Finally making an upgrade - Worth it?

Currently I'm using a system I've had for a while and updated a few times but I think it's time to do a major upgrade.

My specs are:

Core 2 Quad Q8300 @ 2.5Ghz
6GB DDR2 800
AMD Radeon HD7850 2GB
Intel 330 180GB SSD (currently being restricted by SATA II)

I'm thinking about moving over to the dark side and going for an AMD. I've been looking at the Athlon X4 860k which is available for around £60 and matching it up with a suitable mATX board with USB3 and SATA3 support. I'll also upgrade to 8GB DDR3 1600 and retain my SSD and GPU.

What I'm wondering is whether the upgrade will be worth it? Is there going to be a noticeable difference in performance in gaming? I feel like my C2Q is acting as a bottleneck. I usually play management/strategy games, so by no means an intensive gamer. I'm looking to get the upgrade done now in time for Cities: Skylines.

Just to add - My budget is fairly limited (around £150-175 at a stretch for CPU, RAM and Mobo), so no wild suggestions please :p

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WellofSouls

Currently I'm using a system I've had for a while and updated a few times but I think it's time to do a major upgrade.

My specs are:

Core 2 Quad Q8300 @ 2.5Ghz
6GB DDR2 800
AMD Radeon HD7850 2GB
Intel 330 180GB SSD (currently being restricted by SATA II)

I'm thinking about moving over to the dark side and going for an AMD. I've been looking at the Athlon X4 860k which is available for around £60 and matching it up with a suitable mATX board with USB3 and SATA3 support. I'll also upgrade to 8GB DDR3 1600 and retain my SSD and GPU.

What I'm wondering is whether the upgrade will be worth it? Is there going to be a noticeable difference in performance in gaming? I feel like my C2Q is acting as a bottleneck. I usually play management/strategy games, so by no means an intensive gamer. I'm looking to get the upgrade done now in time for Cities: Skylines.

---

I've got a Q8300 in one of my PCs, & you could easily overclock it for a bit of a boost - you're running it at stock speed at 2.5Ghz. Even with the stock cooler & default settings, you should be able to run it at 400Mhz bus speed, resulting in 3Ghz CPU speed?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MrJim

I've got a Q8300 in one of my PCs, & you could easily overclock it for a bit of a boost - you're running it at stock speed at 2.5Ghz. Even with the stock cooler & default settings, you should be able to run it at 400Mhz bus speed, resulting in 3Ghz CPU speed?

---

Can't overclock unfortunately because it's a Packard Bell with a locked down BIOS

Was going to reccomend a used sandy or ivybridge but eBay prices are the same as 2 years ago :(

Seems a quad is the way to go. Everything is 3ghz+

Quote:

---

Skylines Recommended:

OS: Microsoft Windows 7/8 (64-bit)
Processor: 3 GHz Quad core
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: nVIDIA GeForce GTX460, 1 GB RAM or AMD Radeon HD 6850, 1 GB RAM
DirectX: Version 9.0
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Hard Drive: 2 GB available space

---

Thanks for the responses. Managed to bag an AMD FX-6300 for a nice price so will be going that route.

I would look at getting this motherboard:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/M5A97-EVO-R2...ywords=amd+970

I've gone ahead with getting the 970A-DS3, it's a bit cheaper than what else was suggested and has all the features suggested.

Thanks for all the help and recommendations!