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#11
Buy an NVIDIA 790i sli motherboard if you want to buy the overpriced Core 2 Extreme or just buy an ASUS P5G41T-LX or P5G41T-LX3 Motherboard if you're just going to get a Core 2 Quad.
Your power supply isn't listed in your specs; but otherwise, yes, you can get another ATX mobo (with CPU and RAM to match) and keep your other components.
It's the chipset (Northbridge and Southbridge) on your current motherboard that's preventing it from supporting the Core 2 processors.
Kent
It's a 500W power supply, which should be enough. I may get a more powerful one in the future if I need to.
Here's what I picked out for upgrades:
Intel Core i7-3770K - Upgrades - TheShadbusher's Saved Part List - PCPartPicker
I chose the 3770K, because I wasn't sure if the 4770K was worth it at this point. Should I get the 4770K?
TSB mate from what I have gathered from the others the Ivy is what I would choose to be honest the Haswell I think one needs a degree in higher maths to work it out.
My i5 3570K is working just fine so I am guessing the i7 which again I see no real advantage over the i5 myself - would be adequate for most stuff really not to mention the cost.
I think you'll do better with an Ivy Bridge, as John said, I've tested some Haswell's and they don't work as well as Ivy does. I would shy away from MSI boards due to reliability issues and instead pick one of these: Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, Motherboards, Intel Motherboards, ASUS, LGA 1155, Discount Item Also get 2 sticks of RAM so you can run it in Dual Channel mode.
I agree with just getting an i5 3570k and an Asus board, stay away from the MSI boards if you want to do any serious OCing in the future.
I'm getting the 3770K over the 3570K as I'll be doing video editing on this computer, so the hyperthreading will help speed up rendering.
That will work well for you too, we were trying to save you a shekel or two. Be quick on getting a Z77 board they are going fast.
The maximum voltages for the Core 2s is the reason why your motherboard can't support Core 2 CPUs, what I mean is that your motherboard cannot handle the voltage of a Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, and Core 2 Extreme. You can still put the Core 2s in your motherboard but your motherboard will explode because of overvoltage.