[SOLVED] upgrading e8400 to q9550

[Tac 25]

created an account to ask this.

hi, I have two pc, the newer one is used for playing newer games. While the much much older one with windows 7 is used for storing files, and sometimes playing older games that cannot be played in windows 10.

today, I came upon the idea of maybe trying to upgrade the older pc a little..

processor: Core 2Duo e8400, motherboard - Samsung Desktop System comes up when I type wmic baseboard get product,Manufacturer. in cmd.

is it possible to update the processor of this with a q9550? I saw some cheap q9550 in Aliexpress, and thought it might not hurt to buy one and do an upgrade. Do I have to flash the bios if I would do an update? This only a backup pc used for storing files and playing old games, just want to give it a little update with a better processor.

 

[JWNoctis]

Think I've actually built one with an E8400 for a relative back in the day. Good memories.

If nothing else, Q9550 has a much higher TDP, which may push your motherboard's VRM as well as your PSU over the edge, both doubtlessly sized for your original processor by the OEM and well-aged at this point. You may also need a better cooler if yours still is OEM stock.

Also you probably won't be able to reactivate your copy of Windows 7 if it ends up deactivated by the upgrade. Or so I heard.

A Q9550 also might not end up gaining you much, given its lower maximum frequency. These existed before any kind of dynamic frequency boost common in current CPUs, where processors with more cores wouldn't have to take a clock and performance penalty for single-threaded workload.

I also wouldn't put it past some sellers selling you bad processors which may well end up destroying other components of your system, and there's no way to find out until you put it in, unless you buy some sacrificial components to try it out first.

If it was me, a better upgrade might be as much memory as your system and OS could take. Though that runs the same risk of invalidating your Windows 7 activation, which I hear is irreplaceable now. A simple memory upgrade probably won't if you haven't upgraded before, though. Others might be able to offer more details on such upgrade-induced deactivations.

Or if you really want to build something around a Q9550, a new build with the rest of the system would not be much more expensive with used parts of that vintage, except for the power supply which is better bought new, and definitely must not be skimped.

 

[Tac 25]

thanks for the reply.

damn, that "deactivation by upgrade" + "irreplaceable" gave me a scare... did not know about that at all. Need this Windows 7 pc for playing Otomedius, since Otomedius won't run at all in my more powerful gaming pc because that pc has Windows 10.

hearing about the dangers of deactivation made me read about it... so far, this old pc has had ram stick changes and GPU changes, those did not cause a deactivation. Maybe I was lucky, and my luck would finally run out if attempt this processor upgrade. lol

btw, the PSU of this old pc is 600W. Would that be enough if somehow, I still decided to install a Q9550? This pc has two HDD installed (since it's main purpose is a backup on important data) and also has a cd drive.

 

[Tac 25]

after some thoughts. With the dangers mentioned. I think now, it's not worth the risk trying to upgrade to a 4 core processor. I don't play the more demanding games in this pc anyway. Will just give it a better gpu later when budget allows.

also, it's not possible to add more ram sticks. Right now, it's using a pair of 2GB sticks. Trying to use 4gb stick causes the board to beep - we tried several times with different 4gb sticks, it simply does not want to accept.

 

[Tac 25]

I know it's been sometime, but here' a little update to this thread... I did not dare with the q9550, but did try with the q9500. And it's a success. Changing the processor did not deactivate windows 7.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/q9500-temp-check.3723446/#post-22450444