CPU Upgrade advice.

[OilSheikh]

I have a P35 Socket 775 Motherboard and a C2D E8500.

What is the ideal processor to upgrade to ?
- To a Quad ?
- To a i5 like the i5-650 and also get a new H55 motherboard ?

Oh, I also use DDR3 Corsair XMS3 RAM.

[cloughDavid]

Depends on the budget you have in mind, a cheap upgrade would be to by a Q6600 on ebay they can go for around £60-£80 with a good aftermarket cooler and Overclock it to 3.2-3.6.

If you want a longer term upgrade an i3 2100 or i5 2500 with H61/H67/P67 motherboard would last a long time or you may want to wait for AMD and see what the Bulldozer chips have to offer.

I'm still happy with my Q6600 and clocks to 3.2 easily with just a couple of tweaks. Coupled with a 6950 happily plays most stuff on max without antailising at 1680x1050.

[Biscuit]

unless you find a real bargain on a quad which can tide you over, I wouldn't waste anymore money on S775. If you really must upgrade now then go sandybridge (P67/LGA1055) but i would wait and see what AMD pull out their sleeves with bulldozer

[OilSheikh]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Now, I don't OC and I'll never go the AMD way. i5-650 sells for £100ish on eBay and a H55 Mobo sells for £40ish. I reckon I can get about 80% of the money back by selling my existing C2D and Mobo. So, my budget is basically £140ish.

Regarding the cooler, I would like to go for a model equivalent to the Scythe Infinity for the i5.

[ehhhhhhh]

Now, I don't OC and I'll never go the AMD way.

why the hate?

At the end of the day it's a tool to do a job. Mind you, if the new AMD CPUs will be good then you could buy intel stuff for much cheaper...compared to today's rip off prices

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Out of interest why is the OP wanting to upgrade their CPU??

[Domestic_Ginger]

If possible the quad would be a better bet imo. I seem to remember OPOS does some video editing/transcoding. The 750s seem to command a price under £100 atm second hand.

[OilSheikh]

Out of interest why is the OP wanting to upgrade their CPU??

To stay up with the times. Only on eBay , your old stuff costs the same as a Used new stuff.
So, how can I pass a hand-in-hand upgrade ?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

To stay up with the times. Only on eBay , your old stuff costs the same as a Used new stuff.
So, how can I pass a hand-in-hand upgrade ?

What is the main use of the PC though??

[OilSheikh]

What is the main use of the PC though??

Light gaming. I play a game at a time. e.g. finished AC1, now Mirros Edge. Bro plays his MMORPG's.
Apart from that, watching TV shows, movies, anime and some web developement when I feel like.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Light gaming. I play a game at a time. e.g. finished AC1, now Mirros Edge. Bro plays his MMORPG's.
Apart from that, watching TV shows, movies, anime and some web developement when I feel like.

TBH,your CPU is fine for those purposes.

Wait until June or July until Bulldozer is released and prices should drop on the current Intel CPUs.

Also,a Core i3 2100 or 2120 is a better choice than one of the dual core Core i5 600 series processors.

A Core i3 2100 is around the same speed as a Core i5 680:

http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/cpu/in...3-2100-p1.html

Edit!!

What is the voltage of your DDR3 RAM?? Both socket 1155 and 1156 CPUs require lower voltage DDR3.

[OilSheikh]

Eck.. too late, just bought a i5 650 and a ASUS H55 Mobo. Total cost £130.

Guess I won't bother upgrading these for a year now. Not sure on the voltages of the XMS3, CAT.

[OilSheikh]

TBH,your CPU is fine for those purposes.

Wait until June or July until Bulldozer is released and prices should drop on the current Intel CPUs.

Also,a Core i3 2100 or 2120 is a better choice than one of the dual core Core i5 600 series processors.

A Core i3 2100 is around the same speed as a Core i5 680:

http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/cpu/in...3-2100-p1.html

Edit!!

What is the voltage of your DDR3 RAM?? Both socket 1155 and 1156 CPUs require lower voltage DDR3.

I have just asked for a refund for my i5 cpu + mobo. Will now order a i3 2100 from Scan and a P67 mobo like you suggested Kitty .. I mean CAT

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I have just asked for a refund for my i5 cpu + mobo. Will now order a i3 2100 from Scan and a P67 mobo like you suggested Kitty .. I mean CAT

The Core i3 2100 cannot be overclocked as it lacks an unlocked multiplier. The P67 motherboards also lack monitor outputs.

[OilSheikh]

The Core i3 2100 cannot be overclocked as it lacks an unlocked multiplier. The P67 motherboards also lack monitor outputs.

I don't OC anyway and I got a gfx card so dont need crappy onboard gfx.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I don't OC anyway and I got a gfx card so dont need crappy onboard gfx.

It is better to get an H67 based motherboard then! At least there is a possibility of Quick Sync working with a discrete card with an H67 motherboard and you have a back up GPU too. The socket 1155 processors have the IGP built into the CPU so you have one whether you want to or not! The H67 motherboards tend to a bit cheaper too.

The P67 offers no advantages over an H67 unless you want to overclock or want multiple graphics cards.

The voltage of the DDR3 is important BTW. Sandy Bridge is rated for not more than 1.58V so make sure your RAM can actually run at this voltage. The memory controller is known to be a tad sensitive to excess voltage IIRC.