E6750 upgrade to Q9300?

[gldtiamat]

Hey all,

So I built my rig back in 2007, and it has done a great job until recently. After running the FFXIV Benchmark and getting destroyed, I decided to update my PC some. Here are my specs:

E6750 @ 3.2 GHz
Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler
4 GB G.Skill Ram DDR2 800 5-5-5-15
Abit IP35 Pro
Corsair 550vx 550W
XFX Radoen HD 5850 (upgraded from an 8600 GT)

Now I can probably OC my CPU to 3.6 GHz, but I'm wondering if purchasing a Q9300 and OCing it about a 3.2-3.4 would be a better option. My main concern is to avoid bottle-necking my new video card.

Now price is a concern. With how much I can find the Q9300 and how much I can sell my E6750 for, this potential upgrade will set me back $65-75.

So the real question is whether this potential update (if any) is worth the money?

Thanks!

P.S. I also want to try to avoid the whole Intel i-series CPUs. As a result, my next upgrade will probably be a major overhaul. My hope is that if I upgrade my CPU here, it'll do a good job until I choose to do this.

 

[Emperus]

At 70$ spending, a quad core will give a healthy boost to your system in overall.. However, i don't think It'll matter big when it comes to gaming.. Games are more GPU dependent (and you do have a powerful GPU) and majority of the games still play fine on a dual core.. Bottlenecks if any can be removed by overclocking as games tend to favour high clock speeds more than cores.. If you can push up to getting a Q9550 then good.. Or else, save your cash and wait for the next gen of CPU's to come (not very long now).. Then do a platform upgrade if feasible..

 

[gldtiamat]

Yeah. I'm actually not even sure when I'm doing a platform overhaul. I like my setup for what I'm currently doing, and I don't need to be on the cutting edge of technology.

That being said, with more things eventually taking advantage of the multi-threading capabilities of a Quad, I was wondering if now would be the good time to carry out that moderate upgrade. I could always wait, too, but $123 for a new Quad Q9300 isn't at all bad.

 

[Emperus]

Like i said, if you use your system for much more than gaming then a quad will surely bump things up.. And yeah, 123$ for a quad is a good deal considering you don't need to change any of your existing components..

 

[logainofhades]

The FFXIV benchmark is brutal. I did not score very well with it either. I really doubt that you will garner much from getting a Q9300. I have an IP35 pro in my file server and it is a bit picky with ram over ddr2 800 speed. If you have 2x2gb of ddr2 and have a Microcenter nearby, I say go with an Athlon II X4 and free motherboard. You could possibly even go with a PhII X2 555BE. I do not know about the 785g motherboard but the A780L/760g motherboard has a core unlocking ability.

http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/0720_AMDbundle.html

 

[spentshells]

please do not buy another dual core look at the 9300 or 9400 if you can squeeze it in 9550 or 9505

 

[gldtiamat]

There's about a $50 between the Q9400 and the Q9300. That's why I've focused on the Q9300.

I don't plan on switching to AMD. I really do like running with my current setup, but I'm still debating the marginal upgrade here. I'm looking for SOME insulation, maybe about 2-3 years more before I go through a complete overhaul of my system.

And yeah...that benchmark was brutal. That's why I went into this upgrading spree lol.

 

[raiyus13]

when it comes to i7's the phenom IIx6 will be a smarter choice.......
an e6750 will just bottelneck between the hd 5850 unless you are playing a ultra high resolutions
the q9300 will be a huge power boost and to be precise no games till now requires more than a quad to run......

 

[Tamz_msc]

Upgrading form dual core to quad core will give a major speed boost and is definitely worth the money.

 

[p4nz3rm4d]

i have a q9300 and ati 5770, and can run crysis on full. WITH ONLY 2GB RAM!!!

 

[raiyus13]

i have a q9300 and ati 5770, and can run crysis on full. WITH ONLY 2GB RAM!!!

your q9300 is just more than enough to run any game.....

 

[gldtiamat]

So last question. Is the Q9300 still worth it at 123 + 5 shipping if it's OEM? I'm a little wary because of only 1 year of warranty, but at the same time, I've heard very good things about Intel CPUs and their fail rates.

Thanks again! All your advice is truly appreciated.

Or should I just wait until Black Friday and see what Micro Center does with their already nicely priced chips?

 

[raiyus13]

waiting for the micro center is not a bad idea.....

 

[spentshells]

So last question. Is the Q9300 still worth it at 123 + 5 shipping if it's OEM? I'm a little wary because of only 1 year of warranty, but at the same time, I've heard very good things about Intel CPUs and their fail rates.

Thanks again! All your advice is truly appreciated.

Or should I just wait until Black Friday and see what Micro Center does with their already nicely priced chips?

I wouldn't be concerned about a one year warranty most item are only warrantied for a year buy it price is good ...do it

 

[has22fas]

The FFXIV benchmark is brutal. I did not score very well with it either. I really doubt that you will garner much from getting a Q9300. I have an IP35 pro in my file server and it is a bit picky with ram over ddr2 800 speed. If you have 2x2gb of ddr2 and have a Microcenter nearby, I say go with an Athlon II X4 and free motherboard. You could possibly even go with a PhII X2 555BE. I do not know about the 785g motherboard but the A780L/760g motherboard has a core unlocking ability.

http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/0720_AMDbundle.html

Im sorry He will not "Garner" much from getting a Q9300, yet u recommend him a Athlon II X4...look up some Anandtech benchmarks the Q9300 eats the Whole Athlon II X4 range in the game benchmark's. Don't confuse the OP please.

 

[spentshells]

just buy the 9300 providing you already have a cooler...if you want to stay on the cheap freezer pro 7 is 2x.00 will take you to 3.2ghz do not use your stock cooler for your dual core

 

[logainofhades]

Im sorry He will not "Garner" much from getting a Q9300, yet u recommend him a Athlon II X4...look up some Anandtech benchmarks the Q9300 eats the Whole Athlon II X4 range in the game benchmark's. Don't confuse the OP please.

It was more of putting money into an old platform and also the low multiplier of the Q9300 will limit overclock speed especially with a board, in my experience, that does not like ram speeds over ddr2 800.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

Q6600s cost around $90-$100 on ebay.

Q9300s cost $130-$140 at Microcenter.

Q8200s cost $100 at Microcenter.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

im in a similar boat, upgrade the core 2, or move to AMD. my core 2 e6600 at 3ghz still does everything i need it to for now. If there were some miraculous quad core price drop for this socket, i would upgrade my CPU, if not, back to AMD i go. Those CPU's are really overpriced compared to what AMD is offering.

 

[bluzbrother]

Instead of dropping that kind of cash on individual components, I've bought entire refurbished systems for $4-$500. Back in 2008, I bought an HP pavilion elite system that came with a q9450 cpu. I ended up gutting out the system, used the cpu in an x38 motherboard on clearance. Overclocked the chip to 3.2ghz w/ aftermarket cooler. I did find that the chip ran rather hot for my liking before upgrading the cooler (60-70c).
By buying a refurbished system, I had plenty of parts to pick from, and I was able to discount my upgrade cost by selling off what I didn't need.

A few months back I bought a core i7 system for $500. System came with a 920 chip D0 stepping, 6gb ddr3, and blu-ray drive among other things. I bought an aftermarket x58 board, and surprisingly the oem hyundai ram (1066mhz) works fantastic up to 1600mhz (at 1.65v) I'm currently running this system at 3.5ghz @ 166BLCK and ram at 1333mhz 8-8-8-24.

If I had to upgrade individual components, I would probably lean toward an AMD setup... the hardware tends to give you more backward compatibility. I hate paying top dollar for stuff, because todays high end will be quickly outpaced by tomorrow's mid-range. I've found that when people dump a lot of cash on a system, they hold on too long, until it's completely obsolete.

If you're willing to buy something refurbished, I would only buy something direct from the manufacturer, that they warranty. I buy my stuff through ubid.com, and only buy the HP systems. School is starting soon, so their selection is limited, and the prices are higher than average right now.