Any thoughts on a sub 250$ cpu / mobo combo that could use my current PC6400 DDR2 mem? The mem might not even be worth keeping, but could do with saving me some $ thoughts? Currently have this CPU and Mem, forget which board *blush* and I'm not cracking my case just for that info. Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor HH80562PH0568M - 2.40GHz, 8MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB, Kentsfield, Quad-Core, OEM, Socket 775, Processor 16GB of OCZ Vista Upgrade Edition Dual Channel 4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz
Find your motherboard model, look up its CPU compatibility or post here and ill try and do it Check to see if it can run a QX9650 processor and buy that for $215~ on Ebay. Keep same motherboard and RAM, buy a Cooler Master Hyper 212+ or EVO and OC the new quad core up to around 3.4-3.8GHz. That will be the best upgrade you can do and keep the same platform. It has faster FSB speed, faster IPC, and gives you an addition 1GHz speed on top. So it should be a very nice upgrade and keep you going another year or two with still decent enough performance. Or if you cant seem to get one for that price as they sometimes still go for higher then you can get a regular Q9650 and just OC it with the FSB which is still really easy. The boards from back then could often be pushed to the 500MHz FSB base speed Those were fun times for overclocking. Now says it is far to simple and uneventful.
