Upgrading CPU

[daniell59]

While I wait for computer component prices to return to normal, I am thinking of upgrading the CPU on my dinosaur. Presently I have E8400 2 core CPU. I see offerings on Ebay for a four core CPU that is also for socket 775. Would I notice a difference? Presently all is well except when I watch live Youtube videos. The CPU usage hits 100 percent, then the computer locks up.

[Autodave]

How much RAM do you have? What version of 'buntu are you running? Have you tried running uBlock on your browser?

[daniell59]

How much RAM do you have? What version of 'buntu are you running? Have you tried running uBlock on your browser?

RAM 4 GIG
Ubuntu 20.04
I don't know what uBlock is.

[CatKiller]

Presently all is well except when I watch live Youtube videos. The CPU usage hits 100 percent, then the computer locks up.

The ideal solution to that would be to, by hook or by crook, enable hardware acceleration for the video decoding process, so that you don't have to do it all in software on the CPU. The media decoding block is included with GPUs - both dedicated and integrated - but support varies. Newer decoding blocks are needed for newer encodings - like VP9 - but there are browser extensions to request streams encoded with the older H.264 if that turns out to be what you end up with hardware support for.

[rsteinmetz70112]

Looking at this depending on motherboard you may well be able to upgrade the CPU and may see a performance increase.
Is the computer using all of its RAM and starting to swap before it locks up? More RAM (if possible) may help.
The website https://www.cpu-upgrade.com/ about cpu upgrades for many motherboards.

[oldfred]

If you do not have an SSD, that would give you the biggest bang for the buck.

I had an old dual core2 system and in 2011 added a tiny 60GB SSD. System was so much better I put off upgrading to a new system for 3 years.

[daniell59]

If you do not have an SSD, that would give you the biggest bang for the buck.

I had an old dual core2 system and in 2011 added a tiny 60GB SSD. System was so much better I put off upgrading to a new system for 3 years.

I have recently installed an SSD. It did make a big difference. As I previously mentioned, my main concern is the computer locking up while watching live Youtube videos.

[Autodave]

uBlock

is an add-on for your browser. It does a great job of blocking ads and other things running in the background. It allows more of your computing power to go to what you want: the video. Try it: you have nothing to lose.

[poorguy]

Presently I have E8400 2 core CPU. I see offerings on Ebay for a four core CPU that is also for socket 775.

Make certain that your existing motherboard bios will support the processor you are getting before purchasing the processor.

Make sure that there is an available bios upgrade if you need to upgrade your motherboard bios to support a quad core processor.

Just because the socket is an LGA775 doesn't mean the motherboard and bios will support the processor you are wanting.

Do you're homework and research well and make sure all of your bases are covered before purchasing a different processor.

[mastablasta]

if it's locking up when at full power it is likely overheating or losing power from PSU. monitor temperatures with psensor. if temperature goes too high, you might need to reaply the paste, get a better cooler/fan, increase the air flow...

also it all depend how much a used CPU will costs you. but getting high CPU on videos means you GPU is not doing it's job, so getting a GPU that will support at least videos, will also help. but again you need to see why the lockups are happening and i just retired one of these E CPUs. it had constant issues. overheating, i would get it new thermal paste and cleaned it up. it would work for a while then it started with lockups and reboots. i changed the PSU. it helped for a week or two and then it started again. finally i had enough and my kid bought an old model Ryzen on sale while this E3300 retired.

problem right now is that even older models of CPU and GPU are expensive.