Need opinions on upgrade to Q9400

[Indus]

I have a gaming computer with the following specs:

E6550 @ 2.8 ghz
GA-P35-DS3L motherboard
4 x 1 gb Gskill DDR 2 PC 6400 RAM
GTX 260 896 MB video card.

I mainly play Aion, Crysis, Silkroad Online, Batman Arkham Asylum.

Would a upgrade to core 2 quad Q9400 currently under $190 at newegg make sense for me for a gaming computer?

I really wanted to upgrade to core i7 920 but that would mean shelling out major bucks for motherboard and DDR 3 and even the core i7 is at a premium.

Also I sometimes have programs open in the background which eats up resources so would it be possible to dedicate 2 cores for gaming and 2 for background stuff and game reasonably well?

Also how does the Q9400 do for overclocking? I would like to get it atleast at 3.0 GHz.

Also how about the Q 8400? that's $170

 

[eternalone]

No if your gonna upgrade to intel at the price point of the 9400 it would be silly not to upgrade to the i5 at least. If you dont want to buy DDR3 then the Phenom 2 955 would be an awesome upgrade also. I would go phenom 2 if I was you. But the q9400 is not a good upgrade from your current postilion. The i5 is only $10 dollars more and a better performer.

 

[Hyperlite]

ughmm no if your gonna upgrade to intel at the price point of the 9400 it would be silly not to upgrade to the i5 at least. If you dont want to buy DDR3 then the Phenom 2 955 would be an awesome upgrade also. I would go phenom 2 if I was you. But the q9400 is not a good upgrade from your current postilion. The i5 is only $10 dollars more and a better performer.

Did you miss the part where he didn't want to buy a new motherboard and ram?

I would say that is most definitely a solid upgrade. Selling your E6650 could seriously negate the price of the upgrade too, Q9400 will hit 3ghz no problemo, and should easily keep you tied over until you're ready to drop $$$ to move to 1156 or 1366.

 

[eternalone]

Did you miss the part where he didn't want to buy a new motherboard and ram?

No

 

[LoneNinja]

Why spend money on a new motherboard to purchase a Phenom II when it and the Q9400 would perform similarly? Same can be said with why get an I5 when he'll need a new motherboard and new ram.

Personally I think a C2Q would be a good upgrade as you've already got a socket 775 system, if you were building new I'd recommend I5, but you've already got a board and ram.

 

[eternalone]

Why spend money on a new motherboard to purchase a Phenom II when it and the Q9400 would perform similarly? Same can be said with why get an I5 when he'll need a new motherboard and new ram.

Personally I think a C2Q would be a good upgrade as you've already got a socket 775 system, if you were building new I'd recommend I5, but you've already got a board and ram.

Well I dont think its accurate saying that the q9400 performs on the level of the 955 anandtechs own charts shows that it performs on the level of Q9550 heres the link.

http://anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=88&p2=76

Second this is a very good thread because really alot of people are in the same predicament as the OP. That is do I waste my hard earned money $189 dollars on a C2Q or should the money go to a better performing I5. I say your hard earned money should go to the i5 its reasonably priced at only $10 dollars more. I personally would not dump that money into the Q9400 because your gonna get the upgrade itch anyway and regret not spending the extra, for the memory in the long run.

If you live near a frys they have combo deals, last weekend they had the I5 with a free gigabyte motherboard for $199. Frys has 4gb DDR3 patriot memory on sale right now for $69.99. I doubt you will ever see DDR3 lower than $49 or $39 so at the end of the day your only paying a premium of $30 or $20 dollars for a system.

At the end of the day its up to you and how you value your money.

 

[lopri]

Also I sometimes have programs open in the background which eats up resources so would it be possible to dedicate 2 cores for gaming and 2 for background stuff and game reasonably well?

That's actually not a bad way of using a quad for gaming. If you don't want the hassle of building a new system from scratch, Q9400 is probably a worthwhile investment. 3.20 GHz should be relatively painless as long as the board cooperates. I've seen some P35 boards not reaching 400 FSB with 45nm quads, though.

 

[elconejito]

I think either of the Q8400 or Q9400 would be solid choices. They should both hit around 3Ghz, maybe a bit more. The Q9400 would perform a little better than the Q8400 but it's hard for me to judge if it's worth the $20 premium.

If you have a microcenter nearby they had the Q9550 for $170 not too long ago (and probably still do).

If you've got a budget of < $200 total a drop in CPU upgrade is the way to go. He could goto i5 or PhII platform, but then your adding the price of a new motherboard and new RAM (you could get an AMD board that supports DDR2 but then I *really* don't see the point). As an alternative, just wait a little while longer and save up some more cash and then get an all new i5/i7 kit. But if you need/want the upgrade now, can't get any easier or cheaper than dropping in a C2Q.

 

[Indus]

No if your gonna upgrade to intel at the price point of the 9400 it would be silly not to upgrade to the i5 at least. If you dont want to buy DDR3 then the Phenom 2 955 would be an awesome upgrade also. I would go phenom 2 if I was you. But the q9400 is not a good upgrade from your current postilion. The i5 is only $10 dollars more and a better performer.

That would mean a new board as well unless I can find a good deal and honestly whenever I have gone AMD previously, I had problems with rigs with bsod's (across 3 different amd rigs). So I'm kinda hesistant about that and I like the fact I can oc Intel cpu's with the retail hsf which pretty much negates the amd advantage.

Don't get me wrong, I will take the plunge if AMD has a huge advantage but if its like $30 difference in performance including the aftermarket heatsink.. I'm sticking to Intel.

But how much of a difference in framerate would I see with a quad vs a core 2 duo? Can anyone comment on that? Would be much appreciated and if you could post deals for ability to upgrade to an i5/ i7 platform for cheap, that would be great. I'm in new york so no fry's/ microcenter near me so pretty much options are newegg/ tigerdirect or sites.

 

[Hyperlite]

It depends on the game. Most games made in the last year should be able to take advantage of as many cores as you can offer them, but when you're talking 4 3.2ghz cores, You're going to be super GPU limited with a 9600GT.

 

[aigomorla]

I have a gaming computer with the following specs:

E6550 @ 2.8 ghz
GA-P35-DS3L motherboard
4 x 1 gb Gskill DDR 2 PC 6400 RAM
GTX 260 896 MB video card.

I mainly play Aion, Crysis, Silkroad Online, Batman Arkham Asylum.

do you notice your system lagging?

OR is it shuttering?

Can you try to overclock the cpu to like 3.2ghz and see if that fixes anything?

As a gamer question, i dont think a cpu upgrade will give you much net benifit.

 

[Indus]

do you notice your system lagging?

OR is it shuttering?

Can you try to overclock the cpu to like 3.2ghz and see if that fixes anything?

As a gamer question, i dont think a cpu upgrade will give you much net benifit.

A little stutter sometimes although on my CPU usage it never goes beyond 93% unless I'm benchmarking or background resources cause that.

 

[aigomorla]

A little stutter sometimes although on my CPU usage it never goes beyond 93&#37; unless I'm benchmarking or background resources cause that.

thats normally what happens on a dual core thats slightly underclocked.

Can you try boosting it to 3.2ghz b4 u go processor shopping?
At least get a great air sink for your future upgrade.

I think your money can be better spent else where, or save for a larger upgrade.

 

[Indus]

thats normally what happens on a dual core thats slightly underclocked.

Can you try boosting it to 3.2ghz b4 u go processor shopping?
At least get a great air sink for your future upgrade.

I think your money can be better spent else where, or save for a larger upgrade.

My memory doesn't hold up well past 3.08 ghz, starts to bsod, but its not the processor because I tested it with a friend's ram and it can do 7 x 500 = 3.5 ghz and I was surprised, it actually does it while undervolting @ 1.10v.

So think I should get some better DDR2 ram rather than the quad core or just get it to 3.0 stable and wait for a larger upgrade?

 

[aigomorla]

So think I should get some better DDR2 ram rather than the quad core or just get it to 3.0 stable and wait for a larger upgrade?

1. Try @ 3.0ghz and see if it still shutters.
2. If it still shutters, borrow ram from your friend and bump to 3.5ghz an see if it shutters.
If it doesnt shutter, upgrade ram.
3. If you still see shutter, then you will need to go quadcore. Although i dont think you'll really use it.

If thats the case, you will need new ram, or you wont be able to oc the quadcore, and you will also need a better sink as yorkfields are HOT.

What resolution/size monitor are you even running might i ask?

 

[Indus]

1. Try @ 3.0ghz and see if it still shutters.
2. If it still shutters, borrow ram from your friend and bump to 3.5ghz an see if it shutters.
If it doesnt shutter, upgrade ram.
3. If you still see shutter, then you will need to go quadcore. Although i dont think you'll really use it.

If thats the case, you will need new ram, or you wont be able to oc the quadcore, and you will also need a better sink as yorkfields are HOT.

What resolution/size monitor are you even running might i ask?

1680 x 1050 22" samsung 225 bw, everything maxed.

I would love to try at 1080p but didn't think it'd be worth upgrading monitor. I'll get 1080p when this one dies. So far love gaming on it since 2005.

 

[aigomorla]

1680 x 1050 22" samsung 225 bw, everything maxed.

I would love to try at 1080p but didn't think it'd be worth upgrading monitor. I'll get 1080p when this one dies. So far love gaming on it since 2005.

i asked because i was worried you were gpu limited.

But a 260 on a 22 should be a snap in the park.

Yeah just try to bump your cpu up a bit and see if it will shutter.