MotherBoard Upgrade help..

[Sheo5225]

Well, I have this computer and so far I have put in a good deal of money in RAM and a graphics card, next uyp is the CPU (which I have no idea how to replace like what I should buy or what I should put in, etc). Anyway the mother baord currently installed is a MSI MS-7366 1.0. Old huh? I have a GeForce Galaxy 210 1gig video card and 4 gigs of ram currently installed. Now the purpose of this is so I can run FFXIV much more smoothly and I am assuming the issue here is the CPU which is.. a screw it I need help, these are my specs..

more info:

Board: MS-7366 1.0
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. V3.5 06/28/2008

2.80 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
16 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
Hyper-threaded (2 total)

Windows 7 Ultimate (build 7600)
Install Language: English (United States)
System Locale: English (United States

3328 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot 'DIMM0' has 2048 MB
Slot 'DIMM1' has 2048 MB

NVIDIA GeForce 210 [Display adapter]
VIZ E370VL [Monitor] (37.0"vis, s/n QKHJAL2604527, June 2010)

here ya go, if anyone can recommend a good CPU for me that will be great, thanks.. oh and what I need must be equivalent or better than Intel Core 2 Duo (2.0 GHz) / AMD Athlon X2 (2.0 GHz) and if at all possible (this being the recommend spec..) can my computer use something like Intel Core i7 (2.66 GHz) or faster.. thank you in advanced

[RicheemxX]

I hate to say it but the "good deal of money" you already spent was a total waste. That graphics card is total junk and not even close to anything you should be running for gaming. The memory upgrade to 4gbs is ok but hardly the best choice.

MSI made a couple boards that are considered the MSI-7366 all of which I think were socket 775 based. You'll need to find out the exact model number, from there the msi site will show you a cpu support list. Then you'll need to track down a cpu that will fit your budget.

Depending on what your budget is and if you are looking for something for gaming, especially newer games, you may consider scrapping the entire build and buying something totally new. You'd give yourself much more options, more upgrade options down the road and could get something faster.

[ShyguyXPC]

The motherboard, has to be one of these 3, unless its an OEM board version from a Pre-built system like a Dell or HP or something like that

MSI Global – Search

Its not really THAT old, and if its one of the 3 in that link, it has plenty of CPU upgrades still.

[Sheo5225]

thanks for the replies guys, this is a prebuilt computer by HP the model is HP Pavilion A813w. I hope I can simply upgrade the CPU to something better and just play the game at low settings and not experience so much lag :/

[RicheemxX]

Well now you've got me confused. HP lists the motherboard as being an ASUS PTGD1-LA. Has the board been changed or something? Where did you get that you had an MSI board?

What is the budget? without that its hard to suggest a chip to upgrade to.

[Sheo5225]

So sorry.. I just called up my uncle, the man who gave me this PC, and he told me he threw away the original motherboard that came with this PC and upgraded to the MSI board. I am currently trying to figure out which board exactly I have but I really do not know how to find this one out. I am downloading some program named "Fresh Diagnose" which helps tell you what your specs are. What I listed above was from a different program, hopefully this new program sheds some light to which board I really have.. Unless you have another alternate method of finding this out, I'm all for it. Sorry to be such a pain

[RicheemxX]

Never heard of that program but speccy works great Speccy - System Information - Free Download

[Sheo5225]

Well... it said the same thing as before.. MS-7366 version 1. Oh and as for my budget, that really isnt a problem

this is what speccy reads.. "MSI MS-7366 (CPU 1) 73 °C"

Motherboard
Manufacturer MSI
Model MS-7366
Version 1.0
Chipset Vendor NVIDIA
Chipset Model GeForce 7050
Chipset Revision A2
Southbridge Vendor NVIDIA
Southbridge Model nForce 610i
Southbridge Revision A2

Alright, this is where I am at. It's either MSI P6NGM2-L the specs are at this site
Download MSI P6NGM2-L NVIDIA nForce MCP73 System Drivers for XP Driver for Windows XP - Softpedia
OR
it can be this one P6NGM-L
MSI Global – Mainboard - P6NGM-L

It is between these two, I think it is the p6ngm2 though. According to the site it has my exact chipset. Anyway, if you could recommend a in between CPU that is decent enough to run FFXIV then that would be great, thanks.

[ShyguyXPC]

If it lists the Geforce 7050, thats onboard video, then it would have to be

MSI Global – Mainboard - P6NGM-FD

MSI Global – Mainboard - P6NGM-FIH


One of those two, out of the 3 from my link above, the first one listed (in the link above), has no External Monitor connector so, it doesn't have onboard video, these 2 linked here do.


When i do a search on MSI's Global Site, for the Motherboard Model number, MS-7366, those are the 3 that pop up.

so has to be one of the 2 I linked in this reply.

Any chance you could take a look at the pics for each board, and match them up (or check on the board, as its usually screen printed somewhere the exact model of the board)?

[Sheo5225]

Okay! I am looking at the mother board now and the model is MS-7366 the board also says p6ngm and no other letter or number next to it. If my board is one of those listed above then which CPU would be best to run my game? Lol man this is a pain

[ShyguyXPC]

Well, you might need a BIOS update before running a New CPU, as the Intel Socket 775 Wolfdale Core CPU's weren't out when the board was made, but the CPU Support List currently shows it supports them.

But the Wolfdale CPU's are the "newest" and still available to buy.

And would be the best deals IMO, even though you could find a used one for cheaper, you never know if someone has Overclocked the snot out of it, and its defective, so for a Brand new CPU under warranty some of the Wolfdales Still sold would be best.


Both those boards in my reply above are the same boards with slightly different feature set (DVI/VGA on one board, and VGA only on the other, etc)

So the CPU list should be the same for both.

MSI Global – Mainboard - P6NGM-FD


Supposedly here is the Recommended System Requirements for FFXIV

FINAL FANTASY XIV® Recommended System Requirements

The Video card you have is going to hold it back significantly in the graphics area, but for CPU upgrade, since Intel Core i7 is only for new Socket Platforms (Socket 1366, 1156 and 1155)

The best Socket 775 CPU you can get for your money would be the best deal.

Dual Core, Low to High:

Newegg.com - Intel Celeron E3500 Wolfdale 2.7GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80571E3500

Newegg.com - Intel Pentium E5700 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80571E5700

Newegg.com - Intel Pentium E5800 Wolfdale 3.2GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80571E5800

Newegg.com - Intel Pentium E6800 Wolfdale 3.33GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80571E6800

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor BX80570E8400



Quad core, Low to High:

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80580Q8300

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 Yorkfield 2.66GHz 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80580Q8400

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9505 Yorkfield 2.83GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80580Q9505



Realistically I wouldn't invest TOO much money into this system, its upgrade path is significantly limited at this point with Socket 775 and for just a single game too.


Honestly if it was me, I wouldn't spend anymore than maybe $100-120 tops on the CPU, keep it to a High speed Dual Core, and maybe upgrade the Video card, to a Better performing one to keep the system balanced in performance (as well as make sure the Power Supply is a Quality brand unit to handle the system load and video card)

But any more expenditures totaling over $250-300 really and You'd be better off just upgrading to an entirely new, more capable system over all.



Newegg.com - Intel Pentium E6800 Wolfdale 3.33GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80571E6800

+

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100316L Radeon HD 6790 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

or

Newegg.com - HIS H685F1GD Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

or

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-768I GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

(6850 is the best of the 3, but the 6790 is the cheapest and is a pretty good performing card)

Assuming the system takes a full size standard ATX power supply: Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 CMPSU-430CX 430W ATX12V Active PFC Power Supply

and you should be good to go on the components for the game.

[Sheo5225]

Alright! So, thats what I need to do then? I should mention this whole time I was going through my spare parts and came across a processor I used in my older computer, get this, it is better than then one I have currently though not all that much. its a Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.06GHz

Speccy:
Name Intel Pentium 4 524
Code Name Prescott
Package Socket 775 LGA
Technology 90nm
Specification Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.06GHz

Better, right? Though it disappoints me that I wasted money on a graphics card that was in reality crap :/ Anyway, the computer started up fine, like with the new CPU but do I have to download the BIOs? or do I leave this as it is?

[JLK03F150]

Pentium 4 is very old tech now. Your 3.06GHz P4 with a 533MHz front side bus is only marginally faster than your 2.8GHz P4 with a 800MHz front side bus.

If your Pentium 4 CPUs had dual cores (which they don't) they would need to run at 5.0GHz or more (which they can't) to match the performance of the slowest Wolfdale CPU that Shyguy listed. The CPU architecture dramatically changed with Core 2 Duo compared to your older Pentium 4 Netburst architecture. The newer tech is much faster clock for clock than the old tech.