Upgrade options: C2Q/Core i7/Lynnfield

I'm sure you guys know what the upgrade itch feels like, and I definitely have it. Not so much because I need the extra performance, but just the opportunity to play with something new. Of course, more performance is important too...

Anyway, I've narrowed it down to three options. I originally had eyes for the Phenom II, but after doing the maths, I decided that making the move from LGA775 to AM3 and probably switching to DDR3 (I would prefer to buy a DDR3 board now rather than switching to one in the future) at the same time would not make sense from a financial perspective as I could get the same peformance from a higher end C2Q. But if anyone has a different opinion, I'd love to hear it. So..

1. Do a drop in CPU upgrade consisting of a Q9550 or a Q9650 (E0 of course). Please advise me as to whether the 9650 is worth it over the 9550, just don't assume that my P35 face plants at higher FSBs, I swear by the P35 chipsets
I was maybe even thinking of a QX9650 if a used one pops up on OCF for the right price.

2. Option two would be expensive, but I'd like to know your opinions as to whether it's worth it. It is of course a Core i7 platform. I'm estimating the cost at around £170 for the 920, £110 for the X58 and £70 for 3x2GB DDR3 (I will probably get the CPU and RAM of US eBay, cheaper and I can get a D0)

3. Lynnfield and probably the lower end i5 750, that's what it's called I think. I don't feel HT would benefit me as it will mainly be used for gaming. That would probably come in at around £120 for the CPU, perhaps around £100 for the motherboard (Hopefully less as the P55s are less complex with no PCI-E lanes) and £60 for 2x2GB DDR3


I would hope to get around £90 for my E3110, and my beloved P5K and my 4GB of DDR2 probably wouldn't make more than around £30 each, so that's £150 in total, making the cost of the upgrades;
Around £90 upgrading LGA775
£200 for Core i7
£130 for Lynnfield.

Any opinions?

ive got the upgrade itch now as well!!!!! ive decided to buy a q9650 E0, a gtx 275 and some faster ddr2, then water cool the whole lot!!!!

i want an i7 too, but with the new x58 mobo, triple ddr3 and the £240+ cpu, its expensive!!! your looking at about £450 for i7,ddr3 and mobo!!!!!

ive got an asus p5q deluxe, one of the fastest lga775 boards, so with a monster quad, rapid ddr2, and a beast of a gpu all under water cooling, and OC'd (ofcourse!) this will be just a couple of frames slower than an i7 rig in games and basicly the same in multitasking etc.........

i'd rather save the money and get a monster quad - then when intel have finished the i5, and released the new versions of i7 (which i think they've brought out the 2nd gen 920) prices will hopefully fall.

im guessing a q9650 @ 4Ghz+ will be faster than an i5!!!! and pretty close to an i7 - apart from video encoding!

id go for the monster quad route - anyhow its you call!!!

make sure you tell us your decision!!!

One of the main benefits of the Nehalem architecture is hyperthreading but only in applications like rendering, encoding, and multimedia creation. I think that the i5 750 is going to be in the same league as a Phenom II 955 (with no turbo boost), while costing less. AMD will probably lower the price of the 955 at this time to compete with Lynnfield. We will have to wait for power benchmarks to see which is really a better deal.

What seems to be the deciding factor is the chipset. The P55 seems to be a more elegant solution for desktop users as it integrates the southbridge and can fit under an old southbridge's heatsink. This will allow for lower power consumption and smaller form factors. DMI and PCI-E is integrated into the CPU so this may allow faster communication to the southbridge and graphics cards for more performance.

AMD's RD890/RS850 will be coming out at the same time. AMD may finally fix the problems with NCQ/AHCI on their SATA controllers, add their own logic Gigabit ethernet controller, and SATA 6 Gbps support. Again we will have to see which is actually better when they come out.

If you are buying a new system in the future I wouldn't go with LGA775. The choice is between AM3, LGA1366 and LGA1156 then.

yeh i agree,

its ok to upgrade existing 775 rigs, just not build a new 1 - im just upgrading - to the best an lga775 can be - i'll get i7 next year!!

I think the i7 is being discontinued besides the 975? So you either get the i7 this year or get i5.

If you HAVE to upgrade now, just upgrade to AMD. The 955 BE is awesome and competes neck and neck with the Q9550 with an unlocked multiplier. A AMD DDR3 build should be the same price as Intel DDR2 build. IMO it's just not worth getting LGA775 anymore.

a q9650 owns the phenom 2 x4 - in everything - ddr3 on a 790i.....

If I go with a Q9550 or a Q9650, I plan on just dropping it into my current setup. I don't think it's worth it to buy a brand new mobo and RAM for an LGA775 setup.

yeah, that would be fine!! P5K, 4gb 800Mhz DDR2, 4850 OC'd - with either of those will be a monster setup!!!

u gonna OC your new quad when you make your mind up?

u gonna OC your new quad when you make your mind up?

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jgv115 said:

I think the i7 is being discontinued besides the 975? So you either get the i7 this year or get i5.

If you HAVE to upgrade now, just upgrade to AMD. The 955 BE is awesome and competes neck and neck with the Q9550 with an unlocked multiplier. A AMD DDR3 build should be the same price as Intel DDR2 build. IMO it's just not worth getting LGA775 anymore.

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I'm pretty sure i7 will be here next year. They're making 32nm 6-cored chips for it.