Should I upgrade or wait?

Been a while since I posted, I'm running an ancient Q9400 @ 3.2Ghz

Hell even my Macbook Pro 2011 is faster, I was thinking of Getting a SB 2600K with a UD7. Prices aren't too bad right now, Probably get everything ~ $500. Is it a big jump from what I have now? or should I wait? I really wanna get the 990X but thats way out of my budget LOL.

Thanks in advance!

Ancient, huh? I bet your Macbook Pro isn't faster, and if it is, it's time for more RAM or a faster hard drive.

I'm holding out with my Q9400 because I don't see the upgrade as substantial enough to warrant $500. I'm pretty conservative with my upgrades, but I tend to focus less on the CPU and more on the surrounding subsystems. I'm of the opinion that you need a pretty fast GPU, lots of RAM, and a good SSD before you start feeling the CPU holding you back.

The important question is this: are you wanting to upgrade because you're itching to upgrade, or do you want to upgrade because you have a specific application or work pattern that's CPU bound?

johan851 said:

Ancient, huh? I bet your Macbook Pro isn't faster, and if it is, it's time for more RAM or a faster hard drive.

I'm holding out with my Q9400 because I don't see the upgrade as substantial enough to warrant $500. I'm pretty conservative with my upgrades, but I tend to focus less on the CPU and more on the surrounding subsystems. I'm of the opinion that you need a pretty fast GPU, lots of RAM, and a good SSD before you start feeling the CPU holding you back.

The important question is this: are you wanting to upgrade because you're itching to upgrade, or do you want to upgrade because you have a specific application or work pattern that's CPU bound?

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Actually a little of both haha.

My MBP has an i7, I mainly use the thing for file conversions and right now its beating my PC. Not by a large margin, but its enough to get me thinking.

Main reason I still use a PC because I'm addicted to games, so if the upgrade gives me a significant boost in my gaming, its worth it Right now I have crossfire 5850's.

Anyone else? If its significant I plan on upgrading this coming week.

If you have the money, go for an i7 2600k.
But like the others said, it's way smarter to invest in SSD's/GPU's/HDD's/RAM
Q9400 is pretty high quad core series. Unless your a videomaker/editor and you need some virtual cores, you could go for the i7. But otherwise i don't really think a Q9400 is much slower then an i7 920. And if you overclock this beast of a cpu, you could get way more out of your cpu, so you can walk over the 920. (unless the 920is also overclocked obviously)
But if it's only for gaming. No, as long as your videocard doesn't get bottlenecked by your cpu, your fine. Gaming is about ram vga etc, your cpu is only a part of it. And with that cpu, you should be fine.

Greetings

You complain about your system. You have the money for new components. Why wait? Something better will always be introduced to the market shortly after you make the purchase anyway, it's inevitable.
I never 'plan' to upgrade myself. There comes a time when I say: "OK, that's it, I've had it," because the system seems slow and it's getting on my nerves. Shopping spree follows.

Rogue505 said:

You complain about your system. You have the money for new components. Why wait? Something better will always be introduced to the market shortly after you make the purchase anyway, it's inevitable.
I never 'plan' to upgrade myself. There comes a time when I say: "OK, that's it, I've had it," because the system seems slow and it's getting on my nerves. Shopping spree follows.

Click to expand...

Im waiting for the new hex/octo's later in the year

These 2600ks will be the budget platform soon

Rogue505 said:

You complain about your system. You have the money for new components. Why wait? Something better will always be introduced to the market shortly after you make the purchase anyway, it's inevitable.
I never 'plan' to upgrade myself. There comes a time when I say: "OK, that's it, I've had it," because the system seems slow and it's getting on my nerves. Shopping spree follows.

Click to expand...

Not so much about the money, its more about time. Reformatting and reinstalling everything is my main concern. If the upgrade in performance justifies the time, then I'll do it.

I'm crossfire 5850's so for the video card I'm okay.

I know I'm going to be attacked that it's a foolish thing to do, but since Windows 7, I don't bother reformatting after an upgrade. I'm still using the installation that I did the day the OS came out and I changed the hard drive twice and mobo+cpu+ram+vidcard once during that time. I'm just too lazy