If I keep my i7 - X58 UD3R ?

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

If I don't sell my i7 I am going to need a motherboard & Ram. The main thing that is holding me back is the next amount of $$$ needed to complete a CPU, MB, RAM platform.... The next big thing that kills me is if I go through with the build, I'll have to sell off my Q9650, UD3R EP45, & Ram. I know. I could get some decent money for it, but it's a great board & setup and it's not that much slower than the i7 except AVCHD editing & rendering. And right now I know my Q9650 will do 4 1/4 Ghz Prime95 full sweep stable. I just love my current setup.

I have never had a good feeling about the X58 boards. I hate their ridiculous prices. None have proven themselves as the EP 45 UD3R & P boards have with their price/performance ratio.

I'm looking to use it mainly for AVCHD editing etc. then UT3 (gaming)

I am just asking this question ahead of time so please bear with me. Here is how I feel about motherboards. I spent 270$ on a board that wasn't half as good as a 500+ fsb quad capable 114$ motherboard. I won't name any names from my previous motherboard buying experience.

My knowledge of these X58 boards is ziltch. All I know is i wouldn't want to spend dumb money on horseshit ROG monikers, World Record Overclocking Motherboard bullshit power (side angle) point, Xtreme Phase (o we are in a PWR Phase race?), Corporate Stable Model... misleading marketing crap. Sorry bout the rant. Rate my rant = 0 - 10? So I am turning towards users with experience with the X58 boards. The chip I have is a D0 920. I'd probably like a 4Ghz OC later on down the road but am content with running defaults.. hell, maybe I'll just leave it at defaults and use my other Q9650 machine for gaming.

I thought about this MB as being very comfortable with my 775lga UD3R board. I've also thought about this server MB as I have 2 PCI-X cards - 1 Ultra 320 SCSI which is the drive i am using in this machine, then I have a FireWire 1394b card that is PCI-X also... They'd both finally fit nicely in their correct slots running 64bit @ 133mhz ***small yay*** I imagine the only thing bad about the server MB is (and im not sure) that it won't Overclock very well?...

Thoughts, suggestions, sarcasm, etc all welcome

punch me in the jimmy

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Have you tried returning it?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

No I haven't. I've been debating between the i7 build and my current Q9650 as explained above. But its unopened and was only bought yesterday.

 

[vailr]

I'd keep the Socket 775 setup.
Instead of upgrading to an i7 CPU, get one of the new Intel 34nm SSD drives.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: vailr
I'd keep the Socket 775 setup.
Instead of upgrading to an i7 CPU, get one of the new Intel 34nm SSD drives.

I think that's what I might do. I was just going to place my bets on if it sells or not. I can always take it back.

That was a thought earlier today & I went looking for them but couldn't find one (new egg)

Thanks for the post vailr!

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Originally posted by: vailr
I'd keep the Socket 775 setup.
Instead of upgrading to an i7 CPU, get one of the new Intel 34nm SSD drives.

Totally agree. Intel ssd would be the best upgrade for you right now. I went from q9400 to core i7 920 and I dont see a difference. Went from a 7200rpm mechanical hard drive to my ocz vertex hard drive and was VERY impressed!!! If you havent made the jump to ssd's drive I would suggest that before a complete overhaul. That Q9550 is a sweet cpu and if you got it at 4ghz then thats even sweeter.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: OILFIELDTRASH

Originally posted by: vailr
I'd keep the Socket 775 setup.
Instead of upgrading to an i7 CPU, get one of the new Intel 34nm SSD drives.

Totally agree. Intel ssd would be the best upgrade for you right now. I went from q9400 to core i7 920 and I dont see a difference. Went from a 7200rpm mechanical hard drive to my ocz vertex hard drive and was VERY impressed!!! If you havent made the jump to ssd's drive I would suggest that before a complete overhaul. That Q9550 is a sweet cpu and if you got it at 4ghz then thats even sweeter.

Awesome! Thank You!

 

[Beanie46]

While I agree the SSD will improve the performance quite noticeably on your system, I was in the same situation you find yourself in and instead followed through with it.

I upgraded a Q9550 (that got to 4.0GHz) on an Asus X38 motherboard and 8GB of Mushkin Redline memory. Went to an i7 920, Asus RII Gene motherboard, and 6GB Corsair Dominator memory.

Was it worth the upgrade? Given that it essentially cost <$170 for the upgrade, the answer is yes. Games run smoother, boots faster, but it is stressing my watercooling setup more (runs hotter.....DDC2 pump, HK 3.0 LT block, Thermochill 120.3 radiator.)

The cost difference between selling my Q9550 paid completely for the i7 cpu (Microcenter $200 i7, D0 stepping and nice batch number), end cost was $110 in the motherboard swap, and end cost was $55 in the memory swap.

And I'll move to the new G2 Intel SSD drive when Win 7 releases to retail....hopefully by then, the prices will have dropped a tad, either for them or on their competitors.

But, am I sorry I upgraded? Not in the least.....the system's responsiveness more than makes up for the minor upgrade cost. And, btw, getting 4.0GHz on 1.25V on the cpu.......and looks like I have a LOT of headroom left on it.

But, you pays yer money and makes yer choices....

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

What was your batch? I got a 3850 A 849

The more I look at it with the $$$ I have in my Pay Pal account, it would actually cost me ~ 150$ without selling off my Q9650 system