e8500 upgrade

[Swampthing]

I've had this processor for seems like forever now and feel like there has to be something better out there. I was looking at the phenom x3 965 black edition. Does anyone know of any direct benchmarks between these two processors? Would this even be a worthwhile upgrade?

I looked at the cpu charts on toms hardware and most of the games they have listed there are either old or ones i don't play at all so it's not overly helpful.

Anyone have any advice?

 

[TurtleCrusher]

I would upgrade to a 1055T or a 1090T. It will be noticeable going to a Phenom X4 965, but hell you spent $300 on the dual core E8500, why not get a faster hexacore (3.2ghz 1090T) for the same price? They over-clock to essentially the same speeds.

In any application that is multithreaded it will be incredibly faster. It will be able to play any game well for the next 2-4 years, and probably be playable for a long time after that. I imagine these X6's having the same amount of shelf life as the Athlon X2s of yesterday. Those are still fast enough for everything and have been out for like 5 or so years now?

 

[happy medium]

I'd sell the e8500 and get a cheap used 775 quad core untill the next round of sockets arrive.

 

[FragKrag]

I don't think there is a very large need to upgrade your E8500 right now to be honest since it is already a very high end chip. I doubt it would be a very worthwhile upgrade at the moment when it comes to gaming

 

[Spikesoldier]

id ride out that e8500 until sandy bridge and splurge with a mid-high end platform upgrade.

 

[marsspirit123]

If your board supports it, sell your 8500 and just get 9550 from Intel.That would give you enough power for any current game . And I7 ,I5 or amd x6 aren't any better in games than 9550.

I've had this processor for seems like forever now and feel like there has to be something better out there. I was looking at the phenom x3 965 black edition. Does anyone know of any direct benchmarks between these two processors? Would this even be a worthwhile upgrade?

I looked at the cpu charts on toms hardware and most of the games they have listed there are either old or ones i don't play at all so it's not overly helpful.

Anyone have any advice?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

You can get a Q9550 for ~ 159-179$ at Micro Center

 

[Swampthing]

closest micro center from me is over 4 hours away.

Oddly enough one of my other computers just gave up the goat on the motherboard not an hour ago. Been having problems with it for awhile. Trying to decide now if i should go with the 965 and a new motherboard for mine and move my stuff over to the down computer or just get something cheap for the other one and keep on going with my e8500.

meh decisions. Looks like i'd get some nice gains with the x4 in 3dsmax and such which i do work with, but as for gaming the improvements would be minimal until we start seeing more multithreaded games.

 

[toyota]

if gaming is a concern, I hate to tell you but an E8500 clock for clock matches or beats a Phenom X4 in most cases.

 

[Swampthing]

if gaming is a concern, I hate to tell you but an E8500 clock for clock matches or beats a Phenom X4 in most cases.

getting the feeling there really isn't a significant upgrade for this processor.

Oddly enough you have about the exact same system as myself. Same motherboard memory and cpu.

 

[lopri]

There isn't any significant CPU upgrade for gaming if you have an E8500. (especially overclocked to 3.6 GHz+) Unless you game @1280x1024 or below. And at that point, you'll be talking about 100FPS v. 120FPS.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/18799/8

@1600x1200, E8600 is just as fast as i7-980X.

Edit: This one looks a little more CPU-intensive, but you will still not notice the difference @1600x1200 or higher.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/18799/6

Or you can extrapolate E8500's performance from E6850 in this page. (10~15% faster)

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3674/amds-sixcore-phenom-ii-x6-1090t-1055t-reviewed/9

 

[toyota]

There isn't any significant CPU upgrade for gaming if you have an E8500. (especially overclocked to 3.6 GHz+) Unless you game @1280x1024 or below. And at that point, you'll be talking about 100FPS v. 120FPS.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/18799/8

@1600x1200, E8600 is just as fast as i7-980X.

Edit: This one looks a little more CPU-intensive, but you will still not notice the difference @1600x1200 or higher.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/18799/6

Or you can extrapolate E8500's performance from E6850 in this page. (10~15% faster)

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3674/amds-sixcore-phenom-ii-x6-1090t-1055t-reviewed/9

if he is running a high end gpu then there are plenty of games where an i5/i7 quad would be worth it. and no I am not talking about going from 100 to 120fps either. I am talking about a meaningful difference and some cases a noticeable playable difference.

 

[KeypoX]

I got the bug too. I actually bought Black ed x4 3ghz and mobo for 160 on newegg last week. Luckly it was a weekend and i was able to cancel lol...

Wolfdale c2d overclocked, is just as good as anything for gaming. I dont need quad but i twould be nice for VMs...

I would buy and intel quad if they had one for $100. I might wait for X6 prices t ocome down and upgrade to that for less than $200....

 

[Swampthing]

if he is running a high end gpu then there are plenty of games where an i5/i7 quad would be worth it. and no I am not talking about going from 100 to 120fps either. I am talking about a meaningful difference and some cases a noticeable playable difference.

I have a ATI 5870.

Still running DDR 2 as well.

 

[lopri]

if he is running a high end gpu then there are plenty of games where an i5/i7 quad would be worth it. and no I am not talking about going from 100 to 120fps either. I am talking about a meaningful difference and some cases a noticeable playable difference.

if gaming is a concern, I hate to tell you but an E8500 clock for clock matches or beats a Phenom X4 in most cases.

^_^

 

[toyota]

^_^

I am saying that if he is going to upgrade then to go i5/i7 instead of X4. yes there are still some gaming cases where the X4 will be better than the E8500 but without a doubt the i5/i7 would be the better overall path and will allow for much faster gpu upgrades down the road without chocking.

 

[Axon]

Phenom II 955 or 965 would be a sidegrade. Would be an improvement in some multi-threaded apps.

An i7 930 or i5 750 would be a slight improvement, but would not be a quantum leap for gaming. If that's what you want, you're better off bumping your GPU up and overclocking. However, for video editing and such, the 930 would be an upgrade.

Intel is killing the 1156 socket very soon, however, so be advised. I think they needed a home for their leftover 45nm silicon, and so the P55 chipset was born. Of course, if you don't upgrade every year, this won't matter to you much, as the i5 750 will still be a good chip three years later, just like the E8500 still is.

I would buy either the 930 or i5 750 for your main computer and move the E8500 downstairs for your other rig.

 

[superccs]

Ha! I recently had my system force me to upgrade because of slickdeals. Got a 1055t and 890gx board and ddr3 for $350 and sold my e8400 ddr2 ramm and 775 cooler for $260 on ebay. Ddr2 was sold for $10 les then when I got it. Having 6 cores is sweet with similar over clock of 3.6-4.0Ghz possible with minimal effort. Pretty sweet upgrade given I'm out$100

 

[toyota]

Ha! I recently had my system force me to upgrade because of slickdeals. Got a 1055t and 890gx board and ddr3 for $350 and sold my e8400 ddr2 ramm and 775 cooler for $260 on ebay. Ddr2 was sold for $10 les then when I got it. Having 6 cores is sweet with similar over clock of 3.6-4.0Ghz possible with minimal effort. Pretty sweet upgrade given I'm out$100

for the money that was a nice overall upgrade but those six cores are still slower than intels four if gaming is your concern. the Thuban X6 offers no more performance than the Phenom 2 X4 in any game but Dirt 2. by the time games effectively use six cores Thuban will be way slower than cpus that will be available at that time.

 

[richierich1212]

Well if you're a heavy 3dsmax user you're going to benefit from more cores anyway.

 

[lopri]

See how an OP goes through a metamorphosis to.. well, you know what.

 

[Jacky60]

I went from 8400@4ghz to a i7920 at 4ghz and really noticed the difference especially in Arma 2 (which I play a lot) which really benefits from a quad core. If I were you though I'd consider a used Quad 9650 or similar which should take a decent overclock and will help you in those games that need quad core at a very good price (sub $200). Then you can do a full upgrade in a year or so and get a next generation hexacore when they've matured a bit and come down in price.

 

[Swampthing]

See how an OP goes through a metamorphosis to.. well, you know what.

No, i don't. Enlighten me.

 

[lopri]

Sorry I wasn't clear that I meant OP = Original Post (and its intended query), not Original Poster.

 

[Swampthing]

Sorry I wasn't clear that I meant OP = Original Post (and its intended query), not Original Poster.

it's the nature of forums. I just don't want any brand war advice, i could care less about brands i just want an upgrade of at least 20%.