Worth it to upgrade from Q9550 to i7 930?

[kypron77]

Hi, I was thinking of upgrading my cpu/mobo/ram to this

Gigabyte x58a-ud3r
Core i7 930 or Core it 920 with Coolermaster Hyper 212 plus overclocked to 3.4 - 3.6 ghz
3x2 gb Corsair xms3 ddr3 1600

from this

Core2Quad q9550 @3.4 ghz with Xigmatek s1283
2x2gb Corsair Dominator ddr2 1066
Asus P5Q-E


reusing

Antec 900
Pc Power and Cooling 750w
Western Digital 1 tb caviar black
Gtx 260 core 216

I mostly game and watch movies, I don't do much else.... Thing is, I was considering getting a GTX 480 and Windows 7, and want to make the most of it. Is it worth it? Sounds like sandybridge won't be overclockable, and not much (if at all) better than the core i7s...

 

[Blain]

It's not worth the upgrade $$$ for your usage.

 

[corkyg]

Generally agree with Blain - however, . . . what dollar cost are you looking at?

 

[kypron77]

I have a couple options.. Prices are from a local store in canadian dollars. I would be selling the old mobo/cpu/ram to help offset the cost.

Core i7 930 319.00
Gigabyte x58a-ud3r 240.00
Corsair xms3 6gb ddr3 1600 150.00

or

Core i7 870 320.00
Asus P7P55D-E 168.00
Corsair xms3 4gb ddr3 1600 110.00

So it's not a HUGE cost, but still will likely be 500.00 after selling old cpu/mobo/ram. (Plus I'll need to buy Windows 7 and a new Hard drive, but that's something I was going to do anyway) Which would be a better buy? (I already have a Coolermaster Hyper 212 plus to throw on either board)

Both these motherboards have usb 3.0 and sata 3 so I would be more set for the future.

 

[Spikesoldier]

q9550 is still a good chip.

i went from q9550 @ 3.7 to i3 530 @ 4.6 to i5 750 @ 4.0

i really want to compare q9550 @ 3.7 to what i got now and i think its not that much more.

for the 930 if you can get it up to 4.0/4.2 then you will notice a difference but i would wait until sandy bridge and see if you can still oc on that. otherwise a 930 @ 4.2 may be the best thing you can have besides gulftown for a while

 

[Spikesoldier]

q9550 is still a good chip.

i went from q9550 @ 3.7 to i3 530 @ 4.6 to i5 750 @ 4.0

i really want to compare q9550 @ 3.7 to what i got now and i think its not that much more.

for the 930 if you can get it up to 4.0/4.2 then you will notice a difference but i would wait until sandy bridge and see if you can still oc on that. otherwise a 930 @ 4.2 may be the best thing you can have besides gulftown for a while

 

[happy medium]

No its not

 

[Axon]

Upgrade the GPU if you want more gaming oomph.

 

[DSF]

Just adding another "don't bother" vote. If you drop $500 on that you're going to be disappointed. I'm still using an E4500 and games run pretty well. If I upgrade within the next year, which is unlikely, it'll be a graphics card, not a CPU.

 

[kypron77]

Thanks for the replies. Seems like a unanimous "no", and after scouring the net for benchmarks it seems it would only be worth it for me to go i7 if I was going to get an SLI system. I prefer just getting one top of the line video card, so I think I'll get a gtx 480 in a few months, and maybe update the cpu in a couple years. Thanks.

 

[tweakboy]

If you want the video render to do it 5 minutes faster. big deal. or if you wanna render audio. No difference youll see. Same things, games are same speed. pointless upgrade then youll bang yourself for not waiting for the i9 .... CPU/GPU chip

I bet you have never fully used your rig, like 100 percent CPU usage . only for benchmarking or stability tests u run at 100. but Im talking using your comp, what do you do,, playing games will never tax it fully.. maybe 25 to 50 percent usage.

If your into video editing or have a DAW and want that render to take 5 minutes instead of 8 and a half minutes. no point. pointless upgrade, people get happy doing it. get happy while I enjoy my 2007 rig. Thank you and of course as always God Bless...

 

[F1shF4t]

I went from a Q9550 @3.4 to a X6 1090T @3.8.
I haven't encoded for a while so see no real diff in general performance. Not worth the cost to upgrade, keep your q9550.

I needed a good mainboard for my NAS and had a X3 720 already with a dodgy board. Since I didn't need absolute stability for my desktop I used the X3, got new mainboard with DDR3 later.

Really didn't need the X6 as the X3 could be unlocked and oced to 3.2, but wanted something new to play with

 

[Davidh373]

If you want to make an upgrade now get a 460 and a 1080p monitor. Well worth it .

 

[fffblackmage]

+1 to keeping the Q9550.

You could watch movies on either CPUs without issues, and you'd get more out of the money you spend on a better GPU for gaming.

 

[TheNewGuy]

How about from a Q600 and a GTX 260 to an i7 930 and 5970 or 2-460 GTXs in sli? Gaming as well....

Rather post under a similar topic than start a new thread.

Thanks in advance...

Dave

 

[mfenn]

How about from a Q600 and a GTX 260 to an i7 930 and 5970 or 2-460 GTXs in sli? Gaming as well....

Rather post under a similar topic than start a new thread.

Thanks in advance...

Dave

OC the Q6600 a bit and get a reasonable GPU.

 

[Davidh373]

How about from a Q600 and a GTX 260 to an i7 930 and 5970 or 2-460 GTXs in sli? Gaming as well....

Rather post under a similar topic than start a new thread.

Thanks in advance...

Dave

You don't need the 5970 or the SLI. Keep the Quad and get a 470 or 480. SLI is not needed for games, period, and the 5970 is way overkill.

 

[TheNewGuy]

One piece of information, which is probably very important, is that I'm considering going with a 3 monitor setup ....guess I should have included that

Dave

 

[Davidh373]

One piece of information, which is probably very important, is that I'm considering going with a 3 monitor setup ....guess I should have included that

Dave

Oh, for gaming, get the 5850/ 5870. Still no need for the 5970. If it's 1080p then the 5870, if it's under that the 5850. I have a buddy that runs 3 720p monitors off a 5770 with some kind of adapter, I wouldn't go that route though, just saying you'd be surprised at what these modern cards can do!