Smart move or dumb move?

[mazeroth]

I currently run a Gigabyte P45 UD3 with a Xeon E3110 (E8400) @3.6 ghz. and really want to get a quad core. I bought these parts less than a year ago and promised myself no more money on the computer for at least 2 years, since I'm putting thousands into renovating my house. Well, I had a great idea after seeing Micro Center's latest sale, which is $30 off any AMD motherboard with a select CPU.

So, here's what I'm thinking:

Phenom II X2 555 BE - $99
Biostar TA785GE 128M - $39 ($69-$30)
Cooler Master Hyper 212+ - $24

I would go with a nicer MB but want to reuse my 4x1 DDR2 and the nicer ones need DDR3.

So, I'll have $162 in the new motherboard, processor and HSF and I should be able to get that out of my current motherboard and processor. I also have a huge Xigmatek HSF I'll sell with it so I should definitely be able to break even.

I hate saying this, but the great thing about Micro Center is I have some friends that work there and I should have no problem getting the Phenom to unlock to 4 cores. In fact, it's 100%

With that, can you see any flaw whatsoever in my idea, or is it just too awesome to pass up? I'm thinking the latter, but I've come to ask the experts!

Thanks in advance.

 

[mazeroth]

Actually, I didn't see this Gigabyte for the same price, both with the SB710 for unlocking. Any preference?

http://microcenter.com/single_produc...uct_id=0328256

http://microcenter.com/single_produc...uct_id=0319629

Oh, and do you think my GTX 260 will cover up some of the SATA ports?

 

[Lean L]

seems like an overall sidegrade and a downgrade in terms of single threaded performance. Do you need quad for anything?

although given the slight performance difference at stock prolly not a bad idea

 

[nyker96]

$99 for that? just get a athlon x4 or PII x4 with the package. you e8400 will be faster than any other dual cores but a quad will be a real upgrade.

if you think x2 will unlock beware it's not a sure thingy.

 

[Rhoxed]

$99 for that? just get a athlon x4 or PII x4 with the package. you e8400 will be faster than any other dual cores but a quad will be a real upgrade.

if you think x2 will unlock beware it's not a sure thingy.

you must not have read his post, he has a friend working in MC so he has 100% chance of getting an unlocked cpu

OP, i say go for it, i would gladly pay another 120$ for my unlocked 720BE