Is it worth upgrading to an LGA 775 socket?

A buddy of mine is running a setup with a Foxconn motherboard (I think it’s a 2A8C from an HP prebuilt) paired with an Intel Core 2 Duo E7500. He wanted to upgrade, so I suggested jumping to a 260X and an Intel Core i7, which is exactly what he did. That board even supports DDR3. But man, he just can't stop tinkering, and now he's looking for the next step. Right now, he's rocking a $100 Q6600, even using some aftermarket coolers, so I'm debating if it's worth pushing this platform any further. Considering he could pick up a G3220 along with an H81 motherboard for $250 (which he doesn't have yet), that seems like a much more powerful route. What do you guys think?

1 x AMD Athlon II X4 860 3.70GHz 4 cores, 4MB cache
1 x Asrock FM2A78M PRO4+, Micro sized FM2+

$345 AMD CPU + cooler

or:

1 x MSI B85M-P33, Socket: 1150, Intel® B85, 2xDDR3 1333/1600
1 x Intel Pentium G3258 (3.20GHz, 512KB, 3MB, 54W, 1150) Box

$310 AMD CPU + cooler

Man, things have changed 😁 Personally, I'd probably lean toward the AMD setup. You can usually squeeze a bit more performance out of it, especially if you're planning on playing demanding multiplayer games or pairing it with a beefier graphics card.

crimsonstag84 said:1 x AMD Athlon II X4 860 3.70GHz 4 cores, 4MB cache
1 x Asrock FM2A78M PRO4+, Micro sized FM2+

$345 AMD CPU + cooler

or:

1 x MSI B85M-P33, Socket: 1150, Intel® B85, 2xDDR3 1333/1600
1 x Intel Pentium G3258 (3.20GHz, 512KB, 3MB, 54W, 1150) Box

$310 AMD CPU + cooler

Man, things have changed 😁 Personally, I'd probably lean toward the AMD setup. You can usually squeeze a bit more performance out of it, especially if you're planning on playing demanding multiplayer games or pairing it with a beefier graphics card.

crimsonstag84, I know how to put a motherboard and CPU together myself, thanks! 👏 It all depends on the build. 😬 The real question is whether it's worth investing $100 in a quad-core Q6600 paired with an R7 260X. 🙂

😛 😉

I wouldn't go for the Q6600... maybe at least grab a Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 for $133 and then try overclocking it. I've spotted a few for $150, so if I could somehow get the price down to $133... then I guess it might be worth it.

crimsonstag84 said:😛 😉

I wouldn't go for the Q6600... maybe at least grab a Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 for $133 and then try overclocking it. I've spotted a few for $150, so if I could somehow get the price down to $133... then I guess it might be worth it.

Oh, and obviously, overclocking those chips is highly desirable—they were absolute beasts back in the day. The issue is the motherboard. It looks like one of those proprietary boards from an HP Compaq prebuilt, probably. There’s zero documentation on it, and honestly, the chances of getting any decent overclock out of it are basically zero.

Yeah, even if you could overclock it, I doubt it would be anything special.

If that's the case, I’d probably just look into something newer or maybe even a whole new platform.

Yeah, I think that’s how it’ll play out in the end. It doesn't look bad on paper, at least to me. With 4 GB of DDR3 RAM and a 260X, I don't think we're looking at any major bottlenecks—not if you're running an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400. If you can manage to ocati it, I'd say it would run pretty solidly. Wouldn't that Q9400 be roughly on par with those weaker Phenomi chips, like the 910?

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 vs. AMD Athlon II X4 945 vs. AMD Athlon II X4 740

crimsonstag84 said:Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 vs. AMD Athlon II X4 945 vs. AMD Athlon II X4 740

Pff, honestly, that's even better than I expected. 🤔 I don't know, doesn't seem like a bad move to me, regardless of how old it is. There are actually a few listings on $133 for the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400.

Let them take it if they want.

Man, just stay away from that old relic. You buy a new CPU and then the motherboard probably dies on you anyway. Who knows what kind of junk HP was packing in there or if it even supports the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400. That socket is like 8 years old; I wouldn't sink more than $33 into it.

If they can swing $133, they could probably grab an 800 too, since there's a newer Pentium that actually overclocks. Crank it to 4ghz—it'll likely outperform a Quad in anything that benefits from raw speed, plus it runs cooler, so everything's working in its favor. In a year or two, maybe just snag a used i5 for $333 and call it a day for the next few years.

fadedorca66 said:Man, just stay away from that old relic. You buy a new CPU and then the motherboard probably dies on you anyway. Who knows what kind of junk HP was packing in there or if it even supports the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400. That socket is like 8 years old; I wouldn't sink more than $33 into it.

If they can swing $133, they could probably grab an 800 too, since there's a newer Pentium that actually overclocks. Crank it to 4ghz—it'll likely outperform a Quad in anything that benefits from raw speed, plus it runs cooler, so everything's working in its favor. In a year or two, maybe just snag a used i5 for $333 and call it a day for the next few years.

I found the CPU support list, and it says it supports Core 2 Quad processors. Even though the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 has a 95W TDP, which isn't exactly small, especially for motherboards like this 🤣 We'll see. That was the original plan, but I actually suggested they save some cash for an Intel Pentium or an AMD Athloncic instead. 🙂 Everything else is there; even the RAM on this board is DDR3.

If I were in your shoes, I honestly wouldn't bother—it just isn't worth the investment. The performance gap between the Q6600 and the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 is negligible. In fact, the Q6600 is actually much easier to overclock because it has a lower base FSB and a higher multiplier (9). With the Q9400, you have a higher FSB but a lower multiplier; so, if you push the FSB to 400, the Q6600 hits 3.6 GHz while the Q9400 only reaches 3.2 GHz. It’s essentially the same result, and even a Q9550 would only land you at 3.4 GHz. I was playing around with my own setup yesterday, trying to push it to 385 FSB to hit 3.465 GHz. The only real benefit to overclocking is smoothing out frame drops, but even then, the difference is barely noticeable. Plus, I had to bump the core voltage up to 1.4V just to stop the BSODs, which sent my temperatures climbing 15 degrees higher compared to running at 3.0 (333 FSB).

What fadedorca66 is suggesting is definitely your best bet. I'm actually planning on picking up either an Intel Pentium G3258 or a used Intel Core i5-4440

Adam Moore3 said:I found the CPU support list, and it says it supports Core 2 Quad processors. Even though the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 has a 95W TDP, which isn't exactly small, especially for motherboards like this 🤣 We'll see. That was the original plan, but I actually suggested they save some cash for an Intel Pentium or an AMD Athloncic instead. 🙂 Everything else is there; even the RAM on this board is DDR3.

Yeah, and then you'll probably have just enough luck to find out the exact chip you bought isn't even supported 🤣

Honestly, forget about that old socket and that HP motherboard. It’s probably better to just grab something brand new from a store like Best Buy—you might end up spending $133 more, but you’ll get much newer tech, better performance, lower power consumption, and a solid warranty.

I mean, I get it—it’s a gamble. On paper, scoring a quad-core that can actually keep up with modern AMD chips for $133 without having to overhaul your entire motherboard sounds like a dream. But honestly, there are just too many "what ifs" involved in this play. 🙂