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Q8200 Advice

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Last response: in CPUs
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Okay, so I've been hearing things and want this community's opinion.

Current build

- Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33GHz 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W
-Thermaltake V1 CPU cooler (CL-P0401)
- GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
- Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (32bit)
- Antec Performance One P182 ATX Mid Tower Case
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
- XFX HD485XZDFC Radeon HD 4850 1 GB DDR3 PCI-E 2.0 Video Card
- HIPER HPU-4K530-MS ATX12V v2.2 530W Power Supply
- A-DATA 4GB (4 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit



I bought what I thought was the fastest CPU I could afford at the time in the Q8200. Does my CPU just suck? I use my PC primarily to play World of Warcraft. It does the job, but I'm always looking to make improvements, when I can afford a new component here and there.

What do you think of the CPU, and is there a glaring weakness in my build? I have an idea that perhaps I should get a "bigger" PSU, but would that make a noticeable difference in performance, or is that more for security of the integrity of my hardware?

While I've been building this machine for a few years now, and have build a couple others like it for friends, I'm still a novice when it comes to the down and dirty details and could use some advice. I've verclocked my video card using the built in mfg utilities, and I can see a difference, but as far as fine tuning my PC in general I'm still in the fuzzy grey area.

Thanks!

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Thanks for the reply. My pc performance while gaming isn't necessarily poor, but if that video card is indeed power hungry, I bet upgrading my PSU would be noticeable. I've heard random slams of the Q8200, compared to other similar CPUs but it's been working pretty well for me. I just wanted more opinions. Thanks again.
CPUs Master

you PSU is OK. getting a solid PSU is always a good idea but I would say its not vital for you. the issue with the Q8200, most PC games are console ports and/or only utilize two cores (L4D2, WoW, SC2) so in many games you are basically playing with a 2.33 ghz dual core. Over clocking your CPU would help a lot.

you will notice in these benchmarks how the faster dual core outperforms or keeps up with the slower quad core in games.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/121?vs=105

Okay, so when it comes to overclocking my CPU, I'm WAY inexperienced and more than a little gunshy. Can't afford to replace a fried-out chip or board! lol

#1 is there a concise guide for o/c newbies I can refer to?

#2 is there huge new cooling requirements when overclocking?

I have a GIANT cooler, Zalman or something, but way more than stock, so I should be okay, though I'm only guessing >.<
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CPUs Master

Dont expect 3.2 out of the Q8200 3.0 ghz seems to be the norm for this chip. I have a Q8200 in one of my rigs its a very solid CPU at 3 ghz but at stock speed it is too slow for gaming. I would shoot for 3 ghz and a new power supply and you should be good for a while. I would recommend waiting on overclocking anything though until you get a new power supply overclocking will draw a good bit more power and will definitely stress your unit to the max.
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