Smasharoo wrote:
Lol. Tease or not, I still stand by my advice that if you're going to buy a new cpu, you may as well buy a new mb to go with it. Avoid the hassle of swapping out a cpu
I understand you don't want to be bothered, but the "hassle" is usually un-clipping a fan and moving a lever twice. Thermal paste spreading, I guess, if you are one of those people who takes an hour to cover every sq millimeter in identically thin layers might take more than a few minutes.
It's not just the physical hassle, but the compatibility hassle and a likely significant amount of diminishing return. You have to find a cpu that is compatible with the old board and socket you already have. Odds are this means that you aren't going to be able to buy the "best" cpu, or even something close to the best. It'll be better than what you have, but only marginally so. While the cpu will drive the speed based performance, most of what is tied into new features or capability is tied to the board and whatever newer line of cpus work with that board. Faster bus speeds, bigger/faster caches, numerous bios features, support for newer cards with newer features (mainly talking about video cards here), support for newer I/O devices (newer USB, SATA, SAS, etc). All are tied to the board, not the cpu. Yes, if the engine in your 1985 Ford Escort dies, you can replace it, and possibly even replace it with a better engine. But you're ultimately limited to the "best engine that will fit in a 1985 Ford Escort". Which isn't saying much. Now imagine that the cost to do this is about 1/3rd the cost to just buy a new car, with a host of features and performance and fuel economy that just isn't possible with the old car, no matter what engine you put in it. It's a no-brainer, right?
Obviously, this is subjective. But to me, if I'm going to go through the time and effort to pull the computer apart and take out the board to get at the cpu socket in the first place, I may as well just replace the entire board/cpu (and probably memory) in one swoop. It's even less hassle, costs a bit more, but I'll get vastly more out of it. I suppose this depends on where we were in terms of development and compatibility cycles, but most of the time, by the time the cpu on my existing system has died or is something I really feel the need to replace, the MB and Memory could probably be upgraded as well, and I'll get much better total bang for the buck benefit doing so. The fact that it's also a much easier replacement job is kinda just a side benefit.