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I am getting a used gaming pc at a budget price. It is having a Core 2 Quad processor and around 4GB ram with an year old Nvidia gpu. I can upgrade the ram and add more storage. I just want to clarify that does this processor is enough for gaming pc. I am expecting a bit good performance from the same because I am going to play hd games on the same on a dual monitor. I will buy a similar gpu and configure SLi setup. I just advice that is it worth to go ahead for the same.
Core 2 Quad is a good processor and surely you can use it for gaming pc. But you have to use a bit old hardware on that. You cannot install the latest graphic card or high end ram that will bottleneck. If you have the right hardware combination you can surely enjoy good gaming output. You can add a ram of 4GB more in your system and then you can add a similar gpu on sli. That will be enough to give you widescreen resolution.
I have a friend who has this pc. It has a Quad core processor and 8GB ram. That is quiet enough for gaming output. He is using Radeon 6870 gpu. The system really works awesome. But I feel that it will bottleneck if there is one more gpu on the same. It is correct that you cannot use any latest hardware on this low end pc because of compatibility and the motherboard. Otherwise you can get good mid range gaming output from the same.
There are two benefit of having this processor. First you will get this cheap. Compare to Core i5 or Core i7 this processor needs more power and it can be overclocked but not at very high rate. Old cpu are based on outdated architecture due to which they are not really stable to overclock, but still you can gain a bit speed. And remember to use a good amount of psu on the same. Atleast 700watt. That will keep on adding good amount of juice to the pc when you are using it.
I do not really think Core 2 Quad can build up a good gaming pc based on today's gaming. Latest games are loaded with more better technology that needs the latest hardware. You can use a good gpu but playing game at mid resolution is going to work well. Do not just push it to the maximum. Bottleneck is a common issue and if you try to find old graphic card for the same you have to pay more. I think upgrading that is better option.
Just check the system whether it is in a good working condition or not. Run a few games and benchmarking test to find out what is the max benefit you are going to get on the same. You can try running games on different resolution. If the lags on the highest one then it means it is not going to perform well. But if the game works well then you can go for the same. Do not go and buy that blindly. Because if there is a performance issue then you have to upgrade it.
An overclocked Q9550 paired with DDR3 is on par with stock clocked first gen i5 maybe even smidge faster.
1 guy on overclock website even used a q9950 with ddr2 with a GTX780 it didn't bottle neck too bad.