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Dual core to Quad core

r4yne

r4yne

r4yne

Associate
Joined
19 Oct 2009
Posts
31
Location
Rochdale, Lancashire
I currently have a Core 2 Duo @2.6GHz, now I am saving up to get a E9400 or E9550

Now I was wondering how much of a difference this would make to my setup

Other specs include 4gig ram, ati 4770 512mb
 
What do you use your PC for? If for encoding video or using Photo editing programs it will give you a significant boost.
If just for gaming I personally wouldnt bother, Why not buy a new cpu cooler and overclock your C2D to 3ghz+

The only upgrade path id take on a decent c2d is to i7 or i5, I dont think its worth spending 150-200 on a chip on a dying platform.
If you really dont want to upgrde to 1156 or 1366 then you could get a second hand q6600 and clock it to 3.4ghz.

What model core 2 duo are you running?

EDIT: just noticed the q9550 has gone up from £170 to £206!! thats a big jump :\
 
Last edited:
Sorry I should have given more information.

It is an E5300 I use my pc for gaming, DVD's youtube you know the usual stuff. Its been a while since I did any overclocking and abit out of the loop and forgotten how to do it safely without frying my cpu.

Forgot to mention the motherboard is a ASrock G31M-S
 
E5300 should do 3.2ghz easily if its paired with a decent motherboard but the Asrock is a budget motherboard so you might have problems.
I wouldnt put a £200 chip in that board either, it will work yes but i think you'd be much better off upgrading to i5. overall cost around £320 and you could sell you old gear to cover some cost.
 
I would sit on the cash until i5's come down in price or the i3 shows itself. As mentioned a slight overclock may help you get some life into your machine but unless you notice any visible problems I wouldn't bother.
 
r4yne said:
I currently have a Core 2 Duo @2.6GHz, now I am saving up to get a E9400 or E9550

Now I was wondering how much of a difference this would make to my setup

Other specs include 4gig ram, ati 4770 512mb
Click to expand...

With that graphics card upgrading to a faster quad core processor would be a waste for gaming.

I had an E5200 at 3.0ghz and upgraded to a core I5, games performance is almost exactly the same at the resolution I run at 1680 x 1050.

Unless you have a real high end graphics card mostly any recent dual core processor running at 3.0ghz and above will do.
 
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