Worth the upgrade?

[GazD]

Was thinking to upgrade my CPU and keeping existing Mobo RAM and GPU.
My current setup is
E6300@3Ghz
Gigabyte P965-DS3 Rev 1 Mobo
4Gb DDR2 RAM
260 GTX 216SP

As I'm looking to upgrade CPU on existing MB my supported CPUs are rather limited (see here http://uk.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=2314 )

Will I see much of a difference if I upgraded to a Q6600 or similar? Only looking to play PES 2012 and FIFA 12. Currently my processor shows as 'bad' in PES 2011's own recommended spec program (hence why I'm typing this post)

Thanks in advance

 

[Matterez]

I'm sure there would be quite a noticeable difference if you moved up to a Core 2 Quad.

 

[cmndr_andi]

The Q6600 (or Q6700) would be a good upgrade if the games you play make good use of a quad core. However, I wouldn't expect to overclock a quad core too far on that board (since the 965 is one of the earlier core2-supporting chipsets) so you may not be able to hit 3GHz. Therefore in games that are only optimised for dual cores (or single cores) then your performance may well go down.

If you are only looking to play PES 2012 and fifa 12 then I would suggest waiting for their releases and see how they run on your system. Going by the released system requirements for both games your 3GHz core 2 duo is well within what is required. There is also no indication whether the engine will make use of quad cores as far as I can see.

 

[EllisDJ]

see if you can pick up an q9550 or better still q9650 used

they overclock well and are good cpu's, worth a little bit extra clocks 3.8-4.2 depending which one you get

 

[cmndr_andi]

see if you can pick up an q9550 or better still q9650 used

they overclock well and are good cpu's, worth a little bit extra clocks 3.8-4.2 depending which one you get

Unfortunately, going by the CPU support list for that motherboard none of the 45nm Yorkfield Quad cores (like the Q9550 and Q9650) work in that board.

The Q6600 and Q6700 appear to be the fastest quads supported.

 

[d_brennen]

Not worth it imo, save up for a bigger upgrade

 

[logi-cat]

I think d brennen is right. You're better off upgrading when you do a complete upgrade.