In most of the cases the older Athlon II X4 3 GHz+ CPUs are beating them in gaming performance. A 3 GHz+ Phenom II X4 is any day better option as per the current scenario. 1090T, available at the same price point of FX6100, performs better than it.

My option is to grab the best phenom II quad/hex core available now. Flipkart has couple of them and so do some of the Online shops. In fact Phenom II X4 960T Zosma @ 6.9K in Flipkart is the best choice as in can be unlocked to a 6 core processor. So, you better hurry if you want Phenom II.

Yeah was thinking of getting it from Flipkart.Though would ask local dealers too.Thanks. :-D

Siddharth_1 said:
Go for a 960T as Cilus said.

Can anyone explain that how can Phenom II X4 960T be unlocked into 6 cores?

Not all can be unlocked,it's a gamble.
Hope it helps:Unlock AMD Phenom II X4 960T CPU Into 6 Core Processor - YouTube

^^thanx for the link.

Siddharth_1 said:
Can anyone explain that how can Phenom II X4 960T be unlocked into 6 cores?

turn ACC on in Bios. fiddle with the settings under ACC like unlock 5th core, 6th core. downclock a core, increase voltage[DANGEROUS], etc.