need help with cpu

[pwillats]

hi all, i need your expert guidance, first of all i will give you my ageing setup details, msi p35 neo2 mobo, e6750 core duo, 2x 3780,s in crossfire,550w antec psu and 4 gig of xms2 ram running on windows7 64...anyway here goes, im a wow and cod player and would like to update my system, i have a £350-400 budget and am looking out for a quad,new psu and a gtx 460,
Q1. is either a q8400 or a q9400 compatible for my mobo, if so is it a easy installation process?
Q2. do i need an upgrade on my psu for a gtx460
Q3. am i looking at right things for a performance boost for my rig for gaming guys

with regards to question 1, will i need to flash the bios (something i have never done b4) for a new cpu

look forward to reading your answers, cheers guys in advance

 

[Divide by Zero]

Q1. I am pretty sure it is compatible, though will check later. AFAIK, they are both 775 socket. The upgrade process is really easy.

Q2. With the price drop, why not go for a GTX 470? Your PSU will work with this. If you had spare cash I would say buy a bigger one, but it is not a requirement.

Q3. Yeah, CPU and GPU will give you a good boost.

You should also buy a good HSF for your CPU and overclock that, that will give you more bang for your buck.

 

[pwillats]

thnx for that zero, i would get a 470 but that would put me over budget, unless my existing psu can handle it, what about the bios flash before i put the new cpu in? someone said this has to be done, is this right? not sure myself cuz ive never changed cpu,s before just built from scratch

 

[Divide by Zero]

1) Update your BIOS.
This is a good idea to do, but can be a pain. Will get rid of any bugs that you many not know you have etc.

2) reset your CMOS
This clears out all your old info stored inthe bios and may be needed to do when you change CPU - but just setting the settings to what they should be if will give the same result.

As for changing the PSU, I think it would work, but it is quite close to the limit so it would be safer with a 600w + one, so perhaps better to stick with the GTX 460 if you cant afford the change of PSU.

 

[pwillats]

its just a thought, if i decided against a quad and just stuck with my 6750, would there be a serious bottleneck with a gtx 460/470 guys??

 

[Divide by Zero]

Always a bottlneck somewhere.

Sure there would be some, but this could be overcome with a bit of an overclock.

I can't say exactly how much of a bottleneck you will have as I have not tried that setup, hopefully someone else will confirm, but the really big bottlenecks come when you try and do SLI with a poor processor.

If you dont spend the cash on a new CPU, but want to but a new GPU, i would also but a better than stock heat sinc for your CPU and spend some time getting it overclocked.

If you OC your CPU you will be able to get it to perform probably better than the quad core you are looking at at stock anyways.

 

[pwillats]

aah ok zero, thnx again, all i need is for someone to give me a step by step guide to overclocking my good old 6750 then, and also recomend a decent cpu fan before i do so, i have tried overclocking it b4 but got many bsod,s so i gav up, maybe i was doing it wrong