E8400 vs Q8400 for Skyrim

[Dragnerok X]

My cousin wants me to upgrade his Socket 775 system I built for him a while back to be Skyrim-friendly (not maxed out, mind you, just running it smoothly @ 1600x900) While I'll admit swapping his board for a 1155 is tempting, especially because he wants to upgrade his ram too (2GB to 4GB), I think for cost purposes I'd still be better off just swapping out the processor.

Anyway, it seems the only two reasonably priced 775 gaming CPUs on Newegg at the moment are the E8400 and Q8400. Which would be better, stock, for Skyrim when paired with a GTX 460?

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

No.
Dont swap anything.IF you do want to upgrade upgrade the whole thing mobo and cpu and hoping you have some 1.5v ram you could use it for a SB build.

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

http://www.elderscrollv.com/skyrim-system-requirements/

 

[Dragnerok X]

http://www.elderscrollv.com/skyrim-system-requirements/

I am aware of that. It just seems that a high-clocked core 2 would fit the bill processor-wise... :/

 

[jsc]

Present system specs?

 

[Dragnerok X]

2.8GHz Pentium Dual-Core

XFX 4650 (I think, can't quite remember, something like that)

2GB DDR2

Gigabyte G31M-ES2L Mobo

He was on a budget at the time and not too interested in modern gaming (aside from Oblivion, games of that vintage). Now he tells me that he wants to run Skyrim. xD

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

2.8GHz Pentium Dual-Core

XFX 4650 (I think, can't quite remember, something like that)

2GB DDR2

Gigabyte G31M-ES2L Mobo

He was on a budget at the time and not too interested in modern gaming (aside from Oblivion, games of that vintage). Now he tells me that he wants to run Skyrim. xD

Me thinks just gpu would be a great upgrade.
You could always move it on to your other pc.
But considering your cpu might be a bit weak for skyrim i think you still have to wait it out.Would you waste money for an upgrade to play one game?

 

[Dragnerok X]

Me thinks just gpu would be a great upgrade.
You could always move it on to your other pc.
But considering your cpu might be a bit weak for skyrim i think you still have to wait it out.Would you waste money for an upgrade to play one game?

You make a good point and I suggested to him that I just OC the CPU (although the 2MB cache still hinders performance somewhat) and pair it with a newer GPU.

Perhaps he should wait it out, though. If nothing else, he has a PS3 he could always play Skyrim on.

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

You make a good point and I suggested to him that I just OC the CPU (although the 2MB cache still hinders performance somewhat) and pair it with a newer GPU.

Perhaps he should wait it out, though. If nothing else, he has a PS3 he could always play Skyrim on.

Yes definitely.
Better games than Skyrim will come not to say Skyrim wont be great.

 

[Dragnerok X]

Best answer selected by Dragnerok X.