Still on a Prescott P4...

[Chriz]

I am still on a Prescott P4 3.2 Ghz machine which I put together near the end of 2003. I never thought I'd have it this long. The only upgrades I've done was the video card to a 7600GT and the memory to 4 gigs. So I'm trying to decide between 3 upgrade paths, but having a hard time deciding between them. Here they are:

1) Build a new system around a P45 motherboard and Q9550 or Q9650. This would be the cheapest path, but worst performance of the 3 choices.

2) Buy a Core i7 920 and X58 motherboard. I can afford this option, but I know the i7 uses a lot more power and puts out more heat than the Q9650, and paying the extra money for a X58 motherboard seems like a waste.

3) Wait for Core i5/P55 chipset or Westmere. This option would probably be cheaper/use less power/heat than the Core i7/X58 and be faster than P45/Q9650, but I am not sure how long I would have to wait for these.

What would you do?

 

[LOUISSSSS]

1 or 2 depending on your budget. both are in completely different price ranges with completely diff performance numbers. they are rather similar in games tho... so i'd get #1 if i were gaming a lot

i'd get #2 if you dont get buyers remorse a lot and ur willing to pay for happiness even though it doesn't give much real world performance.

dont wait for i5.

 

[JMapleton]

I have a 3.4ghz Prescott and I'm waiting for Westmere and Windows 7, but I do not game so my situation may be different.

 

[error8]

1) This would provide the best bang for the buck, but the 775 platform is starting to get closer to its end. Intel is already phasing out a lot of the dual and quad cores this year, for this platform.

2)You are wrong about power consumption and heat. The i7 consumes a bit less power then the current Q9650. Don't look at Tomshardware article, since they are driving through the corn field for some time now.
i7 would give the most performance and probably the longest upgrade path, but for the highest price.

3)The i5 looks very tempting, but we don't really know how long it will take to appear. If you can wait and that old P4 doesn't bother you that much, do it. But who knows how much you'll have to wait.

 

[polarbear6]

hey what are you gonna do with the p4

dont throw it k
wait for 50~60 years and then sell it to a museum
then u will surely become rich

between,
if you can afford it core i7 seems to be the best offer
but think about it the money u save by going for the q9650 u can buy a 4870x2(or a 4870)
and save money for some other nice thing

i would say invest some money on a graphic card if this computer is for gaming.
AND U HAVE TO GAME, COMPUTERS WERE INVENTED ONLY FOR GAMING
NOT FOR WORK(yuck !!)

 

[brencat]

Personally, I'd go with choice #1 -- Q9550 and shoot for a 3.9 - 4.0ghz overclock. Given you've had your existing PC since 2003 and still using a 7600gt, you're clearly not a hardware junkie. This is likely the best bang for the buck and will last you a while if you pair it with a nice gfx card like a 4870 or GTX 2xx.

By the way...your P4 should fetch around $40 - $50 on Ebay. I recently sold my brother's P4 3.4ghz from his 2004 Dell XPS PC for $54.

 

[polarbear6]

Originally posted by: brencat
Personally, I'd go with choice #1 -- Q9550 and shoot for a 3.9 - 4.0ghz overclock. Given you've had your existing PC since 2003 and still using a 7600gt, you're clearly not a hardware junkie. This is likely the best bang for the buck and will last you a while if you pair it with a nice gfx card like a 4870 or GTX 2xx.

By the way...your P4 should fetch around $40 - $50 on Ebay. I recently sold my brother's P4 3.4ghz from his 2004 Dell XPS PC for $54.

50$ for a antique
hmm
i say wait for 50 years and a billion bucks
muahahaha

 

[Chriz]

Originally posted by: brencat
Personally, I'd go with choice #1 -- Q9550 and shoot for a 3.9 - 4.0ghz overclock. Given you've had your existing PC since 2003 and still using a 7600gt, you're clearly not a hardware junkie. This is likely the best bang for the buck and will last you a while if you pair it with a nice gfx card like a 4870 or GTX 2xx..

Well, I was more of a hardware junkie, I just have not had the money to upgrade until relatively recently since I finally have a nice stable job. Also, I have been playing the original Everquest for a long time now and it worked fine on old hardware until recently. Every time they come out with a new expansion it makes it run even slower on my system, it's a hog of a game. I do want to get into other games as well.

 

[polarbear6]

if games r the basic purpose u will be buying a pc for

q9650 + 4870x2 or q9650 + 280 gtx or260 gtx or 4870

will be all the way to go as i dont see any point why u still need to hold on to a 7600
option 2 is something which iam against as a 2.66 ghz will always be not enough u can at max pull it to 3.2 ghz
but wid a 9650 u can do a 4.0 ghz
(i say to hell wid core i7 and everything over 650 bucks for ram + mobo + cpu )

but acually speaking gpu will surely hold u back (may be)

 

[PCTC2]

If you have waited this long, go for #3 and wait a bit more. Socket 775 is EOL. You can go #1 for the cheapest right now, but you've basically got not upgrade in the future (but considering you've had a P4 this long, you might not even have an upgrade for the new sockets either). But it sounds like you aren't top-of-the-line enthusiast for an X58 so wait for i5 and a P55 chipset. What's another half-year to a year? Seriously? Compared to 5 years?

(Less than a year, considering the low-power versions are slated for Q1 2010 (comparable to the Q9550s in idea).

 

[Concillian]

I think if that kind of gaming is your thing, then a mildly overclocked Q9550 + P45 will likely hold you out for a LONG time. There is always something newer and better on the horizon. The value of the C2Qs or PhenomII is hard to beat if you're looking at a long term system. i7 is better, but not dramatically so. The economy is dictating a pullback, so game developers are going to need to reign in their hardware demands as everything settles. IMHO you should not feel bad about saving a few bucks and sticking with the C2Qs.

It sounds like you don't play at the bleeding edge of gaming (I'm in the same boat), so todays "almost as good as the best" should last you several years.

 

[rarebear]

I just ordered a new chip yesterday to replace my P4 3.0 and after lot of thought and checking charts I when with a E7400 dual core 2.8 for $120

In six months or a year I plane to buy Q 3.0 for $120

The last system I built before this memory was $120 for 256 MBs and they CPU is now $29 I think I paid about $200 back then..

If you can live with two years old hardware you can upgrade more often and not fill the sting...

I just bought a 4830 GPU for $74 next year I can do the same again and its not to bad on the pocket