Upgrading my CPU

[DanielE]

I have not built a computer in years. Just been buying OEM pieces of garbage. I currently have a HP made Pegatron Benicia 1.01 mother board... or at least that is what CPU-Z program says. It is running the E5200 Pentium with 4gbs of ram and a Nvida 9800GT. A newer game I have been looking forward to keeps crashing when a lot of things start happening, explosions, many characters running around, etc. I know my video card is fairly weak but I wanted to start by upgrading my CPU. I was going to make the jump to a core 2 quad 8300. Figuring that would make a significant difference.

Will it make a biggish difference?

Will my HP programed motherboard allow me to? (The specs I found on my board said it can handle it. I just don't know if HP has something that will not allow me to upgrade it.)

Will I need a new heat sink/fan for the new processor or will the ones I have fit and keep it cool?

ESD straps and arctic silver still all you need to install a new cpu?

Sorry for the hundred questions I just want to be through.

 

[St1ckM4n]

What kinda price would you get that CPU for? It's pretty much time to buy a whole new custom rig. Spending more than $80 or so on this one isn't wise.

 

[captaincranky]

I can't picture any good coming from upgrading anything about an LGA-775 platform in this day and age.

With that said, I have no idea what your finances are, or will be. Or what your level of tolerance and patience is, for that matter.

If the game in question is multi-threaded, then a quad core could possibly help. This assumes the program is saturating your dual core.

There isn't anything about you HP mobo that's going to permit overclocking. OEM boxes are basically evolutionary dead ends. The CPU you're suggesting, is likely to work only if you PC was offered in that model, at the same time with the tentative new CPU available as an option.

You really should save your pennies and buy a new box. I have a Core i3-3225 and it pulls a 7.2 in Win 7 WEI. (This is a mainstream 2 core with hyper-threading), I doubt you could coerce the quad you're considering to pull those numbers at anywhere near stock speed.

 

[cliffordcooley]

I can't picture any good coming from upgrading anything about an LGA-775 platform in this day and age.

Amen but if its a minor upgrade that cost little to nothing, I would still go for it.

 

[hood6558]

Seeing as how Q8300's are going for ~$150 online, unless you have access to a much cheaper one, it would be economically unfeasible to make such an upgrade. An i3 and a cheap motherboard and RAM would be a much better choice, and you'd have a fast modern system, USB 3.0, SATA 6 GB/s, etc.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116775
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157296
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233195
The parts in the above links total $260 and should be compatible with all your existing parts, unless the HP case or power supply is proprietary non-standard ATX. If that's the case, additional funds would be required for those parts.

 

[cliffordcooley]

The parts in the above links total $260 and should be compatible with all your existing parts, unless the HP case or power supply is proprietary non-standard ATX. If that's the case, additional funds would be required for those parts.

Add another 100 for Windows, if the current OS is OEM.

 

[DanielE]

It seems like just yesterday I bought this thing and it was top of the line; now I am told it is an outdated web surfer. I didn't realize how cheap getting an i3/i5 set up was. I will just save up and go for that. Thank you all for your input especially hood6558 for the links!