Kinda PC Techie Question About Processors

I have a pretty low spec PC that I use for work but I want to beef it up a little within a budget of around $150-200. It currently has a Foxconn G33M02 motherboard with a dual core Pentium processor. The properties window of My Computer displays "Intel Pentium Dual CPU E2140 @ 1.60GHz 1.60GHz"

My ram is already sufficient so I'm considering upgrading the processor.

The specs of my motherboard as shown here suggest that my board can take a quad core chip. Socket type LGA775. It seems on ebay I can pick up a 2.5 quad for a reasonable price like this one.

My question is am I missing anything here with regards to compatibility that I should be aware of? The only thing I know to go by is the socket type.

Also how will my PC be affected in terms of its current use and data when I switch the processor? Can I expect to just resume as normal but with better speeds or are my installed programs and such likely to stop working and need re-installing?

That's it really unless anyone knows of any other important factors that I am neglecting. Thanks in advance. I know this isn't a PC forum but there's a lot of clever trevors around here whos advice I would really appreciate.

Processor should be fine, incompatibility most likely won't be a problem I don't think. Some software might throw a wobbly but I doubt it. Personally if you want to see a fast increase in speed I recommend you pick up a relatively small solid state hard drive, use that as your OS drive and put your existing one in as a secondary for data. You'll notice it's miles faster on SSD.

Thank you. I think I may make the SSD a next priority. Sounds like a good tip.

Do Intel processors usually come with thermal paste in the box?

Yeah, it will have a thermal pad on the bottom of the heatsink. You may need to flash your BIOS to work w/ the quad-core, check that.

edit: totally seconding the SSD< just got a 128GB about a month ago. fucking blazing! :sup: