The usual upgrade question...

[TobyH]

I've been doing little upgrades here and there on my pc incl. mobo recently, and currently have the following setup:

Intel Pentium D945 3.2ghz 2mb Cache (currently running at 3.9gHz)
Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2 Mobo FSB 1333 (or can be o/c'd to 1600 according to gigabyte)
Kingston 4gb DDR II Hyper Ram
Radeon 512mb Graphics card
Huge Noctua heat sink with Noctua fan and 2 other Noctua case fans and one crappy little one.

I don't use the pc for gaming, mostly digital photo editing and internet stuff.

I've upgraded the mobo from the old one, upgraded the ram, the psu, the heat sink and fans and the graphics card. (think you get some idea of how it was before!)

I'm not planning on spending a fortune as the next upgrade will be a new machine altogether in a year or so.

There are two options that I would consider as they are roughly similar price, but it's been ages since I looked into processors so I'm not that familiar with them these days.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.66GHz 4MB-cache (1333FSB)

or

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.16GHz (1333FSB)

Firstly is it worth the bother (as I intend to have a bit more of a play o/c ing my current setup and should be able to get about 4 -4.2 gHz)

And if it is worth it, which to go for, bearing in mind I'd like to o/c them as well...?

Any help appreciated.

Toby

 

[Lelouch]

A Q6600 G0 will do you nicely Get one off eBay for around £60 and you're sorted.

 

[TobyH]

whats the difference between SL9UM and SLACR, am I right in thinking one of them has the GO speed step?

 

[Surveyor]

SLACR is the G0 stepping.

SL9UM is the B3 stepping.

You want a G0.

 

[TobyH]

Thanks for that.

 

[TobyH]

Looking on fleabay is there any way of identifying which is GO and which is B3?

There's a UPC and an MPC on most of them....

(of course asking the seller might work!)

 

[Surveyor]

It will be printed on the processor if they post a picture of the actual one they're selling.

A lot seem to use stock images so it's probably best to ask.

 

[TobyH]

Cheers for that, makes it a bit easier.