Stereodude
Not really a
My LGA775 Intel E5200 HTPC running Windows 7 (32-bit) is getting a little irksome in some regards. Basically, my main complaint is that background OS tasks like Windows Update processing and downloading updates can cause stuttering or dropped frames when they occur during video playback. My initial idea was to upgrade the CPU. An E8600 (the fastest dual core CPU it supports) is about $20 (used) on eBay, but I'm not sure if some extra MHz will improve things. Another option would be to get a Q9550S CPU (the fastest 65W quad core), but they're about $100 used on eBay. 4 cores might be better than 2 faster cores in terms of ironing out my complaints. However, at $100 for a Q9550S I'm almost halfway to buying a new Haswell i3, low end mobo, and some DDR3 RAM. A new Haswell system would give me a more powerful CPU (than even the Q9550S) and PCIe 3.0 which will help out madVR vs. the PCIe 2.0 I have now.
At a minimum even if I don't change any hardware I needs to reinstall an x64 version of Windows so I can use current drivers for my R9 380 card...
I was thinking something like this:
i3-4370 - $129.99 at Microcenter
ASRock H97M Pro4 - $49.99 (after $10 rebate and $20 processor bundle discount) at Microcenter
8gB (2 x 4gB) DDR3-1600L - $40 everywhere
At a minimum even if I don't change any hardware I needs to reinstall an x64 version of Windows so I can use current drivers for my R9 380 card...
I was thinking something like this:
i3-4370 - $129.99 at Microcenter
ASRock H97M Pro4 - $49.99 (after $10 rebate and $20 processor bundle discount) at Microcenter
8gB (2 x 4gB) DDR3-1600L - $40 everywhere