Need to upgrade e6400

[Xarick]

I want to upgrade my e6400 but keep the rest running.
I have 6 gigs ddr2 800 ram
a p45 mobo
so rather than jump to i5 I want to jump to a higher 775 so that I can eek more out of my system.
Do you recommend a q9550, q9400
or a dual core e8400, e8500?

 

[happy medium]

Go Q9550 and don't look back.:thumbsup:

Do you overclock?

 

[Xarick]

yes my e6400 is at 2.8

 

[cusideabelincoln]

The fastest chip you can afford, up to the Q9550.

 

[Xarick]

I get confused. I mainly game.
The e8400 is 3ghz the e8500 is 3.16
the q9550 is quad but only 2.83
If I am reading correctly the e8400 can out overclock the rest. So what is going to be labeled as fastest?

 

[CurseTheSky]

The E8500 would probably be the best overclocker, since it has a higher multiplier than the E8400. It's not guaranteed, though, as every chip is different.

However, the Q9550 would most likely be fast enough for whatever you throw at it (unless you're running two or more high-end graphics cards in SLI / Crossfire), and it should still overclock decently. Furthermore, if you're looking to keep the LGA775 system for 2+ years, you may start to see a number of programs that benefit from more than 2 cores.

If the Q9550 is within $10-20ish of the E8400 or E8500, I'd definitely buy it. It's more future-proof.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

The differences in clockspeed between 2.83 and 3.16 is not going to have any real world affect on your gaming performance. But for games that utilize quad core, the Q9550 will definitely have an advantage. The Q9550 is a good overclocker, too, and you could probably easily hit 3.8+ GHz. With the E8400 I think the average persons get around 4-4.25 GHz. But even comparing a 3.8 Q9550 to a 4.25 E8400, I'd pick the Q9550.

 

[mazeroth]

Originally posted by: Xarick
I get confused. I mainly game.
The e8400 is 3ghz the e8500 is 3.16
the q9550 is quad but only 2.83
If I am reading correctly the e8400 can out overclock the rest. So what is going to be labeled as fastest?

The E3110 (E8400) that I'm selling in a few days!

Seriously, you will have better luck overclocking a dual core but once games start taking more advantage of quad cores they will be faster. Right now almost every game out only utilizes two core, so a dual core will be faster IF clocked higher. Most E8400s will hit 4+ ghz on air cooling. Getting a quad to that speed is a little bit more challenging.