Can I upgrade my CPU using my current motherboard? (Looking for advice)

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qwertzye

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Apr 14, 2015
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I've been out of the PC business for a while now, and have had this PC for about 5 years but is now my secondary PC due to its speed and capabilities, but finding it rather slow now (for today's standards) and i'm hoping to revamp this old PC.

Is there somewhere I look up or do some research on whether my motherboard is compatible with any of the newer generation CPU's? (Have my motherboard specs here: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5NE_SLI/ )

I recently purchased Asus GTX 660 on a sale to replace my very poor AMD HD6450, anyways, I feel like the CPU is really holding back my GPU, so hoping to upgrade.
Using Speccy, my current hardware is:

ASUSTeK Computer INC. P5N-E SLI (Socket 775)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2.40GHz (Conroe 65nm Technology)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 (ASUStek Computer Inc)
4.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 399MHz (5-5-5-31)

I would rather upgrade than to purchase a new Tower and new motherboard etc, just trying to save as much as possible, i'm not looking for anything fancy, just a mid range CPU that can do some gaming as well (I'm willing to spend up to ~£110 for the CPU)

Upgrading the CPU is my primary concern, but would also like to eventually go about upgrading the RAM as well (since it's rather cheap these days)

I have never built a PC before, so it would be great if you can go into a bit more detail just so I can understand a bit more.

Sorry for the long post, and thanks for the help in advance.
 
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LucoTF
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LucoTF

LucoTF

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Sep 6, 2013
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Your cheapest upgrade right now is a core 2 quad, and looking at the CPU support list for your mobo:

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5NE_SLI/HelpDesk_CPU/

The q6400, q6600, q6700 are all compatible. You can grab a Q6600 for about £25 on ebay.

I don't think any other upgrades are worth it really, except maybe adding an SSD and a little extra ram.
 
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hang-the-9

hang-the-9

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Mar 25, 2010
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+1 ^, an upgrade to a Q model CPU with 8 gig of RAM should get you playing more demanding games, although the latest ones you would have to drop down in quality or in resolution. I had a high end Q series CPU with a video card a bit slower than the 660 and was able to almost max out WOW and play Skyrim on High settings pretty well.
 
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qwertzye

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Ah right I see, thank you, are second hand CPUs a relatively safe solution ? Also, just checked ebay, none of them come with the fan, is it alright to use the one I have now?

With the ram, it seems my mobo can only utitlise up to DDR2 800mhz ram? - that seems to pathetic to today's standards :(
 
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qwertzye

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Thank you, is it correct to say that my motherboard can support >4GB RAM (I'm a bit confused about the 4gb ram limitation, is that purely limited by the windows OS 32/64bit?)

I wonder if I could play GTA V (with some clarity) if I upgraded my CPU :D ....
 
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qwertzye

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Awesome, thank you so much for the help so far, just a couple more if possible.. Some noob questions.

Could I overclock the Q6600 to say 3.0ghz, and keep using the same heatsink that I already have or would I need to upgrade it and add more fans etc?

Also I have noticed that my mobo (with an update) can take up to E8600 which is 45nm, so, should I then go for the Q6600 or the E8600? Again, the E8600 is clocked at 3.3ghz, so do i need a more capable heatsink + fans than my current one?

Thanks again

Edit: just to add, I have found that the E8600 is actually cheaper than the Q6600 CPU, but its not important since its cheap anyways, so lets just say they're the same price
 
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LucoTF

LucoTF

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Sep 6, 2013
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If you're overclocking the Q6600 then you should definitely buy an aftermarket cooler, and as the Core 2 Series are overclocked by raising the FSB, some extra case fans couldn't hurt either. For a cooler, I'd suggest something cheap and cheerful like the Raijintek Themis (£20), assuming your case can take a tower cooler that is 157mm high

The E8600 is a dual core, the Q6600 is a quad. Just get the q6600 and overclock it.
 
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hang-the-9

hang-the-9

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Your motherboard has 8 gig limit, if you have a 32 bit operating system, that limitation is around 4 gig (will usually end up being 3.5-3.8 gig in real use).
 
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qwertzye

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Thank you both for your awesome help, have decided to get the Q6600, hopefully OC it, purchase the cooler, 64 bit Windows 8, upgrade ram to 8gb, and hopefully this will last me for at least the next 2 years!
Thanks again :)

Edit: quick question, will windows 8 work on my hardware (just asking incase there are such limitations to using the OS on old hardware). Cheers.
 
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