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Upgrade to Q9550 or get i7 920
- Thread starter Cryp
- Start date
- Joined
- May 8, 2004
Same Socket does not automatically mean the current i7 MoBo's will support i9. There is a good chance it might since the memory controller is integrated into the CPU, but I'd still have my doubts that early 1366 MoBo's would actually support i9. I went through this when LGA775 initially came out (my first LGA775 MoBo was P4 only, second was Pentium-D only, and the 3rd one finally worked with all C2D's and C2Q's). I thought I recalled that i9 will have a few extra external busses or something that current i7 MoBo's know nothing about. Food for thoght if you are considering a current 1366 as a future upgrade platform for i9...
Pop in a Q9550 for ~$200 and be done with it for a good 4-6 Months
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2006
- Location
- Land of Long Horns
Maybe you should look at this...i9 on a X58 Rampage II Extreme
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=4044648&postcount=173
- Thread Starter
- #25
Pop in a Q9550 for ~$200 and be done with it for a good 4-6 Months
I dont really agree on that why spend 200$ or € in my case and upgrade again in 6 months that a wast in my eye's. I dont think the i7 900 serie is going to drop mass in price any soon now with the i5 budget cpu.
thing that really made the decision for me is this:
159 for a q9550 at microcenter. sold my e8400 for 130 on ebay
hmmm... for a i7 920, 199 at microcenter, 200ish for a new board, 100ish for 6gb of ram, and 60bucks for a new cpu cooler.
Heck if I'm replacing so much, I might as well dump the case as well (this silverstone is starting to show its age).
Do the drop in upgrade. Here's why:
unless you're doing lots of heaving encoding, there is no real difference in performance between a 4ghz q9550 and a 4ghz i7-920. Most tasks are not cpu bound. Its like buying a ferrari in order to get to work faster each day. Sure the ferrari is a faster car than the one you're currently driving, but a camry and a ferrari will both get you to work at about the same time in if you live in the city.
Honestly, the best thing you can do is replace your monitor. Here's why:
your upgrade choices are:
1) cpu
2) hard drive
3) gpu
4) monitor.
If you upgrade your cpu, you won't see a difference. I went from a 4ghz e8400 to a 4ghz q9550 and no difference in day to day stuff other than more heat. All I do is word, pdfs, surfing the net and some gaming from time to time.
If you upgrade your HD drive, again you won't really see a difference. I upgraded from a supposedly slow 1.5tb barracuda to 2x x-25ms in raid 0 and honestly, overall there is no difference. System is a bit snappier, but honestly vista caching and prechaching was pretty damn good in hindsight. Going from one of the slowest OS drives on themarket to one of the fastest possible setups really didn't change much for me, other than I can start IE instantly upon bootup. Thats it.
If you upgrade you gpu, you can see a real differnce in gaming. However, at your monitor size, there is no difference between a 500 dollar gpu and a 120 dollar gpu. Ok, there is a differnce, but once you get up past a certain frame rate, you honestly cannot tell. In addition, most games are actually requiring less gpu power these days. Its really quite sad. Plopping in anything more than a Hd 4850 in your case would be overkill. Yes, even to run crysis. You just don't need it, and besides its dumb to buy a gpu just to run one game, even if it is a gorgeous pants wetting game.
But if you upgrade your monitor by plopping down 220 for a new 25inch screen and selling the old one on craigslist or something, there is an immediate difference. You see it right away and during gaming you feel it. Games just look better on a big screen. RTSs play better because you can see tiny units that normally you couldn't see. You can lean away from the screen, and put your feet up and take advantage of zoom and other blowup features without a need to scroll or constantly adjust. Plus, you can finally really start to take advantage of more power gpus. There's no need for a gtx260 under 21inch of screen space. 25in and above, those more power gpus really start to come into play. The best reason though is people just walk into your room and say wow because they immediately notice it. If some girl asks to check the internet on your pc, she will never say "wow, this is fast. Killer ssd setup you have going and insane overclocked processor. It really makes surfing the net a snap", but she will say "geez man, insane screen. Nice!" (hopefully followed by "lets make out")
Anyway just my thoughts. Upgrades are great to cure the itch, but man in terms of actual gains, you should save your money and think about upgrading your screen. 220, 25inch. Think about it.
159 for a q9550 at microcenter. sold my e8400 for 130 on ebay
hmmm... for a i7 920, 199 at microcenter, 200ish for a new board, 100ish for 6gb of ram, and 60bucks for a new cpu cooler.
Heck if I'm replacing so much, I might as well dump the case as well (this silverstone is starting to show its age).
Do the drop in upgrade. Here's why:
unless you're doing lots of heaving encoding, there is no real difference in performance between a 4ghz q9550 and a 4ghz i7-920. Most tasks are not cpu bound. Its like buying a ferrari in order to get to work faster each day. Sure the ferrari is a faster car than the one you're currently driving, but a camry and a ferrari will both get you to work at about the same time in if you live in the city.
Honestly, the best thing you can do is replace your monitor. Here's why:
your upgrade choices are:
1) cpu
2) hard drive
3) gpu
4) monitor.
If you upgrade your cpu, you won't see a difference. I went from a 4ghz e8400 to a 4ghz q9550 and no difference in day to day stuff other than more heat. All I do is word, pdfs, surfing the net and some gaming from time to time.
If you upgrade your HD drive, again you won't really see a difference. I upgraded from a supposedly slow 1.5tb barracuda to 2x x-25ms in raid 0 and honestly, overall there is no difference. System is a bit snappier, but honestly vista caching and prechaching was pretty damn good in hindsight. Going from one of the slowest OS drives on themarket to one of the fastest possible setups really didn't change much for me, other than I can start IE instantly upon bootup. Thats it.
If you upgrade you gpu, you can see a real differnce in gaming. However, at your monitor size, there is no difference between a 500 dollar gpu and a 120 dollar gpu. Ok, there is a differnce, but once you get up past a certain frame rate, you honestly cannot tell. In addition, most games are actually requiring less gpu power these days. Its really quite sad. Plopping in anything more than a Hd 4850 in your case would be overkill. Yes, even to run crysis. You just don't need it, and besides its dumb to buy a gpu just to run one game, even if it is a gorgeous pants wetting game.
But if you upgrade your monitor by plopping down 220 for a new 25inch screen and selling the old one on craigslist or something, there is an immediate difference. You see it right away and during gaming you feel it. Games just look better on a big screen. RTSs play better because you can see tiny units that normally you couldn't see. You can lean away from the screen, and put your feet up and take advantage of zoom and other blowup features without a need to scroll or constantly adjust. Plus, you can finally really start to take advantage of more power gpus. There's no need for a gtx260 under 21inch of screen space. 25in and above, those more power gpus really start to come into play. The best reason though is people just walk into your room and say wow because they immediately notice it. If some girl asks to check the internet on your pc, she will never say "wow, this is fast. Killer ssd setup you have going and insane overclocked processor. It really makes surfing the net a snap", but she will say "geez man, insane screen. Nice!" (hopefully followed by "lets make out")
Anyway just my thoughts. Upgrades are great to cure the itch, but man in terms of actual gains, you should save your money and think about upgrading your screen. 220, 25inch. Think about it.
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You stick with it because you already have it. Its not like you're near the top of the lga 775 lineup already. You're way on the bottom, almost 3 generations back. LGA to someone in your position, is very much alive especially when all he needs to do is drop in one part and especially when prices are so good.
You however essentially want to build a whole new pc, not simply upgrade. Think about it. Shell out 50 bucks more for a HD and 70 bucks for another case with power supply and you could stick all your old parts into a separate rig essentially. Put things in perspective man!
Anyway I've said my bit. I moved from a 4ghz dual core to a 4ghz quad with 2x SSDs in raido and honestly the net difference in perceived performance is 1-2%. I doubt going to a i7-920 would change that even more. These days a super fast cpu is great for the epeen and for the weekend hobby but doesnt' really do much for most people.
You however essentially want to build a whole new pc, not simply upgrade. Think about it. Shell out 50 bucks more for a HD and 70 bucks for another case with power supply and you could stick all your old parts into a separate rig essentially. Put things in perspective man!
Anyway I've said my bit. I moved from a 4ghz dual core to a 4ghz quad with 2x SSDs in raido and honestly the net difference in perceived performance is 1-2%. I doubt going to a i7-920 would change that even more. These days a super fast cpu is great for the epeen and for the weekend hobby but doesnt' really do much for most people.
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- Joined
- Jul 3, 2006
- Location
- UK
I get your point of view but why try that hard to convince me not to get an i7 when others ppl do recommend it if i have the cash for it
I went from a 3.2Ghz Q9300 to a 3.6Ghz i7, best CPU upgrade I ever made and before the Q9300 I had a E6300 at 3Ghz. I easily notice the speed difference everyday.
haha good one!
why must he stay at the back because he happens to be at the back now?
so are you saying he must in 2-3 years time upgrade to the lower end of whatever architecture we have then? because once you are low end you must stay low end?
No. What doesn't make sense is the arbitrary distinction people make depending on how the question is asked. If someone like me who's running a 4ghz quad asks if I should make the leap to the next gen cpus, I assure you the response will be no , that overall there is no difference between jumping from a 4ghz quad to a i7-920 chip. But if someone asks if they should go from a e6600 to a i7 920, there's suddenly a magical difference between going to the 4ghz quad vs the i7 920 setup.
I dunno about you, but I passed math and I learned some little tricks called addition, subtraction, and most importantly of all the meaning of the equal sign. Once you're at the point of the 4ghz quad, there is no difference in either being 4ghz quad or going i7 920. All thats left is to weigh the costs of jumping from your current platform to either the 4ghz quad or the i7 920.
So again: drop in upgrade- 159 dollars
i7 platform- 200 for chip, 200 for board, 100 for ram, 60 for heatsink.
I dunno about you, but I passed math and I learned some little tricks called addition, subtraction, and most importantly of all the meaning of the equal sign. Once you're at the point of the 4ghz quad, there is no difference in either being 4ghz quad or going i7 920. All thats left is to weigh the costs of jumping from your current platform to either the 4ghz quad or the i7 920.
So again: drop in upgrade- 159 dollars
i7 platform- 200 for chip, 200 for board, 100 for ram, 60 for heatsink.
The difference is, first, that a Q6600 generally wont be able to run 4Ghz 24/7. Its sweet spot is 3.4-3.6Ghz. That couple with the fact that aside from gaming the i7 920 hands the Q6600 its lunch in all other benches tells me I would see a difference. Especially in anything that is multi threaded.
As far as your math, ok, fine. Here is something to consider...If one does go i7, he can sell his old mobo, ram, and CPU to offset the cost significantly. Sure its going to be more than a drop in, but its up the the OP if he wants to spend that money. Its our job to show him the positives and negatives of making/not making the move.
"So again" we know your opinion, but it may not be the best for everyone or the OP in this case.
Plus it has been seen that say a Q6600 @ 3.6GHz is slower than a Q9650 @ 3.6GHz... in this case the 65nm Q6600 is around 10% slower per clock than the 45nm Q9650... and this has also been shown that the i7 is about 10% faster per clock cycle than the 45nm core2 quads...
If i were you i would sell your equipment and go i7... that is my opinion... i went from a 4GHz Q9650 to an i7 and my performance increased dramatically...
If i were you i would sell your equipment and go i7... that is my opinion... i went from a 4GHz Q9650 to an i7 and my performance increased dramatically...
The difference is, first, that a Q6600 generally wont be able to run 4Ghz 24/7. Its sweet spot is 3.4-3.6Ghz. That couple with the fact that aside from gaming the i7 920 hands the Q6600 its lunch in all other benches tells me I would see a difference. Especially in anything that is multi threaded.
As far as your math, ok, fine. Here is something to consider...If one does go i7, he can sell his old mobo, ram, and CPU to offset the cost significantly. Sure its going to be more than a drop in, but its up the the OP if he wants to spend that money. Its our job to show him the positives and negatives of making/not making the move.
"So again" we know your opinion, but it may not be the best for everyone or the OP in this case.
I'm not sure where the q6600 plays in.
Again, remember he's weighing dropping in a 45nm quad vs building a whole new rig with the i7-920. He currently has a e6000 series dual core. I'm saying if there's no difference in having either a 4ghz q9550 (which is very doable) or a i7-920, that no difference is true all the time and the only real cost is the cost of moving from your current position to either of those two positions.
I personally think his best bet if he really really wants a i7-920 might be to ditch the entire rig, meaning buy a cheap case with a prepacked PSU and buy a cheap, low capacity hard drive and package all his old computer as a complete system and sell it that way or find some other use for it (media player, second workstation, gift to a family member, charity donation with tax writeoff, etc). The sum of the parts is more valuable than the individual parts. Actually the tax writeoff is the best because I believe you get to set the value of the gift based on empiric knowledge.
But if I were in his shoes, knowing how little advances in processing power and the jump to SSDs have improved my bottom line computing experience, I'd do a drop in upgrade to a q9550 and instead buy a big *** monitor.
Agreed! +1
EDIT: Didnt read your last post...
Just make sure the bios version you have supports 45nm quads with P35 chipset.
- Thread Starter
- #39
- Joined
- May 8, 2004
Good call - Cheap and effective. That is how I roll
Save the major upgrades for next year - and I'd still consider upgrading your LCD before you drop ~$600-$800 on an i7 Upgrade - the LCD is your interface to the PC afterall, and is generally the single BEST place to improve your PC experience in general. 1920x1200 FTW!!! NTM, your current Video Card is still goig to be the bottleneck in an i7 system - so i7 really wouldn't be a very cost-effective upgrade at this juncture (new CPU, new MoBo, new RAM, new Video, new PSU = LOTS of cash)...
Save the major upgrades for next year - and I'd still consider upgrading your LCD before you drop ~$600-$800 on an i7 Upgrade - the LCD is your interface to the PC afterall, and is generally the single BEST place to improve your PC experience in general. 1920x1200 FTW!!! NTM, your current Video Card is still goig to be the bottleneck in an i7 system - so i7 really wouldn't be a very cost-effective upgrade at this juncture (new CPU, new MoBo, new RAM, new Video, new PSU = LOTS of cash)...
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