Budget gaming upgrade... 3 options

[thechief73]

Hello, I am looking to do a cheap upgrade on my aging P4 650 system to hold me over until Ivy Bridge drops. This PC is for gaming...

I have a GA-EP35-DS3L on the way from a friend who has no use for it and I am considering putting either a Q6600 or a Q8400 for the sake of saving $$$. With this route I will use the 4 x 1GB DDR2 667 RAM I currently have, but my concern is that I 100% want to do an OC with this route... Will the DDR2-667 hold back my OC and will it be a BIG disadvantage to a setup with faster DDR3-1333/1600?(more on this next) I think I should be able to hit 3298.5MHz on the Q6600 and 2932MHz on the Q8400 on stock multiplier, over that my RAM may limit me. I have passed memtest @ DDR2-733(366.5MHz) my current mobo wont allow me to try to push it further.

My next option is to get a i3-50 and OC that. I have heard they can get to 4GHz easily. Here is what I am considering(subject to change):
CPU - Intel Core i3-550
Mobo - GIGABYTE GA-H55M-S2V
RAM - Kingston HyperX 4GB
Will this newer dual core chip with a 4GHz OC offer better gaming performance over the OC'd quad's Q6600 or Q8400?

My last option is the new i3-2100, now unfortunately this has a locked multiplier and will limit my OC'ing fun, but I heard you can get it up to 3.4GHz and shows a great amount of performance in gaming benchmarks over a stock i3-540 (References - Bench 1,Bench 2). Will this option offer the best performance due to is new design architecture or will a highly OC'd i3-550 still pull ahead?

-Questions-
Will my DDR2-667 hold my gaming and OC performance back?
Should I go for the older Quad Core or the newer Dual Core's?
What will provide me with the best gaming performance?
What do you guys think? Any other suggestion?

Side Note: I am not worried about dead platforms and lack of future upgrade paths.

Thanks.

P.S. - I did have another thread, Best Core2Quad to OC under $150, But it has taken me in so many new directions from my original question that I needed to clean house. Sorry, I appreciate everyone's help.

 

[tecmo34]

You have one major issue with your plans.. Neither the Q6600 or Q8400 will work on the H55M board. Your board is an LGA 1156 and those CPU's are LGA 775, which will not work together. The same is true for the i3-2100, which is an LGA 1155 socket!

I would go with the i3 550 and call it a day

 

[thechief73]

Hey tecmo34,

Thanks for the reply, I understand that these are different platforms and I did not intend on using the GIGABYTE GA-H55M-S2V for the first option, that was a typo on my part, I am sorry and it is corrected. As for third option, I would use the correct socket board, I just have not looked into this route and was looking for more advice on it first. Sorry I did not make myself more clear.

 

[tecmo34]

I figured there was an error some where

Option 1: Go with the Q8400: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/89?vs=53
Your DDR2 667 will not hamper your overclocking on those CPU's. Intel boards didn't really benefit from anything over DDR2 800, so you don't sweat it

Option 2: i3 540 will out perform the older quad-cores in pretty much all areas & gaming (graphics card equal of course)... http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/89?vs=143

Option 3: i3 2100 is the better all around option IMO. It is the newer and better platform, which also gives you an upgrade path to the i7 2600K...
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/289?vs=143

 

[thechief73]

Ok, Thanks a ton! Nice clear answers, just what I needed. But I have a few things to run past you...

Option 1: You suggest the Q8400, but is its advantage over the Q6600 the extra 266MHz or in the CPU architecture? If its the 266MHz, its advantage will be eliminated by OC'ing the Q6600 and I would have the benefit of 8MB L2 cache over 4MB.

Option 2: I changed it up to a i3-550(only few $ diff.), but these can easily hit a 4GHz OC, will this outperform a i3-2100, OC'd if possible? I have yet to find solid source on this.

Option 3: This build will not be upgraded from its original state, it will be retired when Ivy Bridge comes out, so I am not concerned with dead platforms or upgrade paths.

 

[Emperus]

If this build is going to retire post IB launch then it just does not makes enough sense to try and put high cash into it. You are getting the LGA 775 motherboard for free. So just spend for a good C2D like an E8400 and call it a day. Those chips can be overclocked past 4GHz as well.

 

[thechief73]

If this build is going to retire post IB launch then it just does not makes enough sense to try and put high cash into it. You are getting the LGA 775 motherboard for free. So just spend for a good C2D like an E8400 and call it a day. Those chips can be overclocked past 4GHz as well.

Very good point... It is going to be passed on to family or friends. I was going to save money anywhere possible, ie. A open-box or plain-jane Mobo, and sell all my old 775 hardware, if possible, to fund the i3 options, which would cost right around $200. So the i3 option will cost somewhere a little under twice as much. But if the performance increase will be great enough over the Core2Quads it is worth it too me to spend $90 more.

Can I ask your choice between the Q6600 and Q8400 between two options: The Q8400 can be had for $115 new and a Q6600 about the same maybe less used.

Does the difference in the L2 cache between the two matter in gaming?

 

[Emperus]

You can check out the comparison here -

www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/53?vs=89

The processors are at stock clocks. As you can see, clock speed and architecture matters more over the extra cache. However, the Q6600 is a better chip to overclock (get a G0 stepping chip for it). And when overclocked to say 3.2 GHz each, the extra cache might come into play. So if you can overclock to such levels, my recommendation will be the Q6600 out of the two.