775 build revisited

So I admit it...I am a sucka for nostalgia. I think back to the days of my P4s and C2Qs with something akin to transcendental bliss. I have this BTX Gateway case with an Intel 975x board that I just adore! I know what you're saying to ur self but I assure you my meds are adjusted just fine. Any how, I recently watched Linus' junkyard builds series and became inspired...time to get the band back together!! So in the intervening years I sold the CPU Q6600, GPU, nvidia 8800 and the ram but I've got plenty o ddr2 lyin around. So what I like to do is find a CPU and a grphx card and set up a 3rd gaming/multimedia PC in the bedroom. Eventually I'd like to slap a 750 ti in there, (gotta be a single slot DAT BTX!) But I'm stuck on the CPU question. Should I go for another q6600 or hold out for one of the later 8000 or 9000 series quads.

Thoughts?

Before anyone else jumps in here and says something along the lines of:

Why you doing that, you'd be better of to get X Y and Z as it will perform better.

Anyway, I would agree. But nostalgia build.... I like it.

The main problem I see is your going to overspend. Are you looking to rebuild your old build or just do something on the LGA 775 socket? Do you possibly want to tinker?

Firstly, set a price that you want to spend and look for CPU's in that price bracket.

Your main differences between the q6600 and the later models are cache and die size. The later 8000 series is built using the 45nm die and has a much lower TDP than its predecessor. (so its going to run cooler). It has a slighly higher FSB speed, which may aid you but only in intense IO operations with the rest of the system. However what made the q6600 such a beast was its cache! The 8000 series top out at 4MB of L2 cache whilst the older q6600 has 8MB.

As for possible tinkering..... ever heard of the LGA 771 mod. The 53xx/54xx series of Xeon Quads can be had for pocket change these days. The only drawback is some motherboard compatibility issues.

Yes! I should revisit the Xeon ! I recall this was a thing but I never got with it way back. I've one of those pesky Intel for OEMs boards so it might not work out buy I'll check it out and report back.

Cheers

So after a bad q6600 (posted fine but did spooky action at a distance in windows) I reverted back to my trusty e6600 pentium D. The issue now is the system fan runs full tilt at idle. It's also kinda slow but runs at ^3ghz though. I've been looking updating/modding the bios but it has been less than fruitful. The MB is a OEM gateway/Intel btx 975x and bios is all up to date. Just wondering if I can get this thing to ramp down cuz the only reason I'm using this case is cuz it was sooooo quite with the q6600, (also I already own it so...).

Any help would be great cuz the wif