upgrade to q9650 or 2500k

[PhantomTrooper]

I currently have an e8400, but would like to upgrade as my processor is a bottleneck in games like BF:BC2 and Empire: Total War.

Should I upgrade to a C2Q or a SB and a new mobo? If I just get a new CPU I would maybe have enough money left to buy a 560ti.

Please fire away with insults and suggestions

 

[smakme7757]

I went from a Q9450 (Originally an E8400 before that) to a 2600k and i can tell you right now that investing in a new system is the best option. I am so happy with mine!

You might also need new ram unless you are running on a DD3 775 board.

If you want some synthetic benchmarks i did these tests before i sold my Q9450.

Aida 64

Q9450
vs
2600K

 

[Necc]

Upgraded from a Q6600 to 2500K and the diffrences are day and night, invest in the 2500K its an awesome performer for the money.

btw what videocard are you running?

 

[betasub]

My experience with ETW is that it doesn't make much use of extra cores. Increasing clock speed on my i5-750 helped large battles run more smoothly. The overclocking + turbo options on i5-2500k should provide far better single-threaded performance than (OC'd) E8400 or Q9650.

btw what videocard are you running?

Good question. This info should be in the OP.

 

[Majic 7]

I went from a Q9550 at 3.6 to a 2600K at 4.3 and the difference is huge in BF:BC2. It was already really good, 65 to 150 FPS. Now it is 95 to 200 FPS. 1920 by 1200, single player. I've read the 2500K makes a big difference in multi-player, eliminates the lag when there are lots of players around. I found one game at least that justifies the upgrade, but usually I can't really see any difference.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Even the i3 2100 beats a Q9550 and a Q9650 isn't much faster

 

[GFORCE100]

Well there's always an itch to upgrade, especially amongst the younger age groups but I dare ask, why don't you overclock your Q9650? They're all E0's and many will do 4GHz+. You just need a good motherboard, PSU and cooler. Even if you leave the RAM at default you can run 3.6GHz with a 9x multiplier.

Other than that I would wait until Ivy Bridge in coming months, you'll like the 22nm manufacturing process even more.

 

[Necc]

Well there's always an itch to upgrade, especially amongst the younger age groups but I dare ask, why don't you overclock your Q9650? They're all E0's and many will do 4GHz+. You just need a good motherboard, PSU and cooler. Even if you leave the RAM at default you can run 3.6GHz with a 9x multiplier.

Other than that I would wait until Ivy Bridge in coming months, you'll like the 22nm manufacturing process even more.

He's running a E8400.

 

[GFORCE100]

He's running a E8400.

Ahhh....I shall slow down and read more carefully next time

Still, more and more games are making use of quad cores now so the extra two cores will come in handy.

...but a new 2500K/2600K system would be the best (performance not money wise) way to go.

 

[Zap]

...but a new 2500K/2600K system would be the best (performance not money wise) way to go.

Not without knowing what graphics card he's using right now. In the OP, he talks about wanting to upgrade the graphics to a GTX 560 Ti, but if he had to buy the motherboard too he wouldn't be able to afford the graphics card upgrade. Maybe it would help to know the graphics card? Maybe he would be better off with the graphics card upgrade first?

 

[GFORCE100]

Not without knowing what graphics card he's using right now. In the OP, he talks about wanting to upgrade the graphics to a GTX 560 Ti, but if he had to buy the motherboard too he wouldn't be able to afford the graphics card upgrade. Maybe it would help to know the graphics card? Maybe he would be better off with the graphics card upgrade first?

In which case an overclocked Q9650 seems the way to go in his situation. 3.6GHz will be easy and while it will still bottleneck a 560Ti the impact will me considerably less than at 3GHz.

 

[PhantomTrooper]

Not without knowing what graphics card he's using right now. In the OP, he talks about wanting to upgrade the graphics to a GTX 560 Ti, but if he had to buy the motherboard too he wouldn't be able to afford the graphics card upgrade. Maybe it would help to know the graphics card? Maybe he would be better off with the graphics card upgrade first?

Should have posted my GPU. I am running an Nvidia GTX 275. Motherboard is an ASUS P5N-D 750i SLI

 

[T101]

The Q6600 @ 3.6Ghz I used before is a slouch compared to the i7 2600k I am using now. Going Sandy Bridge will be the best option. Since it also will last you a while longer than just upgrading your CPU.

 

[tweakboy]

You might tell a difference in games.. but I guarantee you you will not see a diff from the Q9 on your desktop while your working browsing, apps, audio workstation etc...

Ewww sick, you have vsync off ,,,,,,,,, thats nasty image tearing and laggy,,, no good.

stupid setting, If you think this CPU is fast, wait for the Ivy Bridge My upgrade will be when my comp dies,, soo I can go running on my rig sig for another 10 years at least,, thank you

its unlimited what I can do with DAW ,,, and works 30 percent of total cpu , while on a intense project... Rendering the audio takes Sonar X1 Producer unlimited what I can do , how many tracks samples effects plugns soft synths etc etc,,

 

[gramboh]

The Q9650 with a GTX 560Ti will give you more game performance than a Sandy Bridge setup with a GTX 275. The 275 is already close to maxed out with your E8400.

As said, in normal desktop use, you aren't going to see a difference between the Q9650 and Sandy Bridge unless you do heavy encoding or other computational tasks.

If you can find a cheap 45nm Quad to drop in your current setup and grab a 560 you will be happy, just don't invest any other money into the 775 platform (e.g. ram, mobo, heatsink). I'm in a similar situation, if I see a 45nm Quad for $100 or less I might grab it, otherwise I'm waiting for Ivy Bridge.

 

[tweakboy]

Wait for a series of processors that can do 5 or 6Ghz with a simple OC ... ?

 

[happy medium]

Buy a used q9550 , overclock it to 3.6 and buy a gtx560. Thats your best upgrade to play games. At 1900x1080 , a q9550 at 3.6 will not bottleneck a gtx560.

 

[RussianSensation]

1. I don't play Empire Total War. But it appears the game uses at most 2 CPU cores (as evident by comparing Q6600 vs. E6600 at the same clock speeds). There is hardly a benefit of going from an E8400 & GTX280 to a QX9770 @ 4.0ghz & GTX280.

Also, this game uses HDR Rendering, Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO), Post Processing (e.g. Depth of Field) and the visualization of water - these are all graphics card killers and have no benefit from a faster CPU.

2. BF:BC2 will definitely work best with a quad core system (for online play). If you play it enough, it may makes sense to get a quad. However, you are still again MORE GPU limited than CPU limited in that game (that's not to say a quad won't bring a benefit but your GPU is still way too slow for this game).

Source.

So if on a budget, sell your GPU and grab a new GTX560, overclock the card and your E8400; and go from there

 

[tweakboy]

Buy a used q9550 , overclock it to 3.6 and buy a gtx560. Thats your best upgrade to play games. At 1900x1080 , a q9550 at 3.6 will not bottleneck a gtx560.

I agree !