2010 775 upgrade to hold out until 2011

I was originally thinking about doing a whole new build all together, but I figure i'd rather save the money and just buy a cheap cpu upgrade to hold me until 2011(bulldozer, new intel cpus).

I currently have the shuttle G33 chipset SFF, so my upgrade options are a little limited.
This is the cpu support list for my system.

http://global.shuttle.com/support_list03.jsp?PI=635

I currently have a E4500, which I am not overclocking. I haven't overclocked because of the fear of overloading the psu(its only 250W, even though its a 'quality' psu). So, I was thinking about picking up a cheap used E8400 for about $100, or maybe get the micro center Q9550 deal. Any other cpu you guys recommend? I probably won't be overclocking, but we'll see I guess. Or should I not bother to scratch this 'upgrade' itch. I am running a 8800GT and gaming at 1900x1080 res. so I am not very sure how much of a performance increase I will see as I maybe more gpu limited, but can't really do a big upgrade gpu because of the 1 slot card issue.

The main thing I do is gaming. Also would my DD2 PC-800 be ok for the new CPUs? Would it bottle neck?

Thanks for reading.

Honestly I wouldn't bother until you do a complete upgrade. Your RAM is fine, even for new CPU's.

I agree. Your options are too limited to throw anymore money into that machine. I say see how far you can OC on stock voltage. This will have minimal impact on temps and power consumption but may still yield in a nice performance boost.

Yea, you probably want to just wait it out. But if you must upgrade, I went from the E4300 to E8400 and noticed a decent increase in speed.

Have you checked out the lowest speed Core i3's? Pretty good performance for like $115. Though you would have to upgrade mb, ram...

I'm upgrading from an e8400 @ 4ghz to a Q9550 to be my final S775 upgrade. I'm trying to skip i3/i5/i7. I hope I get at least 3.8ghz on the Q9550.

I would say if you can get the cheap 9550 or 8400 go for it. There comes a point where your new CPU cost just as much as an a new i7.

If you go for the quad, it should last you a while (beyond 2011). I have a Q6600 what was from what, 2007 (got it in 2008). Point is it's still pretty fast and good for what i need it to do.

DDR2-800 would be fine for any duo/quad upgrade.

I'd also 2nd q9550. Cheap, very overclockable, and a great quad core to hold you over.

I'm planning to use my q9550 @ 4.0 to hold me until the 6 core i7's hit the market (in a form other than the Intel Xtreme ~$1000USD).

Not to mention unless your doing benchmarking, encoding, or serious calculations, you will see very little gain in the extra money it is going to cost you to go to I7 vs. q9550.

q9550 = ~$260

basic i7 System (920, DDR3 and x58 mobo) ~$600+

You won't see a $340 gain if you are just a typical user/gamer.

That $340 could better be invested in GPU.

Well going form a stock 2.2GHz E4500 to a stock 3.0GHz E8400 would be a nice bump in performance with your 8800GT. I'm not sure about the high gaming resolution you use though...?