Max out the S775 or move up to I7?

[Dr_BenD_over]

So, should I upgrade my Q6600 to a Q9650 for about $450(shipping and taxes incl.) or go:

I7 860
Asus P7P55D Pro (fits the bill with 6 SATA on the Intel controller and a PCI and x1 PCI-E slot that would be usable in a CF setup)
4GB DDR3-1600
for approx $780-$810 depending on the shop and ram brand and getting the appropriate adapter from my TRUE

Going to I5 doesn't seem worth it and I would LOVE the HT on the I7. What kind of a 24/7 OC could I expect out of a 9650? I've run the Q6600 at 3.0 pretty much as long as I've had it (2years). What could I expect to get for my Q6600, P5Q Deluxe and 2x2GB PC2-6400 to offset the cost of the I7 path?

[Synth]

At this point in the game, go I7.

[Arinoth]

I think it would be a waste of 450$ upgrading straight from one C2Q to another, the i5 or i7 would be the better route to go

[MonsterSound]

I agree with the others re: selling your older CPU/MB/RAM and upgrading. I recently sold my C2duo/MB/RAM/HS for $260 and upgraded to the i5/P55/RAM/HS for $410. A pretty reasonable upgrade for the $150 difference.
The i7 setup will cost you more of course, but could be reasonable.

[Dr_BenD_over]

I guess I would be flogging a dead horse by sinking more money into a dead platform. Maybe I should just setup a push-pull fan arrangement on my TRUE and ramp the old Q6600 up to 3.6 and whip it until it dies, then hope I have enough funds for the I7 upgrade.

Intel Core i7 860 Quad Core Processor Lynnfield LGA1156 2.8GHZ Hyperthreading 8MB Cache Retail Box
ASUS P7P55D Pro LGA1156 P55 DDR3 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 PCI SLI CrossFireX 6SATA GBLAN 1394 Motherboard
Thermalright LGA1156 BOLT-THRU Kit for All LGA1156 Motherboards Ultra Series MUX-120
G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL Ripjaws PC3-12800 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Core I5 1.5V Memory Kit

$775.99

[Seldszar]

I would upgrade to I7 as well. Though, you could always go AM3 as well, they are great imo.

[Zero82z]

Originally Posted by Seldszar

I would upgrade to I7 as well. Though, you could always go AM3 as well, they are great imo.

Going AM3 from a Q6600 wouldn't be much of an upgrade.

[Oversized Rooster]

I was in a similar situation as you.

I had an Asus P5Q-E (P45 based), an Intel Q9450 and lots of DDR2 RAM.

I decided to go with a P55 setup and the 860 CPU. The HT won me over and I never even considered the Core i5 CPUs. Just as you have the idea, I purchased a conversion bolt through kit which allowed me to transfer over my Ultra 120 cooler.

G.Skill Ripjaws RAM works well. I got a 4GB DDR3-2000 CL9 kit. It does about 15GB/s read, 15GB/s write, 20GB/s copy and a beautiful 41.6ns latency in Everest.

Pull the trigger man, you won't be disappointed.

[misterd]

I wouldn't sink more money into 775. i5 / i7 - whatever keeps you happy.

[Varroa]

Get a Q9550 for $220 ish (much cheaper than a Q9650) and overclock it to 3.6Ghz and call it a day.