Return new Q9550 to Micro Center and get an i5?

[mazeroth]

I paid $169.99 for a Q9550 last week and with the i5 coming out at $179.99 it's tempting to return the Q9550 and go i5. Though, I'd have to get a new motherboard and RAM. I could sell my current setup (E3110, an E8400 Xeon, Gigabyte P45 UDR3, 4x1 GB OCZ Gold PC-6400) and recoup probably $200 and only be out $150 or so. I do 95% gaming, and currently have a GTX 260 192. I play at 1920x1200.

Thanks.

 

[Absolution75]

Yeah, considering the CPU is almost as much as an i5 (i7 860 is only 230$), I'd sell. LGA-775 is dead. I'm going to microcenter in a few minutes to check out their MB's

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Mmm would you be out $150?

The i5 750 is $200, I guess you should get a board for about $150, and RAM will be about $80. That's $430, and you'll get $170+$200=$370 from selling your current stuff, which means you'd be out closer to only $60.

If you'll be out $150, by your estimation, then I wouldn't do it. The extra performance just isn't there. But for only being out $60, I think it wouldn't be a bad upgrade. However if you really want better gaming performance, you'll need a faster GPU.

 

[RussianSensation]

I am in the same boat as you, although I got the E0 Q9550 for $159.99. Gigabyte EP45-UD3LR costs $88 after rebates while MSI P55 CD53 is $80. I got an offer for $205 for my CPU + Mobo. At the same time, S775 setups will start dropping in price very soon, while I would say DDR3 prices are substantially higher now than 2 months ago.

Since computing is a hobby for me though, and I run SETI@Home, I might just bite the bullet. It is also a lot of fun getting a $230 processor to speeds of a $1000 processor.

Having said that, if all you do is game, then it's not worth it since if you sold the GTX260 and put $150 towards a next gen GPU, you will likely get 70-80% faster performance.

Check out these benchmarks and you'll see what I mean:
http://www.firingsquad.com/har...performance/page12.asp
^^^
Clearly GPU limited with a 4890, even at 1600x1200!

 

[drizek]

Go see if they discounted your 9550 now and ask for a refund of the difference through a price match. Otherwise, if you are mostly gamin, you wont see much, if any, advantage in performance.

You'll save money on electricity, but on the other hand that wont make up the difference in price.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

You'll have an easier time overclocking the 775 than the 1156 from what I gathered in the article on the front page. It seems you will need more vcore to overclock the 1156 because of the PCIe controller. "The on-die PCIe controller needs more voltage as you overclock Lynnfield, limiting Lynnfield's stock vt overclocking potential." Read Here. But yes, those damn i5's and i7 8xx's look very very tempting...

 

[Phynaz]

Depends upon what $150 is worth to you.

I wouldn't spend $150 for a few more fps in gaming, but if it's worth it to you than do it.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

The lynnfields look good (not great) but wait until they put the better turbo and increased power savings into 1366 platform. That will be sweet. They still are a heck of a deal. I'm glad I went with 1366. I overclock so turbo really isn't all that important and even though I'm not into multiple high powered gpu's with 1366 the option is there. 1156 has a bottleneck on extreme gaming and will get even worse with next gen gpu's.

 

[mazeroth]

I did some thinking over some Bob Evan's breakfast and I think I'm going to stick with the Q9550. It's not worth $150 or so for a 10-15% increase. Plus, I'd have to buy a new heatsink+fan for the i5, which I already have a huge Xigmatek. Oh, and BTRY B 529th FA BN gave me some killer info on overclocking it so I should be good to go. Lastly, if I can get the Q9550 to 4.0 ghz and the i5 only to 3.6ish the gap will be much smaller.

Thanks for all the input.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

You're welcome

529th

 

[BishopLord]

$169.99 and $159.99 for the Q9550? Wow, you guys sure are talking nonchalantly about the price of this chip. Where on Earth did you guys buy it for that price?! I'd love to buy that chip for that price but I can't find it for anything less than $215 (before CA tax) or $229 from out of state including shipping.

Please let me know. Thanks.


Edit -

Nevermind. I see that MicroCenter has the chip for $169.99 for local pickup. Hmm.. lets see, closest MicroCenter from me is Santa Clara, which is about 140 miles away... round trip driving is about 280 miles.

280 miles / 20mpg = 14 gallons

14 gallons x 3.00 per gallon = $42

$169.99 + 8.75% tax = $184.86

$184.86 + $42 = $226.86


Not worth the hassle of driving down in Bay Area traffic and wasting gas. I'd rather pay $229 to Directron.com and have it delivered.

 

[alyarb]

Originally posted by: OILFIELDTRASH
wait until they put the better turbo and increased power savings into 1366 platform.

i had no idea that intel was planning a second wave of 45nm quads for 1366.
What frequencies do these chips run at and how much will they cost?

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: alyarb

Originally posted by: OILFIELDTRASH
wait until they put the better turbo and increased power savings into 1366 platform.

i had no idea that intel was planning a second wave of 45nm quads for 1366.
What frequencies do these chips run at and how much will they cost?

Intel Readying Core i7 960 3.2ghz for same $562 as the 950

Some benchmarks by Legionhardware show that it beats the Core i7 870 mostly. Power consumption is disappointing though: http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=855&p=7

Not sure if it will have improved Turbo modes though.

 

[alyarb]

this guy is debating between a sub-$200 yorkfield and lynnfield, but we suggest he wait around for a $560 bloomfield? still confused.

 

[RussianSensation]

alyarb, no one suggested waiting for 960. That was just to indicate new Core i7 cpus for 1366 coming out shortly.