Decent CPU upgrade step for me.....

[StevieP]

I've not had any kind of upgrade for quite a while and am running a core 2 duo 4300 currently overclocked by 50% to 2.7ghz. (with a coolermaster hyper TX cooler on the current chip!)

My motherboard is a Gigabyte GA P35 DS3P and I have got 4gb of PC2-8500CS memory running at stock.

I was just wondering what the best bang-for-buck CPU is currently out there that wouldntt require me changing anything else in my setup??

The reason for the upgrade is primarily gaming and HD video streaming.

Any opinions welcome......

Cheers,

StevieP

 

[StevieP]

Thanks for the rapid replies guys!!

I've had a look on OC and the Q9550 is a bit out of the price range I had in mind at £170.00....but the E52/5300's look a decent prospect!

I assume my mobo would accomodate one of these without any problem??

Any idea what sort of performance increase I'd get with the E5300??

If I went a bit bonkers (and didnt tell the wife what I was spending ) - is it worth going for the quad core Q6700 over the above E5300?? - are there many applications/games that benefit greatly from quad-core chips?? (and would my mobo support one??)

Cheers,

StevieP

 

[StevieP]

Is the performance between dual and quad core chips a great deal with applications/gaming these days?
I mean, do a lot of games for example take advantage of them??

Cheers,

StevieP

 

[StevieP]

I do hate it when there are good arguments for both sides!!! Why cant you people all agree and I can just follow one unified set of advice!?!?!

Given the cost difference I think the favourite is still going to be a decent dual core - I know its difficult but since I'm running my 4300 @ 2.7ghz, does anyone know what sort of % performance increase I'm likely to get with either of the 2 dual core's mentioned above?? (E5300 or E8400)

Thanks for all the continued advice guys.........

StevieP

 

[StevieP]

An SSD

"Solid State Drive"!?!?!?!?

Sorry but are you sure you posted in the right thread??

StevieP

 

[StevieP]

hey i got a quite cheap E6850 on the MM

I could very well be interested (although its listed as an E6580 in your MM post!?! )

Any idea if my existing PSU (a 460W Akasa) would still be OK for this kind of CPU and also would I need to get something beefier than my Coolermaster to cool the thing??

StevieP

 

[StevieP]

re ssd, he has a point. It would probably make more difference to your system than a new processor.

OK, now I feel like a total bonehead..... could someone please educate me as to what "ssd" is?!?!?

StevieP

 

[StevieP]

OK, now im properly confused!!!

When I was looking at buying my netbook I did a bit of research on the differences between a regular hard drive and a solid state drive and every bit of info I could find (including a side-by-side speed test video on Youtube) said that the SSD drives were slower than regular drives!?!?! (especially when writing to them!!!)

How could one possibly speed up my system more than a quicker CPU?!?!?

StevieP

 

[StevieP]

You learn something new every single day!!!

Either way, I'm thinking a CPU is the way to go for me! Just have to decide what, when and how much now!

StevieP