Keep my Q9300@3 or jump into an i3 rig?

[tno]

So, based on this article here(http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3724&p=2), this i3-530 does pretty well and pretty efficiently. Plus it'll clock up to 4Ghz with ease. Now, right off, obviously there's little chance that the cost to jump to a different platform would actually be worth it. But as an intellectual exercise let's discuss what the benefits would ultimately be if I made the jump.

Now, I set-up this rig with the expectation that I would be doing a lot of encoding/transcoding so that my main rig could also serve as a Media Center back-end to my Xbox 360 front-end. This didn't happen though as I soon discovered I would be better off building a microATX rig with an efficient proc on an Nvidia platform and using it as a straight HTPC. So now my Q mainly spends its time surfing the web and gaming. I have carefully clocked the processor up to close to 3.6Ghz, but didn't find it helped me much so I settled for the modest 20% O/C for everyday use. I have not found my rig to be too slow in any circumstances and relish the threading because I can watch some HD video on one screen and game in the other without losing a frame. So, all in all, I am pretty happy with my rig.

So what could make me want to switch?

http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/corei3530_012110231600/21384.png
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/corei3530_012110231600/21385.png

Those system power numbers are impressive. With my O/C I'm probably drawing 50 more watts at load. I can probably get away with some voltage optimizations and even maybe some underclocks to get down to that sort of power draw and still probably not suffer much slow down, but a new system would be awfully fun.

So, is there a case for making the jump to i3 from a decent Core system?

And if not, then does this make the case for waiting till Sandy Bridge?

As it stands, I think the $300 cost of entry (CPU+MB+RAM) will keep me out, even if I can get $200 out of my current rig.

So, thoughts? Protests?

tno

 

[fffblackmage]

What? You're gonna upgrade from your Core 2 quad core to an i3 dual core?

Yeah, it might not be quite as fast in single-threaded apps, but I just don't see it worthwhile myself.

 

[tno]

Well, when I started I definitely thought I'd have use for a quad for encoding but eventually I realized I liked WoW more than multiplayer FPS's or graphically intensive RPGs that I never had enough time to play to finish. But, if I was going to play some top end games, then a highly efficient, highly clocked dual core would totally beat the pants off my quad, even at 3Ghz. And in the case of i3, it's not enough. Maybe at some point they'll produce an extreme dual core that would totally kick the pants off my quad, but it'll probably cost more than I'm willing to spend.

tno

 

[Hey Zeus]

O/C I3 will kick the crap out of the Q9300. look at the benchmark

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=75&p2=117

 

[happy medium]

The only true upgrade from a overclocked quad core is a i5 750 or i7 920 IMO.
When more games and apps take advantage of 4 cores you won't be sorry.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=48&p2=117

 

[Arkaign]

O/C I3 will kick the crap out of the Q9300. look at the benchmark

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=75&p2=117

Eh, that's comparing 3.33ghz i3 to 2.5ghz q9300. Even at that the Q9300 wins a lot of the time. At 3ghz vs. (?) 4ghz, it would probably be about the same, and not enough to warrant the upgrade imho.

Go i5-750 or above, or keep what you got for now.

EDIT : OP also mentions lots of encoding/transcoding, which are the particular benchmarks where the 2.5ghz stock q9300 is faster than that 3.33ghz i3.

 

[edplayer]

save your money

Wait till Sandy Bridge/Bulldozer or possibly even later if your current setup is OK (which it is). There are LOTS of other thing you could put your money towards vs. computer components that depreciate faster than almost any other good.

 

[ShawnD1]

O/C I3 will kick the crap out of the Q9300. look at the benchmark

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=75&p2=117

I wouldn't put too much faith into overclocking to save money. As I've found out by doing a whole day of testing on my E6600, energy consumption is exponential when overclocking. At 2800MHz, this old chip is stable at 1.200V. At 3000MHz, it requires more than 1.300V. People running this chip at 3600MHz needed anywhere from 1.5 to 1.6V which easily triples the power consumption of the CPU.
This isn't just 1 chip that's like this. All chips are like this.

Zeus, how much voltage did you say you needed to get 4.6GHz? Wasn't it something like 1.6V? How much power does that consume? Where I live, running an electrical device 24/7 costs about $1 per watt per year. Running an overclocked system starts to get expensive when it's consuming 400W at full load. The more "expensive" quad cores start to look a lot cheaper when you factor in power consumption.

 

[lopri]

Only use for i3 chips that I can think of are SFF builds or laptops. I just played w/ bunch of products based on these @BestBuy, and that's my thought afterward.

Edit: The laptops were actually very attractive, though, especially the battery life.

 

[Hey Zeus]

Zeus, how much voltage did you say you needed to get 4.6GHz? Wasn't it something like 1.6V? How much power does that consume? Where I live, running an electrical device 24/7 costs about $1 per watt per year. Running an overclocked system starts to get expensive when it's consuming 400W at full load. The more "expensive" quad cores start to look a lot cheaper when you factor in power consumption.

I don't even need 1.5v for 5Ghz. At this speed and voltage the processor only consumes 154w of power. My whole system consumes 319w at full load.

1.282v

Stock voltage is 1.07v

 

[tno]

The efficiency value was really the only thing that might have drawn me to the i3, but I think I'd end up spending more on the proc than the savings would bring back to me. So, thanks for all the advice, looks like I'll be saving my money for Sandy Bridge. Unless I end up with that kayak. Hmm...

 

[masterbm]

I would go with i5 instead of i3. OR if I did not have the money stay with what I have. I truth i3 overclock well. but so does i5

 

[nyker96]

why not just OC your q9300 higher than 3? It will do quite nicely if you can get it toward 3,5. if you really got cash save it up for a real upgrade of i7 920 or i5 750. if you play game just dump that cash into a new dx11 card, you'll probably feel much more difference.