- May 17, 2011
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So Black Friday came and went without anything cheap enough for me, "cyber monday" is a scam as per usual, and I'm stuck here with my LGA775 motherboard, DDR2 RAM, and a 3.8ghz E8400 (which I could probably OC more, but meh). I've also got a GTX 460 1GB, which I'm not terribly interesting in upgrading at the moment, as I feel my processor might end up a limiting factor rather soon.
To the point: I can get a Q9550 for around $100. I'd probably give it a similar OC, maybe try a little more, I dunno how well that processor overclocks. Going from a powerful core2duo to a powerful core2quad sounds good in my head, but I can't help but feel like I'm throwing good money after bad here.
On one hand, it's a $100 upgrade now that'll probably help out, and that's it. No other costs. My mobo is compatible, my RAM is compatible, my cooler is compatible. $100 and it's done, hopefully I can start bumping things back up to high on mondern-ish games, or at least getting more consistent frames on medium.
On the other hand, LGA775. It's dead. I was thinking maybe I'd jump to 8gb of RAM, but that'd cost another $75. I have a SSD coming in that's going to be crippled by SATA II.
There's more modern stuff out there. I want a 3750k, but a 3750k is $200-220, plus another $120-150 for a motherboard I'd like, plus another $30ish for RAM, $30 for a new cooler...around a $400 upgrade. It's hard to swallow.
Any thoughts? Alternatives? I don't think I want to go AMD, I don't want to be stuck on an AMD motherboard when Intel has just been mopping the floor with their stuff. I was thinking maybe start with an i3 now and jump to i5 later so I wouldn't have to spend so much money up front, but it's still gonna be a few hundred...so I might as well spend a little more on i5...
To the point: I can get a Q9550 for around $100. I'd probably give it a similar OC, maybe try a little more, I dunno how well that processor overclocks. Going from a powerful core2duo to a powerful core2quad sounds good in my head, but I can't help but feel like I'm throwing good money after bad here.
On one hand, it's a $100 upgrade now that'll probably help out, and that's it. No other costs. My mobo is compatible, my RAM is compatible, my cooler is compatible. $100 and it's done, hopefully I can start bumping things back up to high on mondern-ish games, or at least getting more consistent frames on medium.
On the other hand, LGA775. It's dead. I was thinking maybe I'd jump to 8gb of RAM, but that'd cost another $75. I have a SSD coming in that's going to be crippled by SATA II.
There's more modern stuff out there. I want a 3750k, but a 3750k is $200-220, plus another $120-150 for a motherboard I'd like, plus another $30ish for RAM, $30 for a new cooler...around a $400 upgrade. It's hard to swallow.
Any thoughts? Alternatives? I don't think I want to go AMD, I don't want to be stuck on an AMD motherboard when Intel has just been mopping the floor with their stuff. I was thinking maybe start with an i3 now and jump to i5 later so I wouldn't have to spend so much money up front, but it's still gonna be a few hundred...so I might as well spend a little more on i5...
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