Best CPU motherboard combo for under $70? Helping a friend upgrade from i5 2400

[shactheorb15]

Budget (including currency): $70 USD

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming, mostly BeamNG Drive and Minecraft

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc.): This is an ultra budget build where the current processor is an i5 2400 with an r9 280 and 16gb ddr3. Buddy was happy with it for under $100 but it needs an upgrade CPU wise. 

 

I'm comfortable with used parts, and have been searching locally with no luck. I'm looking at maybe an old Xeon build but don't know what to pick since many Xeons aren't focused on single thread which is important for many of the games he plays, such as the ones listed. Any help? 

 

[birdflyer]

i7 4790s used to be pretty easy to find used. They were put in many, many pre-builts back in the day and can be found relatively cheap.

 

I wasn't able to really find anything better than this in the online used market: https://www.ebay.com/itm/165706283811?hash=item2694dd3b23:g:alMAAOSwS5JjOs88&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoFSRozIJ4vVwWBPpR%2FXDXgFIPWOHn0XWsxLZ9035dhv6bTk3azRu%2F3FHR92TRG8I8Kdxh%2Bp9RMx%2BIZ7BtB%2Fjcubksk%2BQT%2FhNPEaWVs%2FcDtAmB7gO07ToB9oet4tfzoxj5SEZgbz9gkAB%2BYLenVQ%2BrlORHaiOCp%2BFKCoMcENkG18T7kWZVKbDJjQVhDIdixpuucesLzjQ9qMdgM8EO69wfd8%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR6D_y4L2YA

Local listings and patients are often the best tactic.

[RONOTHAN##]

Realistically, you should save up another $50 and try for an 3600 and a B450 board. Getting something much better than a i5 2400 with a motherboard for $70 is just not really possible. 

 

4 minutes ago, shactheorb15 said:

I'm looking at maybe an old Xeon build but don't know what to pick since many Xeons aren't focused on single thread which is important for many of the games he plays, such as the ones listed

Realistically, the Xeon builds for a gaming system haven't made a ton of sense since the X58 days since the single thread performance is usually significantly worse than consumer chips to the point where it makes sense to just get an older consumer chip, and the chips that are somewhat competitive in single thread applications are too expensive to make sense. X58 was different since the X58 Xeons were overclockable, so you made up for that with faster chips. 

[BiotechBen]

13 minutes ago, shactheorb15 said:

Budget (including currency): $70 USD

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming, mostly BeamNG Drive and Minecraft

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc.): This is an ultra budget build where the current processor is an i5 2400 with an r9 280 and 16gb ddr3. Buddy was happy with it for under $100 but it needs an upgrade CPU wise. 

 

I'm comfortable with used parts, and have been searching locally with no luck. I'm looking at maybe an old Xeon build but don't know what to pick since many Xeons aren't focused on single thread which is important for many of the games he plays, such as the ones listed. Any help? 

 

For 70 USD you are likely going to have to keep the mobo if you want a legitimate upgrade. Also really depends on what the mobo is. If it's a prebuilt special, it may not have many chips validated for it's platform, but seeing as you mentioned the power hungry GPU I'm guessing it's not. If your board supports overclocking, I'd say maybe a 2600K might be something worth looking at.

 

 

I'd highly recommend what @RONOTHAN## said, save up for a Ryzen 1600 and an inexpensive b450 board or maybe x370.

[shactheorb15]

1 minute ago, birdflyer said:

i7 4790s used to be pretty easy to find used. They were put in many, many pre-builts back in the day and can be found relatively cheap.

 

I wasn't able to really find anything better than this in the online used market: https://www.ebay.com/itm/165706283811?hash=item2694dd3b23:g:alMAAOSwS5JjOs88&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoFSRozIJ4vVwWBPpR%2FXDXgFIPWOHn0XWsxLZ9035dhv6bTk3azRu%2F3FHR92TRG8I8Kdxh%2Bp9RMx%2BIZ7BtB%2Fjcubksk%2BQT%2FhNPEaWVs%2FcDtAmB7gO07ToB9oet4tfzoxj5SEZgbz9gkAB%2BYLenVQ%2BrlORHaiOCp%2BFKCoMcENkG18T7kWZVKbDJjQVhDIdixpuucesLzjQ9qMdgM8EO69wfd8%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR6D_y4L2YA

Local listings and patients are often the best tactic.

This is awesome and I'll make sure to bookmark it, but if possible I'm trying to avoid proprietary parts. Thanks!

[shactheorb15]

7 minutes ago, BiotechBen said:

For 70 USD you are likely going to have to keep the mobo if you want a legitimate upgrade. Also really depends on what the mobo is. If it's a prebuilt special, it may not have many chips validated for it's platform, but seeing as you mentioned the power hungry GPU I'm guessing it's not. If your board supports overclocking, I'd say maybe a 2600K might be something worth looking at.

 

 

I'd highly recommend what @RONOTHAN## said, save up for a Ryzen 1600 and an inexpensive b450 board or maybe x370.

it is a shitty old dell motherboard unfortunately, just one with standard power supply in and form factor

[birdflyer]

15 minutes ago, shactheorb15 said:

I'm trying to avoid proprietary parts.

As others suggested, you really would be better to save up another $50 - $75ish to get a decently modern CPU as the value proposition is way better.

However... You might be able to pick up a used AMD Ryzen 5 1600 and an AM4 motherboard for about $120ish

 

Ryzen 5 1600: https://www.ebay.com/itm/255761548800?epid=7035669728&hash=item3b8c938600:g:wSYAAOSwXm5jPeng&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoFgSfWJD5Ks5Wq0WeJLyDJIpmz1hhqw4Y4uAkdTnPyC7j61rIYbUPFd1VYm1MB14APTTGgBOjt0U1SH%2Fae%2BffypuK9lRSj448jdTjQAsAoQyn59cNO%2F6fFgSL%2F5NuKjnISmG9yhFRMnmdwexQQHRzKs9WZXWLV2m2wcF5WPlAB7DYEMUm7fgWZNA3hhW%2FH0XKa25ujxfrJL7gLyVmzxKntk%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR-bz3YP2YA

B450 Motherboard: https://www.ebay.com/itm/394262958954?epid=20030652039&hash=item5bcbe7536a:g:kfYAAOSwDBJjNEhn&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA0Jctqaa1nFeT1Fe32A3uUKIRzaEEwXla0T5lAR6SYEFLwn6x5%2F7XOZPLp3cP1Q7b7nFjNMMK9IDPtAXDXmONO977s9PsuasjDLAovDDtC3rfzq6S%2BC1FyS6Hi%2B6xnzrO4b4F0BruBdKNcubKYRvuF3RrgRTNVSaEupuhnm8%2FjMOT8OTV7RdtJht4CD%2FzxzdtLuH%2BbYw5mSlQ%2BLODEWnD900I3NksyQBvt4f4oT9agv5b6nFDoxG3MW5KAdNmOyzSHrp8dtIHmFvz%2FL5pEUPrncQ%3D|tkp%3ABFBM0vrag_Zg

Edited October 7, 2022 by birdflyer
Updated with better Motherboard

[Bombastinator]

The problem there is while old generations of cpu get less expensive, old generations of motherboards that fit them generally don’t. Sometimes they get lots more expensive.  There are hundred dollar brand new laptops out there, but they’re generally Chromebook level stuff that should probably be running some distro rather than windows.  The best bet might be to get a better cpu for the lga1155 he’s got.  Might be able to pick up a 3770k cpu for that kind of money.  Enough OC could get it into esports gaming range.

 

if he can do anything with a g6 motherboard there are some old xenon systems that could be interesting.  It’s basically an eBay thing though.imho putting any money at all into something with less than 8 threads is a waste.  A lot depends on what motherboard he’s got.  There’s also the video card issue.  Those old systems need to have video cards. The thing about xenons is the motherboards tend to be odd.  He may not be able to fit them in anything he’s got.

Edited October 7, 2022 by Bombastinator

[dizmo]

Save up a little more, buy a bundled kit on eBay, sell off what you don't need. You can find motherboard/CPU/RAM bundles really cheap, and sometimes they'll even include storage.

[BiotechBen]

@shactheorb15

Breakdown for getting most for your money:

Selling:

i5-2400= 45usd maybe

Mobo= 20 if you're lucky

Might be able to keep case if it's not proprietary mounting for mobo= free

 

Buying:

R5 1600= 65-75

B450/x370= 45

16gb random DDR4= 45

TOTAL: 160- (if lucky: 55-60)= about $100 net.

So I'd say save up to about 125 and then jump on some previous gen Ryzen deals.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

If your games dont need avx then going for 1156 or 1366 may be an option

 

 

For 1156 basically any h55 or p55 will work as long as itll bclk oc, particularly look at gigabyte

 

asus needs crossflashing and bios mods to perform optimally (terrible bios crippling on lower end boards), asrock just has ass bioses so youd have to crossflash to an asus board (if p55 cause same bios chip sizes) or a better asrock board (if h55 due to 2mb bios on asrock and 8mb bios on asus), biostar im not sure, msi can just burn, ecs falls into the same pit as asrock but worse stock bios. Crossflashing is simple since the brands i mentioned all use socketed bios so all you need is a ch341a and asprogrammer to crossflash and failed crossflashes are easy to fix cause socketed bios. Same goes for x58 boards brand wise although asus p6t deluxe v2 and up dont need crossflashing (same ebb = no bios crippling)

 

 

For oc method

 

bclk to the moon without qpi slowmode, 1156 does somewhere around 210 max while x58 does more like 220 ish max, x58 prefers 120 pcie but unsure about 1156 and ive only tested on a p6t deluxe v2

 

Cpu core freq prefferably at efficiency peak or 1.3-1.35v volt requirement (~4.2-4.3ghz), max volt = ~1.55v but youll run intocooling issues abit before 1.5v

 

Qpi keep it around 8000, usually lowest multi is best (not slowmode)

 

Uncore somewhere around 3900-4000, vtt max ~1.55v but ideal ~1.45v as over 1.45v scaling is minimal, cant be higher than cpu core freq (tested this myself, it just kept crashing)

 

Ram you dont really need to oc, even garbage ram with terrible ics will suffice as 220 ish bclk dont really need much over 1400 ddr3. Max freq you can expect ranges from 2000-2400 (imc limit at ambient) if you are interested in ocing the ram, higher vtt and uncore may help with oc, Definitely triple channel over dual channel as it does help performance on x58. Reccomended max volt for the imc ~2.1v but ram ics themselves have diff volt scaling and tolerances that vary per ic

 

 

Cpu choice wise for 1156 look at the x3440-x3470 xeons, for 1366 just get an x5650

 

Oced quadcore ht nehalem will beat that 2400 and an oced hexacore ht westmere will absolutely destroy the 2400 especially in multicore

 

 

X58 has plunged in value but some boards may still be quite expensive so unless you get a dirt cheap sub 50$ cpu + board not worth it

 

1156 you should be able to get a x3440 + cheap ocable h55/p55 for <30$

 

 

 

But really you are better off just jumping on used ryzen and paying up, a320 boards go dirt cheap and same for used ryzens, theyll consume alot less power than some ancient platforms from 2008, sure 1st gen ryzen may still get matched by oced 1156/x58 but then again less powerdraw and newer instructions incl avx so all games should still be playable along with that theres upgradability, even better if you find a cheap zen2

[Zando_]

1 hour ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

X58 has plunged in value but some boards may still be quite expensive so unless you get a dirt cheap sub 50$ cpu + board not worth it

Tbf even then they aren't really worth it, spectre/meltdown patches chokeslammed them and they show their age a lot more now. 

1 hour ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

for 1366 just get an x5650

If you do go 1366 for any reason, get anything above an X5650. Most don't like doing past 4.0-4.2 without a lot of trouble, whereas most higher SKUs will do 4.4-4.5 ez. 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

6 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

If you do go 1366 for any reason, get anything above an X5650. Most don't like doing past 4.0-4.2 without a lot of trouble, whereas most higher SKUs will do 4.4-4.5 ez.

Maybe thats why my x5660 was terrible garbage, only 4.85g windows boot at 1.7v with 2 cores no ht and absolutely terrible 3rd core making 4ghz need 1.27v to be stable. Seems like the x xeons also have terrible imc since i couldnt get more than 2200 ddr3 stable even with the ideal 3900 uncore 1.45v vtt, everything else looks to be quite average capabilities wise

 

next one will be an x5650 that i may be able to get at 6$ since higher bins dont always guarantee a better cpu and high bin x58 cost alot more than the lowbins here in indo, i mean best e8500 out of 8 that i have only does 4.25g 1.344v while at the same volt my e8400 and e3110 do 4.32ghz, still pretty meager and looking at a basically guaranteed good bin cpu like the x5260 (e8600 but xeon binning and 775 xeon binning seems pretty good since the e3110 matches my e8400 which seems to be a slightly above average chip) later on to see if i can hit 5g on water

 

Might just be pointless anyways since 2500k are now dirt cheap and i can just shove that on a p67 or z68/77 and do 5g easy (~1.5v)

[Zando_]

2 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Maybe thats why my x5660 was terrible garbage, only 4.85g windows boot at 1.7v with 2 cores no ht and absolutely terrible 3rd core making 4ghz need 1.27v to be stable.

Yep, the lower SKUs are often really low binned. I'd have to dig back aaaages in the Intel HEDT thread in my sig, someone went through what were the best average bins (they had gone through like 100+ 1366 chips as a hobby). IIRC mostly higher SKU X56xx series, though if you do get a rare golden bin 45nm chip they are absolute monsters. 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

1 hour ago, Zando_ said:

Yep, the lower SKUs are often really low binned. I'd have to dig back aaaages in the Intel HEDT thread in my sig, someone went through what were the best average bins (they had gone through like 100+ 1366 chips as a hobby). IIRC mostly higher SKU X56xx series, though if you do get a rare golden bin 45nm chip they are absolute monsters. 

Any place where i could go to buy some dirt cheap cpus in large quantities?

[Zando_]

8 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Any place where i could go to buy some dirt cheap cpus in large quantities?

I've always got em off eBay, often you can get them in sets of 2 or 4 (as those are standard multisocket setups), I've never tried getting them in more bulk than that. 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

32 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

I've always got em off eBay, often you can get them in sets of 2 or 4 (as those are standard multisocket setups), I've never tried getting them in more bulk than that. 

Unfortunately shipping and import tax will tank the value of buying lots till i start buying in the tens of cpus

[shactheorb15]

10 hours ago, BiotechBen said:

@shactheorb15

Breakdown for getting most for your money:

Selling:

i5-2400= 45usd maybe

Mobo= 20 if you're lucky

Might be able to keep case if it's not proprietary mounting for mobo= free

 

Buying:

R5 1600= 65-75

B450/x370= 45

16gb random DDR4= 45

TOTAL: 160- (if lucky: 55-60)= about $100 net.

So I'd say save up to about 125 and then jump on some previous gen Ryzen deals.

that doesn't sound bad. The motherboard is an old dell, but the case is standard micro atx 

[Bombastinator]

24 minutes ago, shactheorb15 said:

that doesn't sound bad. The motherboard is an old dell, but the case is standard micro atx 

If you wind up with a microATX board there’s little reason not to keep the case, ASSUMING that the thing has standard case i/o pinouts.  Proprietary cables are very common with Dell.  Especially for motherboard main power and case i/o.  There are often adaptors available, but in this case that could be a major cost.  Might be best to just sell it out of hand as an adaptor could be 1/2 the price of a new case anyway (if the case is a cheap one, which I recommend in this situation)  also be careful buying a used case that the i/o of the case is compatible with your motherboard.

[shactheorb15]

28 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

If you wind up with a microATX board there’s little reason not to keep the case, ASSUMING that the thing has standard case i/o pinouts.  Proprietary cables are very common with Dell.  Especially for motherboard main power and case i/o.  There are often adaptors available, but in this case that could be a major cost.  Might be best to just sell it out of hand as an adaptor could be 1/2 the price of a new case anyway (if the case is a cheap one, which I recommend in this situation)  also be careful buying a used case that the i/o of the case is compatible with your motherboard.

the case itself isn't dell but the motherboard is. I had to make some adjustments to adapt front panel connectors but nothing has been changed really

 

[Bombastinator]

2 minutes ago, shactheorb15 said:

the case itself isn't dell but the motherboard is. I had to make some adjustments to adapt front panel connectors but nothing has been changed really

 

Well that opens up the possibility of some

Dell motherboards if you want to do that again. Dell motherboards tend to be cheaper used because a lot of people simply can’t use them.

Edited October 7, 2022 by Bombastinator