Most Cost-Effective LGA775 Quad Core CPU?

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Gamboleer
Gamboleer
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11 Apr 2016 2:33:22 UTC
Topic 198563
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    I gave in to Craig's List temptation over the weekend, and picked up a box of junk treasure that I really didn't need: a lot of older, unwanted computers that I promptly gutted for parts. Magic Jelly Bean got me a couple of Win 7 Ultimate retail licenses that will upgrade to Pro, and the working x58 ASUS Sabertooth motherboard was a nice surprise.

    Another part was an HP workstation motherboard, LGA775 with two PCI-E x16 2.0 slots(!). It has an aging Core2Duo for a CPU at the moment. Does anyone with experience with this chipset have a CPU they recommend as the best balance between cost / performance / TDP for driving two GPUs? (Not interested in the 775 to 771 mod thing, as I'm not sure the board would support it).

    Richie
    Richie
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    Most Cost-Effective LGA775 Quad Core CPU?

    11 Apr 2016 3:16:54 UTC
    Message 138588
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      Without knowing the actual chipset of that HP board I recommend Core 2 Quad 9550. 9650 is overpriced. But if you're not going to run CPU tasks alongside with GPU tasks and especially if you're going to run only BRP6 Beta tasks then a dual core CPU would have a great value for money also. One with maximum L2 cache and 1333MHz FSB... Core 2 Duo E8200 (2.66GHz,1333FSB,L2:6MB) and above. Or Core 2 Quad Q9450 (2.66GHz,1333FSB,L2:12MB,rev.C1) and above.

      Gamboleer
      Gamboleer
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      RE: Without knowing the

      11 Apr 2016 3:59:22 UTC
      Message 138589 in response to message 138588
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        Quote:
        Without knowing the actual chipset of that HP board I recommend Core 2 Quad 9550. 9650 is overpriced. But if you're not going to run CPU tasks alongside with GPU tasks and especially if you're going to run only BRP6 Beta tasks then a dual core CPU would have a great value for money also. One with maximum L2 cache and 1333MHz FSB... Core 2 Duo E8200 (2.66GHz,1333FSB,L2:6MB) and above. Or Core 2 Quad Q9450 (2.66GHz,1333FSB,L2:12MB,rev.C1) and above.

        Thanks, I'll take a look. I won't do CPU tasks on this one, not enough output for the electricity. But with the new GPUs coming out this year, I see a trickle down effect as I replace the GPUs on my best machine and the others get bumped. I have a Mac Pro 2,1 (dual 5365 Xeons, 150w TDP each) in a similar situation; the CPUs consume far too much energy and generate too much heat to make it worth using them for CPU computing, but they drive a pair of GPUs nicely.

        EDIT: x38 Express chipset, from an HP xw4600 Workstation:

        http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c01184908

        Intel says a Q9550 is compatible with this chipset, though HP's spec page pre-dates its release. I'll give it a try when the time comes.

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