Couple questions regarding my E8400

1stezekiel

Member
Feb 25, 2008
151
0
71
I've got mine clocked to 4.05 .... First question being, any real gains from running it with DDR3 ram.... Next question being, will a Q9550 be a minimal or noticeable step up in performance? I do more gaming then anything.... No video stuff or multicore programs.
 

damage424

Senior member
Oct 6, 2008
226
4
81
I went from an e8400 stock to q9550 stock (sale + sold old cpu), and honestly, I didn't see a huge difference at all. Very marginal at best. If your games don't utilize quad cores, and it seems most games don't, I would hold on to my money.

The upgrade itch is scratching!! Considering it's almost February, Fermi shouldn't be THAT far off. If you really can't wait ATi has some pretty good cards out right now. :)
 

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
12,957
1
0
Your CPU is more then enough for any game. Think about a video card upgrade instead or RAM upgrade. gl
its not more than enough for every game. by that I mean there are a few games out there where having an i5/i7 would certainly help over the E8400 even at 4.05. that being said its probably not worth the cost and time just for those few games because they will be playable with his current cpu. I certainly wouldnt fool with going to the Q9550 because an i5 setup would only cost about a 100 bucks more after selling off the old stuff. also with current his setup its clearly the 9800gtx+ that needs to be upgraded if gaming is his main focus.
 

alyarb

Platinum Member
Jan 25, 2009
2,444
0
76
I think his current maximum FPS in your example games would still be lower than the minimum FPS he would have with a 5800-series radeon due to his poor slow 4 ghz E8400, especially at 1080p and above.
 

HeXploiT

Diamond Member
Jun 11, 2004
4,359
1
76
At the moment I'm running an 8400@3.6 and an xfx 5870 w 4gb 1066 and my system chews through everything at 1920x1200 with everything maxed.
(With the exception of Crysis of course)
 

mav451

Senior member
Jan 31, 2006
626
0
76
Depends on what games you play - look at Dragon Age benches if you wanna see the difference between dual-core vs. quad-core hehe.
 

Kenmitch

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
8,505
2,248
136
I've got mine clocked to 4.05 .... First question being, any real gains from running it with DDR3 ram.... Next question being, will a Q9550 be a minimal or noticeable step up in performance? I do more gaming then anything.... No video stuff or multicore programs.

If you got a Q9550 that would do a similar overclock then I'd say you'd notice improvements in anything thats more than dual threaded.

But like everybody else said a video card would be a better upgrade at this time.
 

n7

Elite Member
Jan 4, 2004
21,303
4
81
While many games do benefit from quads, it's not going to be a huge difference.

You need a better video card.

Put $$$ toward that & save up for s1366/s1156 (unless you come across a killer deal on a Q9550/Q9650).
 

1stezekiel

Member
Feb 25, 2008
151
0
71
I was contemplating an i5 750 setup..... I was looking at some benchmarks with the 8400 and the 9550... Pretty much what I've read is what I've read here in this thread. The gains aren't that substantial. The only gains I saw, of course, were the benchmarks for a 9800gtx+ sli setup. Been wantin to try a sli setup.... Seems like the 775 socket is moving more and more toward the "outdated". That kinda makes me wanna wait for an i5 setup instead of spending money on vid card, or sli setup. I do know that I'd have to spend for a vid card anyway.....