Is Xeon E5450 a good replacement for Core2 Duo E6550

[sprsk]

I have an old PC and i do some gaming ... ( GPU = HD7750 )
Games like Battlefield 3 and Crysis .
My board is a Asus P5K-E wifi .

I'm thinking to replace the old Cpu ( intel Core2 Duo E6550 @ 2.33GHz ) with a Xeon E5450 @ 3GHz.
I know that i have to mod the Socket by cutting the plastic ears . ( Anything else ? )
How much of improvement u thing i'll get ?

At CPU Mark rating the Core2Duo E6550 gets 1550 and the Xeon E5450 almost 2,5 times faster at 4300 .

Is it worth it ?

My other thought is instead of Xeon to get an Core2 Quad Q9550 for almost the same price 45-50$

Waiting for ur help ...

 

[GhislainG]

Since the slightly newer Q9550 is supported, that would be the best option.

 

[sprsk]

Need more details plz

 

[GhislainG]

Need more details plz

The Q9550 is slightly slower, but it's on your motherboard's list of supported processors: http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/list.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=P5K-E/WIFI-AP&p=1 That's safer than modding the socket to use a socket 771 CPU and probably a modded BIOS to recognize the Xeon.

 

[rene641]

Hi, if FSB of your MOBO is OK for E5450, take E5450. You can mod BIOS of your MOBO and everything will be fine. I did it this weekend on my son´s PC, now he plays Watch Dogs. With previous core 2 Duo it was not possible.

 

[sprsk]

A friend upgrade his 775 socket with intel Xeon X3380 . X3380 is for socket 775 and not for 771 like E5450 ,
His previous CPU was an E5400 core2 duo .

The difference in performance is quite noticeable , i would say big .... 😀

I'm trying also for X3380 or X3370 , but there are not so easy to find.

Is it correct, that the only thing ill need to do is to upgrade the BIOS ? Can anyone tell me how ?

 

[GhislainG]

Read this post: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/249183-28-x3350-wifi-board You'll hopefully come to the conclusion that using a supported processor that can be overclocked is easier.

 

[rene641]

And read http://www.delidded.com/lga-771-to-775-adapter/comment-page-1/#comments


How to mod BIOS http://www.delidded.com/how-to-update-cpu-microcode-in-ami-bios/

Good luck.

 

[sprsk]

Well , I DID IT ,

Bought the Xeon E5450 . Modify ( cut ) the 2 plastic on CPU board and fit like a charm ... 😀
The board recognized the new CPU and the PC have 2 times better performance in PC test now ...
From 1600 to 4450 , wiout OC anything ... I thing now its Time .
I record the temperatures while playing some games and do some serious internet serf with 30+ pages open same time ... was smoth like criminal ... 😀

Now ill install the updated Bios ( that will be hard , haven't heard the best for this ASUS type boards ) ...

If anyone wants feedback , ill be glad to respond .

 

[rene641]

Welcome to the Xeon club. BIOS install cannot be hard. If your MOBO has Phoenix BIOS, check if this utility helps you
https://www.wimsbios.com/phoenixflasher.jsp

 

[sprsk]

I download Asus updatedriver ( ASUS Live Update 3.2.8 (Windows 7 64 bit) , from the site u suggest ,
Result was negative , ( no update ) how come ???
The two other programs showed tha i need to update , also the PC when starts message me ( new CPU found ) "you need to update drive to unleash full potential" ... im confused ...
Here :
Results liveUpdate Asus

But instead of no update i run some other programas to verify the results Some data i got :

CPUID Current
CPUID PIC

After i Run the BiosAgentPlus
BiosAgentPlus

And Details of the above
Details

In Asus page ( Drivers & Utilities )
Asus P5k-E wifi
Last Bios update2009

Looking in the net i found that this is the last update ...
BIOS P5K-E-1305.ROM
is it correct ? and if yes how im going to install it ?

Im i doing something Wrong ... plz help .

 

[GhislainG]

You should read this post: http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20110630053309273&board_id=1&model=P5K-E%2FWiFi-AP&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

Hopefully you won't need a mossed BIOS to have the Xeon properly detected at POST. If you do, then a modded BIOS like P5KseriesP5QseriesXeonmodbios.zip is available at http://www.overclock.net/t/1431723/mod-lga775-support-for-lga771-xeon-cpus/2020; use at your own risk.

 

[rene641]

1) dont be confused
2) download right latest bios for your MOBO from official Asus webpage
3) mod the downloaded bios
4) download AFUWIN http://www.ami.com/Support/amibiossupport/ and flash your modded bios.

Don´t use Asus update, use AFUWIN

 

[rene641]

I found a lot of Xeon modded BIOSes ...

http://genius239239.myweb.hinet.net/771/

 

[samzzzz]

I had a e8500 with gtx 760 and changed fore e5450... very good choice for cheap... the gpu is not any more bottle neck.