Jump to content

Quick question on CPU upgrade


Leveller

Recommended Posts

Been throwing around doing a new build for a few months now, but haven't pulled the trigger, and I'm thinking about just doing an upgrade (CPU, add another 4GB (running Win7 64bit) of RAM and update from my 8800GTX at some point down the road).

 

My wife's PC has just died (old Athlon which frankly is going to be too much of a pain to source replacement parts), so I was thinking about doing a handmedown type affair with my CPU & GFX card onto a newer 775 mobo.

 

Well, Newegg have the Q9550 on offer today for $239.

 

Would this be enough to bring my CPU reasonably up to date from a E6700?

 

I'm not looking to start a whole new build thread, just wondering if this is a good deal and whether it would give my rig some new life for a couple of years?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depends on if you want to overclock or not. If you are gonna overclock then get something fairly cheap, if you don't know how to or don't want to, get something a little more powerful. I upgraded from an e6600 to e8400 about a year ago, have it overclocked to 4gh, and have no problems at all. I'm sure an e8400 is much cheaper then a q9550 if you want to go that route.

 

I am in a similar boat as you, in that I am itching to make a new computer, but there just isn't that much a technological bump if I were to go spend the money on it. I'm waiting at least another year, by then there will be a bunch of new hardware out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depends on if you want to overclock or not. If you are gonna overclock then get something fairly cheap, if you don't know how to or don't want to, get something a little more powerful. I upgraded from an e6600 to e8400 about a year ago, have it overclocked to 4gh, and have no problems at all. I'm sure an e8400 is much cheaper then a q9550 if you want to go that route.

 

I am in a similar boat as you, in that I am itching to make a new computer, but there just isn't that much a technological bump if I were to go spend the money on it. I'm waiting at least another year, by then there will be a bunch of new hardware out.

 

I'd looked at the e8400 as well, it's about $50 cheaper. I'm probably going to hang off and then do some research before a whole new build. Probably doesn't make too much sense to do a partial upgrade only to want a new build in 6-12 months time anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

so I was thinking about doing a handmedown type affair with my CPU & GFX card onto a newer 775 mobo.

 

i believe the correct term is "pyramidding". haha. that's what my friends dubbed it anyways. i've been doing that for years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I talked at length to Unclean about doing something like this the other day. I decided to hold off a little bit to see if AMD can get back into the game performance wise with their CPU's. The Intel i7 chips are the chips to get but the cost just doesn't make it worth it to me. Considering my current E8400 can play every game I throw at it without any problems and I guess the 4870x2 is doing most of the heavy lifting. I haven't seen a need when looking at the hardware and prices. Maybe in the summer when there are some price drops or alternatives. Intel is too expensive. AMD is too underpowered.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the feedback guys, I think the holding off for a big build is probably the best idea.

 

Honestly we've still got 2 laptops and 2 desktops that are still 100% functional between us all (if I include my work laptop), if the truth be told I was probably just looking for an excuse to spend some money on myself, lol...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, if you're going the hand-me-down route, you'd really need to spend $600+ to see good performance improvements. IMO, there's no sense in upgrading if your current setup is meeting your needs (which it sounds like it is).

 

Games being released just aren't taxing the current hardware that's out there. It's not like 3, 4, 5 years ago when your older computer couldn't handle the new games coming out, so you *needed* an upgrade or you couldn't play the games.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...