Upgrading from Core 2 Duo E8400 to Core 2 Quad Q9550 ?

[Ibn Saeed]

Hello


Here are my computer specs:

Casing:
Gigabyte 3d Aurora

Operating System
Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit

CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.00GHz
Wolfdale 45nm Technology

RAM
[OLD] 4.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 399MHz (6-6-6-18)

[Going to order]
Patriot Signature Line 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800 PC2 6400 Memory Module Kit PSD24G800K


Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. EP35-DS3L (Socket 775)

Graphics
Standard Monitor (1366x768@32Hz)
[ OLD CARD ]512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (XFX Pine Group)

[Going to order new card]
EVGA GeForce GT 730 2GB GDDR5 64bit DVI/HDMI/VGA Low Profile Graphics Card 02G-P3-3733-KR



Storage
465GB Western Digital WDC WD5000AAKS-00A7B0 ATA Device (SATA) 45 °C

Power :
Corsair TW 750w


Here is the CPU Support list for my motherboard:
http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=2778


Question:

I would like to upgrade to a quad core within my budget of $100

Which cpu would be the appropriate choice ?

I wont be gaming whatsoever.

This would be for audio/video editing, surfing, basic photo editing.

 

[RaDiKaL_]

You should really consider saving for a new pc entirely, dropping more money on your outdated build is not really worth it.

But if you really want to proceed with this I would point out the following:

- The GPU swap is not really convenient, you won't really notice much difference since the GT730 is so weak.

- Im assuming you're getting a total of 8GB of RAM? if so that's ok, just make sure your old ram is compatible with the new one, better if you get the exact same model you already have if possible to avoid issues.

- Going from a E8400 to a Q9550 won't really show that much improvement gaming wise, games that benefit from 4+ cores need a more powerful build anyways. I'd only do that swap if you were getting the Q9550 for like 20$ or so.

 

[cbag]

That CPU is a very nice upgrade. For your purposes it will improve your task completion by quite a bit. It obviously isn't an i5/i7, but it will be noticeable improvement.

Don't get the other stuff.

Get an SSD.

 

[peterh337]

I went from an 8400 to a QX9650 (also tried a Q9550) and a previously totally reliable PC (running 24/7 for 2 years) started doing roughly daily BSODs. See this thread
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3050914/bsod-rare-replacing-dual-core-quad-core.html#17986783

I am still trying to narrow it down. Replacing Firefox with Chrome has improved it considerably but I think tha going to 4 cores has exposed some bug in some driver somewhere, quite likely to do with the video card. I have changed the motherboard, the CPU, the memory, and now I am about to change the graphics card.

The reason for going to quad core is the 2x improvement in video rendering speed. Simply, a 10hr render in say Sony Vegas takes 5hrs.

The rest of the PC runs generally faster and more responsively, as one would expect.

Measuring against a Lenovo i7 (4 core 3GHz) laptop, the QX9650 is about 10% slower, so really close.

As a parallel project I started to build a 6-core i7 PC
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3060760/ex58-ud5-starting-build.html#17995610
but I am having problems getting the motherboard to start up. It's cost me a lot of time and money...