9650, 9550s, 9550, i7

[smackababy]

I am in the midst of building a new rig. I already have quite a few parts, but haven't narrowed down what processor I will be grabbing up. With my tax return eminent, I am going to finish off my buying and put this thing together.

What I've got so far is case, power supply, ram (easily unloadable though if I go i7 as it is unopened), graphics card (gtx285), and periphs.

I want a quad-core due to the amounts of programming I do, as I am starting to do multi-threaded programs. I also love PC games, but don't have the setup to enjoy more than WoW at hardly tolerable fps. I can also run games like Morrowind and KoToR but nothing released recently.

The question I have is which processor would be best for me? I am leaning towards the 9550 as it seems to be the best value, but from what I hear some i7's are amazing OC'rs.

Thank you for any and all suggestions.

 

[n7]

For the highest end, i7 of course.

Obviously, while the i920 isn't a bad price, the mobos & DDR3 will set you back more than a nice P45 & DDR2 will.

I like the Q9550/9650 as a nice choice for the next little while until i7 mobos & DDR3 pricing smartens up, since a 12 MB L2 Qxxxx @ 3.5+ GHz is pretty damn nice.

 

[Denithor]

Q9550 ($280) + EP45-UD3P ($115AR) + 2x2GB DDR2-1066 (2x $48) = $491
PhII 940 + 790GX combo ($279AR) + 2x2GB DDR2-1066 (2x $48) = $375
i7 920 + Asus P6T Deluxe combo ($565) + SuperTalent 3x2GB DDR3-1333 ($110) = $675

Food for thought: Q9550S review. With performance & efficiency comparisons for the current crop of quads. Very good article, worth a read before you decide.

 

[spacegoast]

Nice list Denithor.

I would definitely go with the Gigabyte EP45-UD3P board though, it has been achieving some major overclocks with the Q9550 and Q9650's. People have been getting 4.0ghz fairly easy out of those chips with that mobo.

 

[JMapleton]

Save up and get an i7 when the prices begin to fall.