I run a reliable old E6750, overclocked to 3.2 ghz and it works well enough. I run my system mainly for gaming these days, although in future(in my dreams) I'd like to get into photoshop and 3D design.

My specs are as follows:

Core 2 E6750
Asus Rampage Formula
8GB Corsair C4 DHX DDR2 800
Geforce 8800 GTS 512 MB (G92)
Samsung spinpoint 1TB HD
Windows XP 64 Bit SP1

Runs games wonderfully, so I see no need to upgrade my CPU at the moment, unless I can be convinced otherwise. I bought the processer mid last year, and I'd like to overclock further to 3.6ghz and slowly burn the sucker out until the end of the year when Nehalem is released.

But if I did upgrade, it'd be a toss-up between the E8400 and the Q9450. My question is, should I bother? And are there better options?

I wouldn't bother, sounds to me like you have a more than capable system.

If you do go into the Photoshop and 3D work, the Quad might be worth getting but there's no way it's worth upgrading to an E8400. The efficiency would improve and heat dissipation, but there'd be very little noticeable performance increase.

I agree with mi1ez. Definitely not worth it. You won't see a massive performance improvement just by running 400Mhz faster.

Save some money for the Nehalem, because you'll likely be purchasing a brand new computer (rather than just simply upgrading).

What Mi1ez said - There's absolutely nothing wrong with your current system. At most, I'd watch the summer Video Card Wars to see if there's a clear upgrade there. Otherwise?? Keep On Fragging.

'relialbe old' damn, way to stick the knife further into my e6300.

common your system is fine. the only performanc increase you will see is if you get the q9 and you use alott of multithreaded apps.

A brand new computer by next year? With all due respect, are you nuts??

I won't be upgrading to DDR3 for a long time until it's as cheap as, and proven to be much faster than DDR2(which right now, it definitely isn't). My motherboard is a brand new X48 beast so it should last another two years, shouldn't it? Plenty of old 945 chipsets are now Core 2 enabled, so I can't agree with your sentiment there. I may upgrade the graphics card by mid next year, but that's it.

I really don't mean to insult your suggestion, but would a Nehalem really need a brand new system?

Yep, if you're going Nehalem you'll need new everything.
Current CPU's are the end of LGA775, Nehalem will be on a (multitude of) new sockets...
So if you're going to Nehalem, be prepared to bin everything you have now!

Yes, Nehalam will need a new chipset, processor and RAM. Not quite a whole new system, but pretty close.

And in response to the idea of a new computer next year being being nuts, not a lot more nuts than you upgrading to an 8400!

I thought Nehalem was due out at the end of this year?

I had plans to upgrade to that by beginning of next year. Nehalem on new Nboard with DDR3 and new GXXX (SLI) is likely my next rig of choice. A whole new species of computing.

I am doubtful if Nehalem will be ready this year. Major releases (successful or not) always seem to have their due date extended (Vista, Phenom, Star Craft 2, etc.) . I also doubt if it will be even worth purchasing, as there will be very few motherboards to choose from when it is first released. I am sure it will also be ridiculous in price. The q9770 costs $1400 at newegg right now. I can't imagine what this will cost. However it may still be a good time to buy other parts though, as the new release will probably push prices down for other cpus.

Yep. Nehalem is expensive piece of technology at the beginning. And it's first coming to server market, that is the only part off CPU markets, where AMD has any chance of being competitive at this moment (in high end I mean) So, first parts are expensive and most propably requires registered memory in the beginning.

Only if AMD can manage to produce some miracle CPU, there is no need for Intel to bring this to the mass market. I am quite sure, that they saturate Server markets first and then stockpile enough Nehalems for mass market, so that they can make real launch. They are no in harry in anyway, because there is not any real competition. And even then, it's better for them to sell Nehalem at high price, untill they can sell out enough of their core prosessors.

As far as I can tell there is one server socket, on MP socket, one desktop mainstream to high end socket and one uber low end socket.

But the problem is we cannot truly tell if it will have that many sockets or if that info is just wrong. Intel could just come out with 1 for server, 1 for desktop and one for laptops.

But yes you will need a new mobo and RAM (if you have DDR2, DDR3 will be transferable) for Nehalem.

It'll be interesting to see how many sockets come out...
If it is the former (as you say, the current widespread rumour) I think that's just too many!

Agreed. But look at it now. There are 4 sockets right now. 1 server, LGA771, one desktop, LGA771, and 2 mobile, PGA478 (both are the same with a different pin layout).

But either ay I know what my next socket will be. It will be on the Bloomfeild (which is the LGA13xx one) cuz I want triple channel DDR3 hehe.

lol that hilarious. but back to the main point, i would definately keep you system. its more than fast enough for any of your use. if you've got that much money coming out of your ass then paypal some this way

Even when Nahalem comes out, I wouldnt think it would be wise jumping on it right away. Atleast give it 1 Quarter to let prices settle and bugs worked out if anything. I just saw the new phenom X3\X4 review and my 6400X2 still fairs very well. Im sure this puppy will give me another 2 years no doubt.

I got off my ass and did some research and you gentlemen are correct; Nehalem will be released on socket LGA1366. Well, I won't be quite ready to start from scratch again for at least another few years, so I may end up buying a Q9450 later this year when prices drop a bit more. Thanks for the advice, everyone.

Meanwhile, can anyone speculate on the performance gains Nehalem will bring?

Speculation from Intel is take the gain you saw in performance from Smithfeild/Presler to Core2 and make it more than that and thats what Nehalem will do in terms of performance.

According to Intel you should see about 100% gain in performance in certain single threaded apps and about 40% in multi threaded apps.

Of course this is speculation on Intels part and will have to wait for some real world benchmarks. But if Intel is right we may have one hell of a CPU war at our hands.

I just noticed also the Q9450 has a 8.0 multiplier wall just like my E6750. I can't seem to get my ram to overclock in order to go beyond 3.2ghz, so I'll be after a cpu that can do this without boosting the ram.

I'm very inexperienced with changing with my ram voltage, although I tried it from 1.8 all the way through to 2.3 at 0.02 increments. I couldn't get Windows to boot under any configuration over 410fsb. A few retailers sell Twin 2gb DDR2-1066 modules, but it's so expensive that it's stupid to get them.

The only processor right now that shows promise is the E8400 with its 9.0 multiplier. Maybe in a few more months...

Intel will probably sit on the Nehalem until AMD comes up with something that scares them. We may not see the Nehalem for years. 2nd quarter 2008 and we still don't have a reliable supply of the original Wolfdales.
Why release something better than the Core2 when there is no competition? If I were them, I would draw out the 45nm Core2 for as long as possible, while keep working on the Nehalem in at a leisurely pace, capitalizing on their Core2 R&D investment.