Normally, I upgrade on a 2-year basis. Typically a complete upgrade (motherboard, processor, memory, and GPU). But this year as my upgrade window approaches I find myself wondering if I should semi-skip this cycle with a simple processor/memory upgrade alone. I am posting this just to make sure my head is screwed on straight and my logic is sound.
First, you should know I am a gamer. I rarely use my computer for anything else (that requires any kind of performance). I am not an overclocker, and my timetable for doing this upgrade will likely coincide with the Windows 7 release, so... approximately the end of October. And finally, I normally spend approximately $800 per upgrade.
I currently have an E6600 C2D 2.4GHz CPU with 2GB memory. My current motherboard however will support the Core 2 Quad Q9550, which seems to perform quite nicely on the latest games. Add 4 (or even 8) GB of memory I think should hold me until the Sandy Bridge processors come to life (I would think).
I have seen there are Core2Duos still outperforming the Quads in gaming, but my bet is that from here on out games will come to expect and use more cores, so I would bet that as that comes true the Core2Quads would take the lead.
Anyhow, that is a fairly inexpensive upgrade, at around $300 (at todays prices) without sweating rebates.
My other options seem to be, from what I am reading, an i7 920 or waiting to see how the i5 will pan out. Both will require a new motherboard obviously and I am guessing the upgrade would cost about $500-600.
I don't know what is up with AMD, but it sure seems like you have to scroll about half way down on the charts before you start seeing AMD processors show up... I typically go for the upper quarter of the charts for target performance, andit shocked me not to see any AMD processors there, especially since I used them religiously in the Pentium days...
So the real questions are:
- Would the i7/i5 really be worth the approximately $300/100% premium over a Q9550?
- Will the Q9550 perform well enough for gaming until we reach the Sandy Bridge gaming era?
I obviously will be upgrading video cards as well, but I've already decided that I am waiting for a DX11 variant there. Perhaps I would get an even higher-end card than I would have due to the savings from keeping the LGA775 platform though.
Thanks in advance for any input/thoughts.
worm
First, you should know I am a gamer. I rarely use my computer for anything else (that requires any kind of performance). I am not an overclocker, and my timetable for doing this upgrade will likely coincide with the Windows 7 release, so... approximately the end of October. And finally, I normally spend approximately $800 per upgrade.
I currently have an E6600 C2D 2.4GHz CPU with 2GB memory. My current motherboard however will support the Core 2 Quad Q9550, which seems to perform quite nicely on the latest games. Add 4 (or even 8) GB of memory I think should hold me until the Sandy Bridge processors come to life (I would think).
I have seen there are Core2Duos still outperforming the Quads in gaming, but my bet is that from here on out games will come to expect and use more cores, so I would bet that as that comes true the Core2Quads would take the lead.
Anyhow, that is a fairly inexpensive upgrade, at around $300 (at todays prices) without sweating rebates.
My other options seem to be, from what I am reading, an i7 920 or waiting to see how the i5 will pan out. Both will require a new motherboard obviously and I am guessing the upgrade would cost about $500-600.
I don't know what is up with AMD, but it sure seems like you have to scroll about half way down on the charts before you start seeing AMD processors show up... I typically go for the upper quarter of the charts for target performance, andit shocked me not to see any AMD processors there, especially since I used them religiously in the Pentium days...
So the real questions are:
- Would the i7/i5 really be worth the approximately $300/100% premium over a Q9550?
- Will the Q9550 perform well enough for gaming until we reach the Sandy Bridge gaming era?
I obviously will be upgrading video cards as well, but I've already decided that I am waiting for a DX11 variant there. Perhaps I would get an even higher-end card than I would have due to the savings from keeping the LGA775 platform though.
Thanks in advance for any input/thoughts.
worm
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