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Options for a q9550

T

tuberc

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 10, 2008
Messages
131
Hi,
I am looking to upgrade my current setup which is: Q9550, ATi4850, 4Gb DDR2, Gigabyte g33S2L uATX. The options I have in mind are to get a S775 X38 motherboard and 8GB of DDR3, keeping the quad as I know it has plenty life left in it, and getting a newer nvidia GPU.

I don't have the money yet to upgrade to an i5 2500k with a z68 board. SO has anyone any advice for me? Who is in a similar situation? My room mate is going to the states soon, so he can get some parts there cheaper.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, started Skyrim today, and the usual crysis etc.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Trying to figure this out, 250 euro
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Germany
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
GPU , motherboard, RAM
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
powersupply, antec 550watt, SSD, HDD, CPU
6) Will you be overclocking?
yes
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
24" 1920*1200
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
January 2012
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
SATA 6Gb, maybe Sli in the future
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
w7 64
 
tuberc said:
Hi,
I am looking to upgrade my current setup which is: Q9550, ATi4850, 4Gb DDR2, Gigabyte g33S2L uATX. The options I have in mind are to get a S775 X38 motherboard and 8GB of DDR3, keeping the quad as I know it has plenty life left in it, and getting a newer nvidia GPU.

I don't have the money yet to upgrade to an i5 2500k with a z68 board. SO has anyone any advice for me? Who is in a similar situation? My room mate is going to the states soon, so he can get some parts there cheaper.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, started Skyrim today, and the usual crysis etc.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Trying to figure this out, 250 euro
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Germany
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
GPU , motherboard, RAM
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
powersupply, antec 550watt, SSD, HDD, CPU
6) Will you be overclocking?
yes
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
24" 1920*1200
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
January 2012
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
SATA 6Gb, maybe Sli in the future
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
w7 64
Click to expand...

At that time, your hopes are pretty much dashed at this point: The X38 chipset is now completely EOL'd. In fact, LGA 775 boards are now extremely hard to find new even here in the U.S. -- and what few LGA 775 boards left in the marketplace are now all G41 boards that all lack desirable features such as RAID and even AHCI support as well as the RAM capacity being limited to only 4GB maximum. And by the end of this year the entire LGA 775 platform itself will be completely EOL'd. So, you have no choice but to either bite the bullet and purchase an entire new system or stick with your current system with your current motherboard and RAM.

And even if you could find your desired X38 board used, you'd be paying way too much money for it (or put it this way, the board will cost way more money than it's actually worth).
 
Last edited:
I will probably just get a GPU for the time being, that should keep the frames up for a while.

The Q9550 is getting more expensive by the week, its 320euro new on amazon.de, used models are on ebay.de for around 170euro. If I could get this kind of money for mine I would be happy, and it would make the upgrade less heartbreaking.
 
I doubt the Q9550 is limiting you very much in gaming anyway, it is stilla very capable processor. Just get a new GPU, if you want to upgrade. Oh, and overclock the Q9550, if you aren't already.
 
Sorry it is actually an OCZ 550W, I can't remember the model number and I cant see the label because its mounted at the bottom of my case.
 
Hmmm, well the thing is that OCZ. has a lot of crap quality 500W to 550W PSUs. They only have a handful of decent 550W PSUs. Depending on which OCZ 550W PSU you have, you should be looking at a new PSU as well if you're doing a GPU upgrade.
 
I just found an old pic of it, its an OCZ600SXS, looks like it is 600W.
 
tuberc said:
I just found an old pic of it, its an OCZ600SXS, looks like it is 600W.
Click to expand...

That one's based on an early revision of the troublesome FSP Epsilon platform that could not be trusted above 500W even when the unit was new.
 
Yeah definitely look at a new PSU while you're at it. Any of the following PSUs should work for you:
$78 - Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W PSU
$79 - Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-620 620W PSU
$90 - Corsair 650TX V2 650W PSU
$96 - XFX Core Edition PRO650W 650W PSU
 
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