Any Benefit Upgrading From Q9400 (2.66) For Database Use?

[Bint Box]

Hi,

I have a Q9400 (2.66GHz) CPU in my desktop PC and wondered if there would be any benefits or advantages in upgrading the CPU and/or the motherboard considering my primary use is with databases and large spreadsheets.

Not knowing a great deal about these things would an i5 or an i7 CPU in the appropriate motherboard offer speed advantages or any other advantages. The current PC takes quite a while to run some of the macros I use and I wondered if there was any opportunity to reduce this by upgrading the CPU/motherboard.

Any advice most appreciated.


Rgds
Binty

 

[MaxP779]

Is the cpu usage at or close to 100% for all 4 cores when you run those macros? If so then an upgrade may be a good idea, if not then the bottleneck may lie elsewhere. Also i haven't had direct experience with the Q series but i gather they overclock extremely well, might be a cheaper option if the CPU is a bottleneck.

 

[WingZero30]

I don't think its worth upgrading. You need to overclock Q9400 and then should see performance difference

 

[Bint Box]

Thanks for the replies and advice.

I will upgrade the RAM from 4gb to 8 gb and also have a look at overclocking the Q9400. The O/S is Windows 7 64 bit so I can take advantage of extra RAM generally, however, I am not sure about the applications (Access 2003/Excel 2003)

With repect to the overclocking of the Q9400 I would rather not have to get into upgrading case and CPU fans or go to watercooling. Would anyone please have any idea how much I can overclock the Q9400 before my stock fans cannot cope. I have never overclocked a CPU before and have no idea of what is involved re improved cooling etc.


Rgds
Binty

 

[dave_beast]

Q9400 will run all day at 3.6ghz with 450x8 at 1.35vcore with a good cpu cooler.

 

[Tythus]

Thanks for the replies and advice.

I will upgrade the RAM from 4gb to 8 gb and also have a look at overclocking the Q9400. The O/S is Windows 7 64 bit so I can take advantage of extra RAM generally, however, I am not sure about the applications (Access 2003/Excel 2003)

With repect to the overclocking of the Q9400 I would rather not have to get into upgrading case and CPU fans or go to watercooling. Would anyone please have any idea how much I can overclock the Q9400 before my stock fans cannot cope. I have never overclocked a CPU before and have no idea of what is involved re improved cooling etc.


Rgds
Binty

macros for Access 2003/Excel 2003 are totally single threaded so you would benefit more from a faster overclock than a new cpu.