So, I have a secondary system just sitting around. It has a decent ssd, a solid psu, like 2gb ram, an e7200 (dual core), Intel DP35DP (mobo), and an 8800gts (iirc). I was thinking about upgrading it and maxing out the board. A Q6600 or maybe even a Q9550, 4x2gb ddr2, and then put my current gpu in there once I upgrade it. However, I am concerned about it because it is all used components. I don't want to spend $60ish only to have it shit out on me a few months or years later. I would rather put that money towards a whole new rig. Maybe an 845 or something. Since I already have a spare set of ddr3 sitting around, the psu, the ssd, and the gpu, the difference in cost would be not too great. $60-80 for the lga775 cpu and ram vs $110-$150 for a decent cpu and a mobo. An 845 would likely perform better and would definitely use less power and would also likely last much longer, but also costs a good bit more.
Pretty much what I just did to my system (went from a Q9450 to a QX9650 and 4 GB to 8 GB of RAM). It's been pretty solid thus far, but as for longevity I couldn't tell you.
I put about 250 in mine (old 9800 GX2 was shot so I grabbed a 750 Ti) so based on that I'd say it's a no brainer to throw about 100 into yours and fix it up. I can sell you a Q9450 if you want it! Haha.
From a guy who just retired his trusty old Q6600 last year i can say its really fun squeezing performance out of a 775. But even when running 3.6ghz i could barely play GTA V smoothly. Also fast DDR2 memory kits beyond 4gb is rare and stupid expensive these days. I've had great luck buying second hand hardware that have lasted a long while. So if you come across some cheap parts on a second hand market id say go for it. Also check out the lga 771 socket mod for some xenon fun.
I might take you up on that, depending on when and if I actually do this. I both hate the idea of letting useful hardware sit and not be used, and also hate the idea of putting money into something with no longevity.
I can tell you it didn't get much use for such an old chip and it was never overclocked! So it should be a happy camper in any system. Just wanted to max out the specs as long as I was replacing stuff, hence the QX9650.
I got a friend who needed 6GB of the 'fast' 800mhz DDR2 RAM and bought an entire desktop second hand (with an E8500 dual core 3,16GHz) for the equivalent of $23, the dude wanted $90 for it, but my buddy just kept offering $23 and when nobody would bid higher he got it after a month or so.
So my buddy got the RAM, gave me the rest + 6GB of the slower 667MHz he exchanged from his system. It had a dodgy PSU so I put in a spare. I also put in a GTX 670 instead of the GTS 250 it had, and I OC'd the E8500 to 3,95GHz with base clock. Of course with a custom cooler.
The thing plays well, but I don't play very demanding games. CoH2 and World of Warships are perhaps the most demanding games and it is playable at 30-45fps with medium to high settings. The CPU sits at 80-90% utilization in CoH2 and 60-70% in World of Warships.
Yeah, you could pick up an E5450 off of ebay for super cheap and OC it. You would have to modify it a little bit, but it would perform better then the Q9550.
I'm curious - if this secondary system was just sitting around to begin with, and will never be as powerful as your primary (I'm assuming), why put any money into it? Would there ever be a time that you would rather use a slower and older PC? Giving it to someone else?
my Q6600 is currently serving as my media pc. it got all the ddr2 ram from old machines (8GB). I did have to buy a GPU for it (no gaming; just video), but only spent $10 on that (Radeon HD 6350). Still works great.
For older games and indie titles, an E5450 and a 7770 in a decent board is a great option for a budget build. You can get a lot of performance out of old hardware. So long as you understand the limits of the hardware and keep your expectations realistic... you may get a nice surprise.
I went from an Asus P5B Green to an EP45-UD3P and the quality difference is just... sooooooooo tangible.
Make sure if you go Xeon that the motherboard you have has the correct microcode (to enable SSE4.1, CMPXCHG16 and VT-x on Xeons) because Windows won't boot without it.
well an C2Q should NOT be 80 bucks. 40 is more likely. But, if you really wanted a spare box for that power user fanatical fun, go ahead! I might scrap a Xeon box instead, but it should work fine.
Ahhhhhh, well even ram should be cheaper than that. Are there any computer recycle depots around you? Can the board handle PC2-6300U? You could just get an 2X4GB 8 gig set on ebay. They're like 20 bucks (I was looking into this recently).
Yeah, if you want to buy that. You should be able to use any ram tho. Ram is ram, they just had micron lying around at the test center and didn't bother to try anything else.