Intel i5 4670K vs AMD FX-8350

[crashtech]

I like the idea of allocating the most money for the GPU in almost all instances for a gaming machine. It's really too bad the C2Qs still command the price premium that they do, but obviously there are many who come to the conclusion that LGA775 can still be a viable platform, as opposed to buying into the low end of a newer 1155 setup. The C2Qs are overpriced for what they deliver, but being able to avoid the purchase of a new motherboard, and possible attendant OS reload and licensing problems, partially offsets their lack of performance compared to more modern CPUs.

 

[el etro]

An Q9450 overclocked can handle even a HD7950/GTX 760.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

It looks possible that we'll get a socketed Broadwell Xeon E3, although we haven't seen any hard information on SKUs etc. (Also it may require a different chipset.)

Saw this over at xbitlabs, it seems there is indeed a catch... 🙁

 

[Enigmoid]

An Q9450 overclocked can handle even a HD7950/GTX 760.

You will have bottlenecking.

With a 7970 (non Ghz), a stock i5-3570k is 52% (stock) and 31% (overclocked) faster than a Q9550. In fact the Q9550, overclocked or not is slower than a stock i3.

 

[alkemyst]

When you replace the motherboard, you have to have a new key for a windows installation, unless you have a multiple install license. You cant carry over the windows install from the old computer.

This is not true at least with retail licenses. You may need to call into Microsoft's automated service to transfer it though.

For OEM versions they sometimes are locked to certain hardware.

 

[Koslov_]

This is not true at least with retail licenses. You may need to call into Microsoft's automated service to transfer it though.

For OEM versions they sometimes are locked to certain hardware.

Yeah I did transfer it once without issue

 

[Arkaign]

This is not true at least with retail licenses. You may need to call into Microsoft's automated service to transfer it though.

For OEM versions they sometimes are locked to certain hardware.

Yeap. Typically the motherboard (with OEM sticker on the case) is how Microsoft sees Win7 'attached' so to speak. Change video card, fine, change hdd, fine, etc. A certain number of changes will cause the OS to require reactivation.

Officially speaking, they can deny reactivation should you try to upgrade mobo/cpu/etc even if you're putting it back into the same case. In practice this has never happened to me, and I have reactivated XP, Vista, and 7 many many many thousands of times for people.

My personal yardstick on Windows reactivation : is the original license no longer being used by the original computer (eg; the original computer no longer exists in any 'real' form)? Can I carefully move the sticker to a new case, or get all the components into the existing case? Then yes, I will reactivate your Windows license for you or show you how. This is obviously a grey area and some will disagree with me, but it's close enough to me. As long as we're not talking about using the same windows license on more than one PC at the same time, ever.

 

[AtenRa]

The retail Windows can be installed in to more than one PC (not at the same time). OEM and DSP Windows licenses only goes with the original hardware(PC) and cannot be transferred to a different PC.

 

[Arkaign]

The retail Windows can be installed in to more than one PC (not at the same time). OEM and DSP Windows licenses only goes with the original hardware(PC) and cannot be transferred to a different PC.

These are pretty much the official rules.

However it gets a bit murky pretty quickly in practical terms.

Say you have an HP Pavilion HPE H8-1120 Desktop PC. The power supply and motherboard die 2 months out of warranty. A matching replacement motherboard is $200+ from HP. Instead of going with original feature-dry HP board, you go with an Asus Z77 MicroAtx board, and instead of a crappy HP original power supply, you go with a Seasonic 550W unit. All other components stay the same. (this is a real example from the past week).

Now officially, this is no longer the 'original' hardware, and getting Windows re-activated would cost $100+ for a new license. Imho, this is abusive and makes no sense. By re-using as much original hardware as possible, it makes it economic to just rebuild and get more years out of it before dumping it in the trash. It's still the same PC, just with a replaced motherboard and power supply.

Microsoft is generous enough to allow this re-activation on the phone-in process provided you describe it clearly. "Computer crashed, we are reloading it" or similar and : Bingo, activated. On how many computers is this copy of Windows installed on? "One!".

This is way way different than taking an original OEM license, leaving it both on a working original computer, and then also using it to activate a completely different computer.

 

[blackened23]

It should be noted that transferring license when you buy a new PC component (eg motherboard) is a very simple process - their activation line is completely automated, microsoft only cares about you using it on one and only 1 computer. The automated line will ask and verify that it is being used on 1 PC (and it is, since you're xferring it) and boom, voila, done.

And if you're swapping motherboards out, you're still using it on one computer. I'm not sure how OEM licenses work though....i've heard they're different. You may need to speak to an agent with that situation.

 

[Ken g6]

Don't expect any kind of overclock on a G41 chipset. Spoken as the owner of a G41 chipset with a Q9400 that I can't overclock at all. 🙁

 

[SPBHM]

Don't expect any kind of overclock on a G41 chipset. Spoken as the owner of a G41 chipset with a Q9400 that I can't overclock at all. 🙁

G41 was designed to run with FSB 333, and the q9xxx is a 333 CPU, so yes, OC is limited,
because over 333 the chipset does not keep the PCIE clock locked (like the p35, p45 and others can)...

but still, if you have a good G41 MB you can run at around 400 (with PCIE 115 or something).