Is the Core 2 Quad Q9650 worth upgrading from the Q8400?? Or budget for a used I5/mobo?

[User430]

My graphics card went out on me, which forced me to upgrade to a GTX 780 FTW.
But I can now tell it's being bottle-necked by my old and stock Q8400 2.66ghz.
I've been wanting to upgrade, but currently tight in the funds to get what I want anyways...

A friend offered me his old Q9650 12mb 3.0ghz for $100 (or even $80), which he explained is a very decent upgrade (especially OC'd), allowing me the ability to run my GPU on spec whilst buying me extra time to officially drop some money and upgrade later this year.

My question is if I should do that... or just look for a used i5 and Mobo (potentially DDR4 RAM) too. If I go that route, I'd have to budget myself at $200. Probably end up with a 2600 or 760 i5 to push for another year or more.


Before you question my GPU performance, it's running on a 750W Corsair PSU, 8GB Corsair XMS3 build with a rapidly aging Asus P5P43TD Motherboard. I'm contemplating the upgrade because I'm interested in installing Windows 10 as well, and would rather start on a UEFI Mobo than the current Legacy BIOS Mobo.


Thanks for your time, and please help me decide!

 

[Forever Oleg]

No yous should not. FX-6300 + cheap mobo will be a better buy than that Q9650.

i5-2500(K) and i7-2600(K), believe it or not are still beasts and if you find them for cheap, you are golden (only DDR3 RAM, m8)

Cheers

 

[clutchc]

You probably won't get enough performance increase with the move to the Q9550 to make you happy: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/89?vs=50
Save up for a switch to an Intel platform.

 

[Ravi_Singh1900]

My graphics card went out on me, which forced me to upgrade to a GTX 780 FTW.
But I can now tell it's being bottle-necked by my old and stock Q8400 2.66ghz.
I've been wanting to upgrade, but currently tight in the funds to get what I want anyways...

A friend offered me his old Q9650 12mb 3.0ghz for $100 (or even $80), which he explained is a very decent upgrade (especially OC'd), allowing me the ability to run my GPU on spec whilst buying me extra time to officially drop some money and upgrade later this year.

My question is if I should do that... or just look for a used i5 and Mobo (potentially DDR4 RAM) too. If I go that route, I'd have to budget myself at $200. Probably end up with a 2600 or 760 i5 to push for another year or more.


Before you question my GPU performance, it's running on a 750W Corsair PSU, 8GB Corsair XMS3 build with a rapidly aging Asus P5P43TD Motherboard. I'm contemplating the upgrade because I'm interested in installing Windows 10 as well, and would rather start on a UEFI Mobo than the current Legacy BIOS Mobo.


Thanks for your time, and please help me decide!

Get a skylake core i3 6100 with h110 board, thet are also available in ddr3 (proper ddr 3 not ddr 3 L) variant so u can keep ur old ram, i budget allow get a z170. Dont upgrade to dated option u wont get good resale on them. Plus upgrades would be hard. In case u want to upgrade you can sell out the core i3 online and get skylake core i5 later.

Personally I always buy first hand, sell them out within warranty peroid to get good resale and again buy new components by adding some more money. That way I keep giving my system small upgrades.

 

[User430]

No yous should not. FX-6300 + cheap mobo will be a better buy than that Q9650.

i5-2500(K) and i7-2600(K), believe it or not are still beasts and if you find them for cheap, you are golden (only DDR3 RAM, m8)

Cheers

Hey, I can get an Intel DH67GD mobo with the i5 2500k cpu for $100 USD, is that a good enough deal instead? Also, he has a Intel DX58SO mobo with a Xeon E5620 cpu for half that ($50). Which one should I get?

 

[Forever Oleg]

No yous should not. FX-6300 + cheap mobo will be a better buy than that Q9650.

i5-2500(K) and i7-2600(K), believe it or not are still beasts and if you find them for cheap, you are golden (only DDR3 RAM, m8)

Cheers

Hey, I can get an Intel DH67GD mobo with the i5 2500k cpu for $100 USD, is that a good enough deal instead? Also, he has a Intel DX58SO mobo with a Xeon E5620 cpu for half that ($50). Which one should I get?

No, do not get the Xeon. That one isn't that great.

The deal for the mobo + i5-2500K is really good.

 

[Karadjgne]

Much depends on your savvy, patience and determination. I was in a similar place with budget, but had the time to wait. Took me almost 6 months, but ended up with a msi mpower z77 for $50, an i7 3770k (good batch number) for $50 and a FD define r5 window for $20 (small dent in 1 panel otherwise new). 16gb Patriot 1866 for $20, Samsung 840 Pro 128Gb SSD for $20 99% good.

So you can definitely shop used on a budget, you do by necessity take more risk with used parts, there's not much chance of a warranty if the part dies in 6 months, but it'll get you by, hopefully.