CPU for HD 6970

[Nicnac]

Hi everyone,

I have an old hd 6970 lying around and want to use it for crunching on BOINC only.

I am looking for a really cheap cpu that can just power the HD 6970 for a budget build.

I have been looking around and read that most people recommend the AMD Phenom 2 955 x4 (3,2 GHz) Black Edition.

However, since I don't want to use it for gaming and only want it to barely feed the GPU w/out bottlenecking I am wondering if there is an even cheaper alternative?

Thanks in advance!

[SageOfSpice]

What platform? AM3?

[Nicnac]

I am looking for used parts so I might as well grab a new mainboard. I have an MS-7058 Socket 775 LGA lying around but I doubt it can do any good...

[Imakuni]

11 minutes ago, Nicnac said:

Hi everyone,

I have an old hd 6970 lying around and want to use it for crunching on BOINC only.

I am looking for a really cheap cpu that can just power the HD 6970 for a budget build.

I have been looking around and read that most people recommend the AMD Phenom 2 955 x4 (3,2 GHz) Black Edition.

However, since I don't want to use it for gaming and only want it to barely feed the GPU w/out bottlenecking I am wondering if there is an even cheaper alternative?

Thanks in advance!

Why don't you just put it a rig you already on and have it crunch there? I wouldn't advise getting parts just for the sake of powering a GPU.

[Nicnac]

I have it crunching on a MS-7058 w/ a Pentium 4 515 and its just not doing it justice

[SageOfSpice]

What about a Q9550? You can pick one up for about $43. It's a fairly strong chip.

[Nicnac]

Hmm I can get a used Phenom 2 955 for 40 bucks already which would definitely suffice...

[SageOfSpice]

7 minutes ago, Nicnac said:

Hmm I can get a used Phenom 2 955 for 40 bucks already which would definitely suffice...

You could, but then you'd be investing another $50 for a motherboard, and I could recommend an even better processor if we're going to factor that expense in.

 

The Q9550 and the Phenom 2 955 have similar performance at stock speeds.

[Nicnac]

I would need a new mobo anyways.  MS-7058 only supports single core, I believe

[SageOfSpice]

18 minutes ago, Nicnac said:

I would need a new mobo anyways.  MS-7058 only supports single core, I believe

Oh, wow. You are indeed correct.

[Nicnac]

yeah its crap

[Imakuni]

3 hours ago, Nicnac said:

I have it crunching on a MS-7058 w/ a Pentium 4 515 and its just not doing it justice

Right...

 

If I was you, I'd just jump the gun and buy a new, more modern platform altogether. Perhaps a used H81 + Pentium G and 4gb of RAM. It'll double as a new system which you can use, if you don't already have a decent one.

 

Or, if you already have an okay system outside of the Pentium 4, slap that GPU into your main rig. It'll be just fine.