Q9650 vs. i7 920

[JAG87]

Originally posted by: lopri

Originally posted by: JAG87
There is very little you can do about that. It's just how it is.

So basically you're agreeing to the person you were responding to. He said,

Originally posted by: kyotousa
Intel change their compatibility so frequently now I don't see how "a dead socket" is relevant at all. You probably will never get to upgrade ur CPU, just buy a brand new system in a few years.

(change made by me, bolded)

woops... nevermind 😱

 

[TidusZ]

People are saying the 9650 isn't going to go over 4ghz and that 4.3 ghz is unattainable. My 9550 has been comfortably doing 4.25 on air for 4 months now. That said, I'd go for the I7 at this point. The D0 stepping is available and prices have adjusted to where its pretty much a no brainer imo.

 

[ShawnD1]

Don't even worry about the sockets. By the time you need a new CPU, the socket will have changed to a different shape or need a different chipset. That's true for all processors.

Let me give an example. I bought a top notch E6600 about 2.5 years ago. We still have the same socket, but I can't get a quad core because my P5LD2 motherboard does not support it. I once had a Socket A Athlon 1700. Do you think I could upgrade to a Socket A Athlon 3200? Of course not. The 1700 was 133mhz bus and the 3200 was 200mhz bus.

If you are changing CPU so often that you can re-use the same motherboard, you're doing it wrong.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Originally posted by: ShawnD1
Don't even worry about the sockets. By the time you need a new CPU, the socket will have changed to a different shape or need a different chipset. That's true for all processors.

Let me give an example. I bought a top notch E6600 about 2.5 years ago. We still have the same socket, but I can't get a quad core because my P5LD2 motherboard does not support it. I once had a Socket A Athlon 1700. Do you think I could upgrade to a Socket A Athlon 3200? Of course not. The 1700 was 133mhz bus and the 3200 was 200mhz bus.

If you are changing CPU so often that you can re-use the same motherboard, you're doing it wrong.

Yeah, what if we have trianglular processors.

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: WaitingForNehalem

Yeah, what if we have trianglular processors.

Or just take the whole wafer - no socket, flip the board over and the backside is nothing but CPU. Watercooling would no longer be an option at that point though. 😉

 

[Zenoth]

Just go with i7 920 is price isn't a problem, problem solved, case closed.

Next?

 

[kyotousa]

I have a 3yrs old FSP 400 watts power supply would it be enough to support i7 or a 3.0ghz core 2 and a Gigabyte passive cooling ATI 4850 video card?

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: ShawnD1
Don't even worry about the sockets. By the time you need a new CPU, the socket will have changed to a different shape or need a different chipset. That's true for all processors.

Let me give an example. I bought a top notch E6600 about 2.5 years ago. We still have the same socket, but I can't get a quad core because my P5LD2 motherboard does not support it. I once had a Socket A Athlon 1700. Do you think I could upgrade to a Socket A Athlon 3200? Of course not. The 1700 was 133mhz bus and the 3200 was 200mhz bus.

If you are changing CPU so often that you can re-use the same motherboard, you're doing it wrong.

I had a S939 w/Athlon 64 3200+, and eventually swapped in an Opteron 165. How is that "doing it wrong"?

I also had a Socket A XP 1700+, and swapped in a Barton 2500+. Cranked up the FSB, no problem.

Many of the old AM2 mobos are able accept Phenoms (not PhII).

I agree with part of what you're saying: if you purchase a LGA 1366 mobo now, there's a good chance that in 3 years you won't be able to replace the CPU with the most recent LGA 1366 CPU. But, you never know, and there may be a future incremental CPU upgrade you would like to have.

 

[Dadofamunky]

IN a new build, I'd go i7, get the best cooling I could afford and the best OCing board, and OC the snot out of it.

The Q9650 is an excellent CPU and S775 has plenty of life left, but all things being roughly equal now I think the newer architecture is a better bet.

 

[Spoelie]

EDIT: unnecessary post, missed 2nd page