Age old question of upgrading... (C2Q or all new)

[Insomniator]

Right now I have an E5200 with 4GB ram on a Evga SLI 750i mobo.

When I bought these parts last year it was with the intention of upgrading to a C2Q when I felt the need. I'm realizing now however (and should have known) that it looks like C2Q 9550's are not coming down in price and likely will not anytime soon.

So the question is... is it better to spend 240 on a 9550... or upgrade to an i5/i7 and maybe get 125 bucks for my current CPU/mobo/ram?

I don't even really need the upgrade... but eventually I will definitely want to make the move and possibly should do so before my current parts are worthless...

For gaming and video encoding/transcoding would is the 9550 much worse than a new i5/i7?

 

[Jd007]

If you don't really need the upgrade, then just wait, because in the future, you are guaranteed to get better hardware for lower prices - that's the way technology progresses.

For gaming, Q9550 is on par with i5 750, both of which are more than fast enough for any of the new games. This means that it really comes down to how good your graphics subsystem is. However for video encoding/transcoding, the i5 750 definitely beats the Q9550, and any i7 will easily be faster than the i5.

IMHO, $240 for a Q9550 right now is definitely not worth it. If you can find a cheap used C2Q for under $150, go for it if you want. If you feel like upgrading, definitely go for at least an i5 (even i7 if you do a lot of video editing).

Bottom line is: wait if you can, otherwise get i5 or i7.