Should i got 45nm?

Problems on source games? How so? I run them 60+ with my sigrig.

But about a new CPU, is it justifiable to you spending the money, when what you have works? Is the hobby worth the few hundred? Try thinking in that perspective rather than more more more FPS.

I don't thing there is Q9450 anymore(or at least here in New Zealand)But the Q9550 i9s a great choice.

You should not be having problems with any source games at all. An E6600 wouldn't have problems with any source games.

I'm always down with upgrading, don't get me wrong but you wouldn't see much difference in source games if any.

HOW ON EARTH can you be getting unsatisfactory performance on source games with a 3.2ghz Q6600 and a GTX260?

Sorry.. not ALL source games.. counter-strike : source..

it hates me and drops as low as 76 frames sometimes = unacceptable!

L4D scores 100+ at all times unless theres like 2 billion dudes on screen, which it drops to 50 at the lowest of times. This is all maxed with 2x AA and 4x AF...

anywho... CS:S which is the game i play more than any other gets terrible performance considering my rig... so i may* upgrade if the performance increase is worth it when considering perhaps a 3.6~ Ghz 45nm Quad.

Not sure why you should be dropping to 74fps. I have to cap my fps at 100 in the console because any higher and the whine from my capacitors on my GPU annoy me haha.

I never dip below 100 on source.

Even still you should NOT upgrade probably one of the best quads because CSS dips in FPS sometimes. CS 1.6 is locked at 60 unless you sort it out in the console. Its not a big deal. Its just that maybe, like me, you like to see your frame rates stupidly high all the times even though it wouldn't make any difference if they were locked at 60, like 1.6

sure the game and GPU will render 76 but your monitor cant display more than 60 anyways.

Q6600 at 3.2G with 1.35v. Have you tried to push it a bit since 65nm has max 1.5vcore. I would try it first before decide what to do next.

I would go higher with your current Quad but if you are set on source games you might want to switch to ATI, they get higher framerates in most source games than comparable nVidia parts.

I honestly would just try to get to 3.6GHz on your current Quad and then see where you are, if you still aren't happy then you can upgrade but if you are satisfied then you save yourself like $250 towards something else

Fearing static is kinda for lack of better words "Noob". Just don't rub your feet on the floor and take care in what your doing.

I would say just wait out a bit, and then swap to an i7. Upgrading to a 45nm won't yield a huge performance improvement.

dude you cant notice anything higher than 60frs so relax. And yes the Q9550 will be better