Should I wait or upgrade my CPU?

[paulkimlax]

My rig:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 with stock cooler.
ASUS P5Q SE/R (P45/ICH10R) board
4GB Patriot DDR 800 (4-4-4-12)
2 x 500GB WD 7200rpm 16mb cache HDD
EVGA GTX 260 core 216
Antec Three Hundred & EW 500w PSU


My friend is upgrading to Core I7 so he gave me his P5Q SE/R & GTX 260 Patriot memories for $200 today. I have a E6300 (got it when it first came out in 2006) but want to upgrade to a better performing processor. Should I upgrade or just wait it out?

I have $240 in budget and have few processors in mind. E8400, Q6600, Q8200 & Q9400. Which one should I get and why? And I plan on overclock my new CPU so should I get a aftermarket cooler?

All I do with my PC is email,web surfing and lite gaming, only play CSS & Left 4 Dead.

 

[peanutpc]

E8400, Q8200 and Q9400 are all fine. Q6600 is an old processor so try to stay away from 65nm processors. 65nm runs way hotter than the new 45nm(E7,8***, Q8,9*** series).

My wife has Q9400 from Micro Center (only in US) for $180. If you live near by one, check it out. I've oc the Q9400 to 3.4Ghz on P45 mb with patriot viper ddr2 800 memories.

Aftermarket coolers that I would recommend, Coolermaster Hyper 212, Xigmatek S1283 dark knight & ZEROtherm ZEN FZ120. They are all under $50(at newegg.com) and performs really well. All three will fit on your Antec 300.

 

[papalarge123]

i personally would go for the Q9400, as it is faster than the Q8200, and also has 50% more cache,

btw, dont bother with the Q6600, although a great CPU, it has become an obsolete CPU, as most of the other quads are in a similar price range,

as for the Dual cores, i believe we are just hitting the start of the quad generation, and the duals will become fased out in the next several years.

so go quad, go with the newer tech, and go for the quickest, most possible cache size with the highest multiplier = Q9400.

hope this helps.

 

[paulkimlax]

Thanks for the advice guys...

I'm back from Micro Center in Tustin, CA. I never knew that I live 15 mins away from Micro Center... I purchased Q9400 and Cooler Master Hyper 212 cooler for under $250. I'm $10 over my budget but thats ok... I'm so happy that I got a quad core

yah~ quad core baby !!!

 

[computabug]

Lol you know what's so ironic? I'm selling my Phenom II to buy a used (and lapped) e63 as a temporary solution until Sandy Bridge comes out XD by any chance are you selling your old cpu?