Working with the Core 2 Duo

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Deazynthe

n00b
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
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Hi, this is a crazy scenario that I'll probably get laughed at all day over. But I figure it's the only forum-related scenario I've really got...

I'm about to "upgrade" to some silly old C2D prefab... problem is, I like that silly old C2D prefab, and I don't feel the need to upgrade further. However, I do feel like I need a dedicated graphics card of some sort, because while I don't have a huge issue with the integrated it has, there are some games and programs that I wouldn't mind seeing run smoother, especially with the huge downgrade Flash got a while ago...

Unfortunately, I can't report on which gen of C2D it is or any other parts. If it helps, it's an XP box, though I wouldn't mind grabbing 7 or 8 once support ends.

Despite all of this, is there any GPU you could really recommend? More importantly, what kind of PSU should I be using to keep everything under control? How does one really shop for older tech, anyway?

Thanks in advance.
 
Oh Christ, I just realized this was GenHard. It is... sorta... kinda... general, I guess... I don't know the motherboard or current PSU, though I probably should check, give me a sec...

To be honest, I was just hoping you guys would have some recommendations that would simply go around whatever a prefab could possibly have.
 
What are you going to use the "prefab" for? That would tell us how much GPU power you need.

In addition, factor in the costs of a new power supply. The Corsair CX430, for example, costs around $40-$45 but can power most mid-range video cards.
 
I really only used it for various older computer games from the mid-'00s and equivalent (some lower end newer stuff, like say Torchlight), web browsing and watching YouTube/streams/etc. I figure there'd be some decent mid-range video card from the C2D era I could go after.

I was told that specific PSU is $50. Looking at that Corsair, I'm not entirely sure why a lone C2D needed 400+W, but I don't know how all this works.

I kinda wanna save this thing, though I am tempted to just get a newer prefab, lame as that is. I just feel that if I got this thing running well for what it is, I'd be a little happier and a little richer.
 
Used - a GT 8800 or Radeon 4850 would be a good match. New, a GeForce 650Ti would be about the fastest that a C2D could take advantage of and it's faster and uses less power than the older cards. Please upgrade to Win7 - XP is just too full of security holes and can't take advantage of more than 3GB of memory. Win 7 has better driver support, can use more memory, is SSD aware, has better security, and will be supported longer. See if you can find more DDR2 memory as well. And find an inexpensive SSD as a boot disk - this will speed everything up and make the overall experience much better. I use a C2D laptop every day and the SSD was the best improvement to make.
 
Deazynthe said:
I really only used it for various older computer games from the mid-'00s and equivalent (some lower end newer stuff, like say Torchlight), web browsing and watching YouTube/streams/etc. I figure there'd be some decent mid-range video card from the C2D era I could go after.

I was told that specific PSU is $50. Looking at that Corsair, I'm not entirely sure why a lone C2D needed 400+W, but I don't know how all this works.

I kinda wanna save this thing, though I am tempted to just get a newer prefab, lame as that is. I just feel that if I got this thing running well for what it is, I'd be a little happier and a little richer.
Click to expand...

Throw in a Radeon HD 4850 or a GeForce 8800 and call it a day. You'll be able to play all those mid-00's games you're thinking of with max settings as well as newer games like Skyrim just fine.
 
Fenris_Ulf said:
Used - a GT 8800 or Radeon 4850 would be a good match. New, a GeForce 650Ti would be about the fastest that a C2D could take advantage of and it's faster and uses less power than the older cards. Please upgrade to Win7 - XP is just too full of security holes and can't take advantage of more than 3GB of memory. Win 7 has better driver support, can use more memory, is SSD aware, has better security, and will be supported longer. See if you can find more DDR2 memory as well. And find an inexpensive SSD as a boot disk - this will speed everything up and make the overall experience much better. I use a C2D laptop every day and the SSD was the best improvement to make.
Click to expand...

Agreed on all points.
 
Generally I think you'd be better off with going with a newer generation, lower-end card as long as it's still compatible with your hardware, as that will have better power consumption for your PSU limitations, lower noise levels, and more features. I'd shoot for a current or previous-gen midrange card over a several generations old high-end card.
 
Deazynthe, Core 2 Duo is still strong for general use purposes like you're talking about. If you're not trying to use it as a high end development workstation then there's really no reason to toss it, so I can understand why you want to stick with it. As long as you have enough RAM and a decent GPU you can play all those mid-00's games easily.

You should really tell us the full specs, or atleast the model of prebuilt it is though.
 
Yeah, a lot of these recommendations sound about right... will definitely consider that Radeon and the Corsair up there, those work well together with the C2D, right (seems like the 430W is a bit too small and it'd be better to use the 500W)? Honestly, I like XP, and I run a lot of older obscure software that tends to break on Vista->, so I'd probably just go for 7 Ultimate and run XP all the time... actually, I don't even "trust" VMs all that much, I'd probably just keep an XP partition around for whatever and get a "normal" 7...

The comp just has the Windows OEM sticker, the Intel sticker, and the various labels on its optical; nothing about the box itself. I can't get the specs because it's currently out-of-order; that's why I was wondering if it'd be better to just get a new PSU, and what GPU I should get that would fit that PSU along with the existing C2D and its mobo.
 
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