Upgrade to Q9550 or get i7 920

[Cryp]

Hi all, I'm in a little delema here would i upgrade to a Q9550 or get an i7 920 with Asus P6T or Asus Rampage II Gene. I play ArmA 2 Alot and it really kills my E6420 its just to slow

And if i get a i7 920 whats the better motherboard to go for P6T or the Rampage i'm aiming for some overclocking Ram will be Corsair Core i7 PC12800 DDR3 CL7 3 x 2Gb Dominator DHX

Thx in advance

 

[p|nhead]

If you have the money I'd say get a i7-920 with a mid range board such such DFI JR, EVGA LE or Asus Gene, they all will get you a solid 4 Ghz at around 1.3 v-core. If you don't want to buy a mobo and DDR3 then a Q9550 will just be fine. The X58 will last you for quite a while. Another option is the P55 platform with a very affordable i5-750. Lots of options really

 

[Cryp]

Hmm I got the money.
I have 2 options: i7 920 now would cost me around €600-640 get HD5870X2 later
Or Q9550 and HD5870 what would cost me aroud €500

I'm thinking that my HD4870 is doing okey for now so i7 would be the better pick

 

[p|nhead]

I'd opt for an i7 if I were you as well, later you can upgrade to a nice i9

 

[Boulard83]

Get a X58 + I7.

Upgrade GPU later for the DX11 when they are a lil cheaper and Nvidia show us what they have.

 

[2xNEHALEMx2]

nvidia is gunna come out with some SWEET cards! the GTX 380 is gunna have like 2 GB, DX11 and 2x some CRAZY bandwith. and im not joking, i actually heard this being
rumored around. i wonder what nVidia has in store when they release the GTX 395 :O

back to the point. get the i7, like p|nhead said above, the i9 is coming

EDIT: look at THIS thread for 395 INFO! i just found out:

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=620168

 

[Randyman...]

Do you already have DDR3 RAM? All of my LGA775 systems are DDR2, so going to i7 didn't make a whole lot of financial sense to me IMO. I went from a Q6600 @ 3.2GHz to a Q9550 @ 3.89GHz, and I noticed a nice improvement - especially on video rendering. The best part? Q9550 was only a $180 upgrade from our very own OCF Classifieds The LGA775 45nm series includes SSE4 support (just like i7), that really seems to help performance...

Would an i7 have been faster? Likely without a doubt. Would it have been a good "bang/buck" upgrade? Not with a new MoBo, new DDR3 RAM, and a new CPU - no way. I got 85% of the performance for like 30% of the cost

 

[ghost_recon88]

Get a X58 + I7.

Upgrade GPU later for the DX11 when they are a lil cheaper and Nvidia show us what they have.

+1

LGA775 is a dead platform, I would sell your current CPU/mobo/RAM and invest in a i7 920, X58 board, and DDR3. If you get a 3GB kit, the whole setup can be had for a little over $400.

 

[2xNEHALEMx2]

i7 might not save you money now, but in the future if you want to go i9 you will have everything set.

 

[tachi1247]

If you're positive that you're going to end up with 2 5870s at some point then get the 920 but if not, I would give some serious consideration to the i7 860. It performs a little better than the i7 920 due to the higher clock on multi threaded apps and kicks it's but on single threaded apps due to the turbo mode. The only disadvantage is the reduction in x16 PCI-e LANES for the GPU. Remember that a 5870X2 still shares the 1 pci-e lane between the 2 GPU thus theoretically giving you x8 on each. the only advantage for 1366 would be x16 on each gpu if you actually put 2 5870 cards in.

 

[SeasonalEclipse]

I currently run a Q9550 and it does all I need (encode, all that) very quick.. Id save the money and get a Q9550 for the moment and buy things that do matter like a fast SSD, that will drastically improve your performance.

 

[Sunburn74]

q9550 for now. splurge on the i7 when its a bit more mature. Inded lga 775 is dead, nonetheless a 9550 is a quick drop in upgrade without noticeable loss compared to the i7. For gaming, focus on a better gpu (hd5850 would be my choice). then again, it depends on your monitor.

 

[Cryp]

Seems like i7 is the win

@Boulard83
i agree on that i was just looking at some options
my 4870 is still doing a great job.

@tachi1247 i dont think i7 860 is a good investment the cpu cost a bit more then the 920 about €10 here mobo is cheaper but no triple chan and like you say the about the PCI-e lanes

@ghost_recon88 i aint going lower on mem that i have now i def getting 6 gigs

and about the dual 5870 cards or the X2 i'm waiting for 5870X2 bench's/price
But i think the 5870X2 is gonna be the better bang for the buck

one more thing about the motherboard P6T or Gene ? thy go for the same price. Seems like Asus is the best pick for some ocing

thx for reply all

 

[EarthDog]

Get a X58 + I7.

Upgrade GPU later for the DX11 when they are a lil cheaper and Nvidia show us what they have.

I agree with this post completely!

 

[Cryp]

i'm just gonna wait for windows 7 to be released so i can start with a fresh install

 

[Neural Net]

i'm just gonna wait for windows 7 to be released so i can start with a fresh install

Good idea. What's also worth considering is that anything less than an i7 will bottleneck a 5870 or anything more powerful. What resolution are you gaming at? If it's less than 1920x1200 I'd recommend the 5850 so you can save some of your hard earned cash.

nvidia is gunna come out with some SWEET cards! the GTX 380 is gunna have like 2 GB, DX11 and 2x some CRAZY bandwith. and im not joking, i actually heard this being
rumored around. i wonder what nVidia has in store when they release the GTX 395 :O

back to the point. get the i7, like p|nhead said above, the i9 is coming

EDIT: look at THIS thread for 395 INFO! i just found out:

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=620168

Troll much? lol

 

[Cryp]

Good idea. What's also worth considering is that anything less than an i7 will bottleneck a 5870 or anything more powerful. What resolution are you gaming at? If it's less than 1920x1200 I'd recommend the 5850 so you can save some of your hard earned cash.

I'm on 1680*1050 not planning on getting a 24"+ monitor soon only got this one for about a 1.5 year. I'm keeping my 4870 for now maybe Nvidia come's up with something nice

*EDIT*
Would CL7 Ram be worth buying or just get CL8

 

[Randyman...]

In that case I'd say Q9550 w/o a doubt. It is a simple intermediate upgrade, and it is a drop in single-component upgrade - so it is VERY cost effective (I like price -to- performance upgrades ). Of course, you could buy a new MoBo, new DDR3 RAM, and a new CPU, and not really see much improvement until you drop another $200-$300 on a new video card - and then you'd likely want a 24" and run @ 1600x1200 - and end up with loosly simular framerates to what currently get @ 1680x1050.

As you can see, the "upgrade path" gets EXPENSIVE really quick. I'd keep it simple for now, and do a Q9550 "drop in" unless you just want to spend some cash for the fun of it (that can be fun at times, too ). I'd go with a new 24" Monitor and Video card after that (the monitor is the BEST place to improve your overall PC experience IMNSHO). Save the MoBo/RAM/CPU upgrade for next year IMO...

 

[wickedout]

So the i9's are gonna be using the 1366 socket?

I'm thinking of doing this to. I might be upgrading my PC in Feb. 2010 to Intel. We'll see.

 

[Brolloks]

one more thing about the motherboard P6T or Gene ? thy go for the same price. Seems like Asus is the best pick for some ocing

Both are solid boards, personally I like the Gene

@ wickedout...yes i9 (Gulftown) will be socket 1366