Picking up a second-hand processor could save you a lot of money, yet there are also pitfalls to avoid.

With the growth of mobile devices and ultra-thin notebooks, not to mention the growing focus on more energy-efficient data centers, microprocessors and graphics processors have evolved at a fast pace.

I'm doing some CPU-heavy simulations. Right now I have a 775 socket and Q8300 2.5 GHz Core 2 Quad with 2GB ram in a GA-73PVM-S2H Gigabyte motherboard. Can I achieve significant improvements in ...