Upgrade Question

[Rakewell]

I'm thinking of upgrading my setup, giving my older computer to my business, and building a new one. I am wondering how much speed increase I will notice with the following:

I am currently running a c2d 6700 2.6 ghz (oc to 3.3) with a 680i mobo, 4 GB DDR2 (and a gtx 280).

I'd like to avoid Nehalem right now, and would like to upgrade to a quad 9550 (with a i790 mobo + 4 gb ddr3, and keep my gtx 280).

While I multitask a great deal, I mostly game; however, upon reading many posts in AT, there are a lot of games that utilize multithreading, and it seems the logical choice to "future-proof" my system as much as possible. I admit I've been out of touch a bit on CPU progression.

Has anyone upgraded a similar path to mine? Will the difference in CPUs be pretty noticeable in real world performance?

Thanks,

Rakewell

 

[Duvie]

really depends on the apps....Its is likely you can oc that Q9550 to 3.6ghz so that is about 10% boost....The Q9550 has more l2 cache so you may see some 5% gains there at similar clock speeds...

If you dont run apps to take advantage of the 4 cores let alone at least 3 of them you wont feel much of a difference....you likely are more gpu bound then cpu bound in games anyways....

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Rakewell
I am currently running a c2d 6700 2.6 ghz (oc to 3.3) with a 680i mobo, 4 GB DDR2 (and a gtx 280).

I'd like to avoid Nehalem right now, and would like to upgrade to a quad 9550 (with a i790 mobo + 4 gb ddr3, and keep my gtx 280).

The price of a Q9550 + 790i + DDR3 = You got neha.

What do you hate about neha that you want to avoid it?

Originally posted by: Rakewell

While I multitask a great deal, I mostly game; however, upon reading many posts in AT, there are a lot of games that utilize multithreading, and it seems the logical choice to "future-proof" my system as much as possible. I admit I've been out of touch a bit on CPU progression.

That is an i7.

So once again what do you hate so much about i7 when cost wise it will run you almost the same?

 

[Tempered81]

I'd skip the 790i and get a p45/x48. Unless you plan to sli your gtx280 later on.

 

[Rakewell]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

Originally posted by: Rakewell
I am currently running a c2d 6700 2.6 ghz (oc to 3.3) with a 680i mobo, 4 GB DDR2 (and a gtx 280).

I'd like to avoid Nehalem right now, and would like to upgrade to a quad 9550 (with a i790 mobo + 4 gb ddr3, and keep my gtx 280).

The price of a Q9550 + 790i + DDR3 = You got neha.

What do you hate about neha that you want to avoid it?

Originally posted by: Rakewell

While I multitask a great deal, I mostly game; however, upon reading many posts in AT, there are a lot of games that utilize multithreading, and it seems the logical choice to "future-proof" my system as much as possible. I admit I've been out of touch a bit on CPU progression.

That is an i7.

So once again what do you hate so much about i7 when cost wise it will run you almost the same?

You have some valid points, I hadn't thought about the cost ratio.

I don't hate i7; I guess I was mostly concerned about any bugs being worked out before considering. Also have some trepidation about buying "the latest" when I build rigs, I usually let technology settle a while before I jump in and buy. Mebbe it's my age showin'.

Cheers. :beer:

Rakewell

 

[jeffw2767602]

If you are going to spend that much, get a low end nehalem rig. If I were you, I would go for a q9550 $320, a gigabyte ep45-ud3p mobo $117AR(a great value), and 4gb ddr2 ($65). It should be able to compete with a nehalem rig at a reduced cost.