Upgrade choice...

[watercooled]

So ATM I have E7200 on a Gigabyte GA-EP35C-DS3R and I'm planning to upgrade to a good quad core (not i7 though). I have a few choices I'm thinking of - buy a q9550 to go in place of the E7200 or get a new motherboard and a Phenom II CPU but I'd want to stick with the DDR2 RAM I already have either way. I was looking towards maybe the 940/945 or something. Also if I was to go the AMD route I don't really want to spend more than the cost of a q9550 TBH, which could be a problem since that doesn't leave much for the motherboard. Suggestions?
Thanks

[watercooled]

Any ideas? Just the 9550 is on today only so I need to decide today really...

[PeterStoba]

You could sell your E7200 and P35C if you went the AM2+ route, meaning costs would be the same pretty much

[watercooled]

what do you think I should do though? Bearing in mind I have no brand loyalties whatsoever.

[Noxvayl]

what do you think I should do though? Bearing in mind I have no brand loyalties whatsoever.

Get the Q9550, you have no need to buy a new motherboard and if you aren't going to get DDR3 there is no point getting anything else.

Performance wise you can't go wrong with the Q9550, hyper threading won't be beneficial for average consumer applications or games for a long time yet so there is no benefit purchasing them. AMD performance is pretty much the same as the Core2Quads from Intel, cheaper but having to buy a motherboard offsets that advantage.

Your best option is the Q9550 imo. I am in the same situation so when I can upgrade a Q9550 is the exact processor I will use for my upgrade.

[watercooled]

Thanks I think I'll do that then.

[Pob255]

I'm with ExHail here, with a p35 motherboard and ddr2 already your best option is to buy a core2quad.

Going over to a AM2+ motherboard and phenonII is not really woth it with the added expense.
If you we're considering going for AM3 + phenonII + ddr3 that would be different but again more cost.
(also just swaping out CPU means no need for OS reinstall which going to an AMD system might involve)

It also should be a lot cheaper to get up and running, good if you just want to give low temp overclocking a try.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would probably just plonk in a Q9550 if there are no compatibility issues.

[watercooled]

Yeah that's probably what I'll do. So just to be sure (I didn't buy it Today only but I'm sure it will be on again soon) I wouldn't see much difference if I were to sell what I have and get Phenom II, mobo + DDR3 based on the price range I'm aiming for?