Need an Upgrade please advise - Quad

[J-I-M]

I'm way overdue an upgrade from my E5400 and i finally decided to get the Q6600 and overclock as the e5400 is really holding me back however i've been offered a credit of £100 for a an RMA i had to do twice, With this £100 i have nothing else really to put this money else too and i'll have about £70-100 on top of the credit to put towards a newer CPU.

My choices look pretty slim as the only Intel Core 2 Quad's i can see are an


Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 4 x 2.66Ghz 4MB Cache 1333 FSB Quad Core Processor - Retail price £138.02

Or thee


Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 4 x 2.50Ghz 4MB Cache 1333 FSB Quad Core Processor - Retail Price £120

How much better/worse are these compared to the Q6600? i noticed the MBcache is worse by 4 but in overall gaming performance how are these?

Would i be better off putting this money to another GTX460 and buying a processor else where or is one of these cappable of doing a good job?

Thanks

 

[dan-fish]

have you still got a working Q6600? Because if you do, you don't really need to upgrade your processor

Also i don't think 2x GTX 460 is necessary either.

 

[easyrider]

They are limited by the multi's so getting high clocks needs loads of FSB.

I would look for a used Q6600 for around 70-80

They come up all the time mate and if you try you will find one quick.



easy

 

[J-I-M]

I currently have an E5400 at 3.6 (upgraded my ram forced me back a few ghz)

However i've got store credit and it needs spending, and i actually have nothing else to spend it on so i thought either one of those processors or a GTX460 for future hold.

I've absolutely no idea how long the store credit will last i assume not long as the item i RMA'd was only sapphire warrantied.

 

[easyrider]

Whats your current GFX card?

 

[setter]

Would i be better off putting this money to another GTX460 and buying a processor else where or is one of these cappable of doing a good job?Thanks

Iirc from an earlier thread mate, you said you were running an asus p5q deluxe motherboard. If you currently have one gtx 460, you wont be able to add add a second as that board is ati crossfire only.

 

[easyrider]

Ah if that's the case then get the quad with the highest mutli

The best chip would be a Q9550 if you could afford one for that mobo.

You have a chance of 4ghz

 

[setter]

+1 for a q9550, (second hand preferably as theyre still a bit expensive new). p5q deluxe is one of the best p45 boards for clocking quads, both 45nm and 65nm.

 

[J-I-M]

Iirc from an earlier thread mate, you said you were running an asus p5q deluxe motherboard. If you currently have one gtx 460, you wont be able to add add a second as that board is ati crossfire only.

Ah bugger i failed to notice that. Well in this case i'm stuck with £100 store credit with absolutely nothing to buy... what a stump!

On the CPU, I've looked at Q9550's but at the moment out of price range, so i'll be searching for a Q6600 still i guess! at a loss with the store credit though

 

[easyrider]

Monitor?

Solid state hard drive one of the biggest upgrades you can do to a PC?