Upgrade advice

[marley82]

Wanting to upgrade my CPU, Spec in sig.

I cannot afford a whole new platform and want to get a few more years out of this rig.
Options:
e8400/e8500 (£100-£120)
q9550 (£170 is a bit more than i wanted to spend)

So basically will I see much benefit moving from e6300 2mb l2 cache @ 3.2 to a e8500 6mb l2 cache @ 4-4.5ghz?

With the newer platforms been released when can we exspect a price drop on the q9550?

 

[Nocky24]

i'd definitely try and go for a q9550 or a q6600/q6700 second hand if price is a problem. No point in upgrading a dual to a better dual at this time as more and more games are incorporating some sort of multithreading now and you'll end up regretting it in a few months. The q9550 will give a nice performance boost from what you've got though, large cache and good overclocking potential.

 

[Hades]

You could also consider a Q9450 which is cheaper than a Q9550 although it won't overclock as far.

 

[Nocky24]

You could also consider a Q9450 which is cheaper than a Q9550 although it won't overclock as far.

Yep or the q9450 would be a good choice as well. I only mentioned the q9550 because they're good overclockers and i have one aha

 

[marley82]

ok thanks guys, I seen the q9505 on a well known auction site for around £130, looks the same as the q9550 with half the cache. Anyone know how well these clock?