Nehalem and future proofing

[Isaac MM]

I am in the process of building a new rig and i can't wait till Nehalem comes out. With that said, i would like to know if Nehalem cpus are going to offer any big performance boost to GAMING over the current quad cpus avaliable on the market like the Q9450/9550/Qx9650.

Also i would like to know if picking a cpu such a Qx9650 and keeping it at a good overclock, like 3.8-4ghz, can be considered a wise choice if you don't plan on upgrading your cpu for like 1-2 years.

Please note that this is related to gaming only.

Thanks for your attention

 

[graysky]

Dunno about Nehalem, but if you push a 45 nm quad to the high 3's you'll probably need more VTT than is recommended for the chip. You shouldn't exceed 1.40 V (real after vdroop) to VTT with a 45 nm chip. Other's will tell you that quads are a waste for gaming since you can push a dual higher and that most games don't use all 4 cores. I simply don't play that many games so I can't offer an opinion on the dual vs. quad. I'd say you're better off dumping your money into a high powered video card than an extreme quad if gaming is your main use for the machine. Also, wait for the 9x multiplier quads due out soon and get one of those. The Q9450 is being retired soon (sorry I can't post a source on this).

 

[GuitarDaddy]

The price is supposed to drop on Intel chips in about 3wks, and the Q9600 will be released.
And if gaming is the focus then go cheaper on the CPU and spend the bucks on graphics.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I heard Nehalem will offer a 600mhz clock per clock advantage, not sure if that's true though.

 

[Acanthus]

You wont see mainstream Nehalems this year. At all...

That being said, the performance jump isnt known on the "other" nehalems, only the enterprise class ones that are to be released first.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

most likely, nehalems that signficantly outperform current quad cores wont be affordable until sometime in the middle of next year and by then you will have grown up enough that you wont care about video games and skateboards, so i would just go ahead and buy quad core now.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I seen this in a post with the new X58 chipset from a TomsHardware link.

 

[imported_Woody]

Originally posted by: Isaac MM
I am in the process of building a new rig and i can't wait till Nehalem comes out. With that said, i would like to know if Nehalem cpus are going to offer any big performance boost to GAMING over the current quad cpus avaliable on the market like the Q9450/9550/Qx9650.

Also i would like to know if picking a cpu such a Qx9650 and keeping it at a good overclock, like 3.8-4ghz, can be considered a wise choice if you don't plan on upgrading your cpu for like 1-2 years.

Please note that this is related to gaming only.

Thanks for your attention

I don't think you will ever get your value out of a chip that costs $1000. If you want to spend that kind of money that's a personal choice and you need to be prepared for the fact that you will be able to buy something more powerful for half the cost in a year.

If you are primarily interested in gaming then skip the quad altogether and get a low cost P35 system with a low cost dual core like the E8400 or even a super low cost E7200 with 4GB of practically free DDR2-800 and overclock the crap out of it. Then get yourself one of the brand new AMD 4870 vid cards or an NVidia GTX 260 or 280. You will be able to game just as well if not faster than with an expensive quad core and you won't care about throwing it all away (or giving it to an eternally grateful neighbor) when your dream chip arrives next year. Of course you'll be the exact same dilemma next year all over again.

The bottom line is it's not practical to attempt to future proof your system by buying the most expensive hardware you can today and your returns will be disappointing at best. The only true way to future proof yourself is to buy the minimum hardware you need to achieve today's goals (that is playing todays games) and then upgrade your hardware when and if you need at the time you need to.

 

[Fadardo]

Originally posted by: Isaac MM
Also i would like to know if picking a cpu such a Qx9650 and keeping it at a good overclock, like 3.8-4ghz, can be considered a wise choice if you don't plan on upgrading your cpu for like 1-2 years.

Please note that this is related to gaming only.

Thanks for your attention

Instead of purchasing a qx9650 simply get a q9450 overclock it and put the extra money towards a kickass 27" LCD display. You will get far far far more enjoyment and return in value with a huge monitor than an extra 300mhz eeked out of your overclock since you chose to go with a non extreme chip.

Anyways for all intents and purposes cpu speeds now days only have minor influence on gaming performance compared to videocards themselves.

If your going into gaming I agree with the previous poster and spend the money on a great videocard. But I'd also Like to add that you should also get a huge monitor. Ill tell you they are awesome.