Computer Upgrade (CPU and Motherboard)

[Jackson.S]

Hi Everyone

I'm In the process of upgrading my PC considering I'm not the most Tech savy person going around

would anyone be able to help or give advice advice in terms of CPU's and Motherboards please?

My Current Specs are

a Core 2 Duo E6600 are 2.3Mghz

2Gb or DDR2 Ram

a Radeon Sapphire HD4870

One 250Gb Hard Drive Dedicated to Fsx

500gb Drive for the rest

I have a budget of Aus $250 for the CPU

which gives me the options of

Intel Core i5-750 / 2.66GHz

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 / 2.66GHz

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 / 3.16GHz

I preferably would like the i5 but Im not sure if a Quad would be better?

I have also heard that I would need a new Motherboard if I upgrade to the i5 so any thoughts

on a new motherboard would be greatly appreciated (that is around 150-175)

Thanks

Jackson

[Wolter van der Spoel]

Hi Jackson,

I'd say the i7 920 is thw better option as it's easy to overclock to 4,0GHz on air, so the biggest bang for your buck

[Dwho]

the intel Core i5-750 is a quad core CPU with a stock clock of 2.66Ghz it runs on the 1156 socket P55 chipset which you can get in USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0 (6Gbps), you probably wont find a P55 motherboard out there thats around $175, you can get the Core i5-750 for around $209 - $220 the Q9400 would set u back about $205 - $215, a quality USB 3, SATA 3 P55 mobo would cost about $239 a USB 2.0 SATA 2 P55 board would cost around $217,If you spend the extra dollars and get P55 USB 3 SATA 3 board its a future proof platform that will last for many more PC builds socket 775 for gaming in my opinion is a dieing technology the future is with X58 and P55  both the i5-750 and the Q9400 will give u 10.64Ghz the E8500 will give you 6.32Ghz