Dilemma on Upgrade

[realmike15]

I've got a bit of a dilemma. i7's are finally starting to drop into my comfort zone to upgrade. The problem is, I can take my current setup seen below and move up to a Core2Quad 2.5Ghz for only $150. Also my current CPU is 65nm, so either of these should be a nice jump. Where as the i7 requires a Mobo, CPU, and Ram upgrade at around $520. Keeping in mind, that I'm not a hardcore gamer (I play a few games a year) and I do more Photo/Video editing than anything else.

Which one is a better value? (We obviously know which one is faster)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115207
+ Plus hardware listed below

OR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131665
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115201
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231225

Again, please try to give advice based on what's a better deal and needs. Exactly how much performance gain am I getting from spending $520 as opposed to $150?

 

[Blain]

As long as your 250GB HD isn't running your OS, I would be tempted to slap in a 3.2GHz dual core Wolfdale for only $67 shipped.

 

[BoomerD]

Before I'd spend that kind of money on the i7 upgrade, I'd wait a few weeks for the re-release of the Sandy Bridge motherboards.

You'll get much better performance from the i7-2600/2600K than you will with the x58 platform you linked to...and it'll be cheaper to boot.

 

[Davidh373]

I would not be upgrading a 775 socket at this point. I would not be upgrading to an X58 chipset either. The i7 9xx and 8xx are good for one thing and one thing only, doubling up thread count. If the software or games you are running don't make use of 8 threads, it's immediately a waste of $100 + ~$80 total platform cost (going with the 9xx).

We should see Sandy Bridge hit shelves again in 2-3 weeks, and the Sandy Bridge i5 2500K for ~$230 and $130 mobo butts heads with even the 980x at $1000. I would hope the new 990x is at least just as good, but at that point the $1200 processor looks like a bad investment. The 1155 (Sandy Bridge socket) will also support Ivy Bridge, which is Intel's upcoming 8 core release.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/100?vs=288

As you can see, assuming you do gaming and some productivity work, that the 2500k comes out on top when compared to the i7 950

If you're wondering about how the Sandy Bridge i7 compares to the i5, then take a look at this.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/287?vs=288

In games there is about 1-3 fps difference for ~$100.

Now if you'd like, you can throw a Sandforce SSD in for boot and apps for around what you save going with a better performing platform (isn't that just odd...). That, or you can save another $60 on top of your current savings and get a 40%+ jump in GPU performance

Radeon 6870 - $214.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-349-_-Product

Bench 5770 vs. 6870
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/296?vs=290

 

[LuluTheMonk]

I am in a similar dilemma. Currently have a Q9300, Abit IP35-e, 4 GB RAM. My primary use is photo editing.

My likely upgrade path:
ASRock P67 Extreme 4 ($150)
2500k ($230) or 2600k ($330)
16 GB G.Skill 1600 ($150 got it on the Newegg RAM sale)
60GB SSD Vertex 2 ($100)

Something you might consider
$150 Mobo
$230 CPU
$80ish Ram
$460 + shipping + taxes.

Sell your old CPU, Ram, Mobo and it shouldn't be a terribly expensive upgrade.

Here might be some relevant benchmarks for you:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/15
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/16

So compared to the Q6600, it looks like to me you are getting ~x2 the performance, for ~3x the cost. Granted you will need to compare the Q8300 to the Q6600.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I dunno, I would probably go for the 775 quad upgrade. That's what I did. My two desktop rigs used to have E2140s in them, at 2.8 and 3.2Ghz. I dropped in a pair of Q9300s at 3.0, and now things fly. I barely stress out the quads, only when I do F@H on the CPU are they maxed out. All the other times, my CPU load almost never goes above 30%.