CPU upgrade in the future- LGA 775 suggestions?

[iPwntUrMum]

Hi all. Eventually, I plan on upgrading my Intel E5200 Wolfdale to something else. I don't want to mess with a mobo upgrade, so I'm limited to lga 775. I was looking at a sticky in here and was looking at the Q9550 and the Q8300, and I thought the Q8300 looked like good performance for the price. What do you think?

Also, side note, how can I tell what type of ram my mobo supports? This is a stock dell mobo, and stock ram (4gb of 800mhz haha), and I'm looking to upgrade to highest speed ram possible.

Thanks and repcakes will be served after the show.
-iPwntUrMum

[mrcrusty]

It depends how long you want to keep the system going. If you want it to last 3-5 years (long term), then go for the Q9550, the larger cache will definitely come in handy. Go for the Q8300 if you are only going to keep the system a year or two before revamping the entire system. Though to be honest, you won't notice a big difference between either when it comes to gaming.

Your RAM is DDR2 I believe, but there's no need to upgrade it, you won't notice any real difference. The highest standard frequency is 1066, 800 being the second highest standard frequency (though there are custom overclocked ones that default at 900, 1000, 1100, etc). Waste of money though, there isn't even that much of a difference between say, DDR2 @ 800 Mhz and DDR3 @ 1333 Mhz.

An SSD to store the OS, games and/or important applications would be a much better purchase, if you wanted speed.

[iPwntUrMum]

Do you think that is worth an extra $60-70, though?

And okay. When I use CPU-Z, however, it shows 400mhz, and I just assumed that's 800mhz.

[mrcrusty]

Do you think that is worth an extra $60-70, though?

And okay. When I use CPU-Z, however, it shows 400mhz, and I just assumed that's 800mhz.

Well, like I said, it depends how long you're going to use it for. If you're not planning on a full revamp for the next couple of years at least, then yes it would be worth it, if for no other reason that $70-$80 means nothing over the course of 2-3+ years and the Q9550 is superior to the Q8300 in almost every way. You won't notice much difference in games, but the bigger cache might be really useful/noticable in basic web browsing, file sharing, music/movies and everyday use.

If you are going to move to another motherboard chipset (LGA 1156/1366) this year, or next year, get the Q8300. If not, Q9550 all the way.

And yes, frequency for DDR2/DDR3 RAM = CPU-Z Freq x 2 (since it's noted for DDR).