Would this be a good CPU upgrade?

[LW07]

Alright, i want to upgrade my system from my aging Athlon 64 x2, and i primarily play games and do basic surf the web stuff.

I've found a mobo/ram/CPU build that would allow me to get the E8400, 4 gigs of ram, and a $55 Gigabyte mobo for around ~$266 shipped. If i lower it even further to the E7400, the price will be $221 shipped.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128357
The gigabyte mobo

Are either of those two choices good? Will i be able to throw in a quad core in there later on, or will the 775 quads be discontinued in the next 3 years?

 

[dflynchimp]

three years is a long time. If Intel keeps like clockwork they'd have moved past three new archies and three new die shrinks. If you're buying right now I'd venture you'd think about going quad if the build is to last three years. Multithreading is only going to become more prominent.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

I would definitely get a quad. Any intel Quad will serve you much better come a year or two from now. Even a stock Q6600 burns out an E8400 OC'ed in multithreaded tasks. Games are all adopting multi-threading as well as work, office and media applications. The quad is worth it.

 

[LW07]

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
I would definitely get a quad. Any intel Quad will serve you much better come a year or two from now. Even a stock Q6600 burns out an E8400 OC'ed in multithreaded tasks. Games are all adopting multi-threading as well as work, office and media applications. The quad is worth it.

Would the Q8200 be a good choice?

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: LW07

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
I would definitely get a quad. Any intel Quad will serve you much better come a year or two from now. Even a stock Q6600 burns out an E8400 OC'ed in multithreaded tasks. Games are all adopting multi-threading as well as work, office and media applications. The quad is worth it.

Would the Q8200 be a good choice?

Check out AT's Phenom II Review, as it compares many different quads and duals across a # of applications.

 

[rarebear]

I just bought a E7400 to replace my P4 3.0
I plane to go Quad when in a year or so when prices are low..

I checked a bunch of charts and did not see the need to spend another $60 to go faster right now.. IMHO


Here is a link to a Q8400 vs a E7200

http://www.anandtech.com/bench...3.44.45.46.47.48.49.50

Almost even if you have plans to upgrade in a year or two when Q9900s are selling for a Cnote

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: rarebear
I just bought a E7400 to replace my P4 3.0
I plane to go Quad when in a year or so when prices are low..

I checked a bunch of charts and did not see the need to spend another $60 to go faster right now.. IMHO


Here is a link to a Q8400 vs a E7200

http://www.anandtech.com/bench...3.44.45.46.47.48.49.50

Almost even if you have plans to upgrade in a year or two when Q9900s are selling for a Cnote

IMO, that's false economy. Look to the Q6600 (still selling for north of $170), and you'll see that prices don't always fall that precipitously. In fact, prices for 775 quads may suffer from the "S939 dual-core effect" - prices surge, because folks are desperate to upgrade the CPU without replacing motherboard/RAM.

Comparing Newegg prices, the Q8200 is $50 more than e7400.

More and more apps/games are taking advantage of quad core. Some software - such as Photoshop CS4 and Far Cry 2 - enjoy a very considerable boost when moving to quad core, on the order of 30-50%.

As always, budget and usage play primary considerations. I'm merely pointing out the the benefits of quad core can be realized NOW.

 

[LW07]

Alright i guess i'll go with a Phenom II build since that'll give me the longest upgrade path before having to change the mobo

 

[Lonyo]

I went from a 4200+ 939 to an E5200 @ 3.4GHz.
The difference in games (HD4850 in both systems) was noticable (especially in Fallout 3 - ran like butter instead of being sluggish and laggy), but the difference in general day-to-day stuff, like web browsing etc isn't even noticeable.

 

[Dadofamunky]

You can probably sell that 4800+ on EBay to cover the cost of a quad! Get a Q9400 or a 9550. This is a great time to buy a quad (that is, if you're still solvent...)

 

[corsa]

Originally posted by: Lonyo
I went from a 4200+ 939 to an E5200 @ 3.4GHz.
The difference in games (HD4850 in both systems) was noticable (especially in Fallout 3 - ran like butter instead of being sluggish and laggy), but the difference in general day-to-day stuff, like web browsing etc isn't even noticeable.

Totally agree ..may I add that it's the fresh install that makes everything run soo much smoother

 

[DTess17]

I am coming from a 939 opteron 170.
I just got a Q9550 the other day. I'm still just tweaking and seeing what I can get for an OC, but the system feels much quicker. I think you'd be best off to go that route. Check for FS area. People are selling them pretty cheap to move to I7.

 

[RallyMaster]

Go straight for quad. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

 

[NoSoup4You]

I just went from an X2 4400+ to an E8400 a few weeks ago. Awesome upgrade, but if I had it to do over again I would have went with an E7400. Either way, it's light years better for gaming.

 

[poohbear]

why dont u go w/a phenom 2 920? it matches the 8400 in most gaming benchmarks that are'nt quad core and surpasses the 8400 in all benchmarks that take advantage of quadcore (encoding, photoshop, quad core games etc). You'll also be able to get a much richer mobo for much cheaper than u would if u went intel. It'll last u 3 years especially if u plan on doing overclocking.

Why is everyone recommending only intel? especially to a former AMD user?

 

[AstroManLuca]

Yeah, Phenom IIs basically offer performance similar to C2Qs except they do so in a socket that has some life left in it.

 

[yh125d]

I'd build with an e7x00 right now, and step up to a Q9550/9650 in a year or so when they're cheaper. Alternately, you could get a PHII setup now

 

[RallyMaster]

Originally posted by: yh125d
I'd build with an e7x00 right now, and step up to a Q9550/9650 in a year or so when they're cheaper. Alternately, you could get a PHII setup now

Disagree on the intermediate build and may have to disagree with the upgrade down the road idea. I think that down the road, the C2Qs might hit the same problem as what 939 X2s have right now. Plenty of demand but limited chips, which is why you see X2 3800+'s going for $90 on eBay right now. There will be plenty of people still wanting C2Qs with people wanting to go from C2Ds. IMO you should take one big step and just end it right then and there.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: RallyMaster

Originally posted by: yh125d
I'd build with an e7x00 right now, and step up to a Q9550/9650 in a year or so when they're cheaper. Alternately, you could get a PHII setup now

Disagree on the intermediate build and may have to disagree with the upgrade down the road idea. I think that down the road, the C2Qs might hit the same problem as what 939 X2s have right now. Plenty of demand but limited chips, which is why you see X2 3800+'s going for $90 on eBay right now. There will be plenty of people still wanting C2Qs with people wanting to go from C2Ds. IMO you should take one big step and just end it right then and there.

+1

Highly doubtful, IMO, that a Q9550 is going to be $125 (cost of e7300) cheaper one year from today. And, of course, you wouldn't be benefiting from quad-ness during that year.

Same logic applies to PhII.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Originally posted by: LW07

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
I would definitely get a quad. Any intel Quad will serve you much better come a year or two from now. Even a stock Q6600 burns out an E8400 OC'ed in multithreaded tasks. Games are all adopting multi-threading as well as work, office and media applications. The quad is worth it.

Would the Q8200 be a good choice?

I would say so. I'm not a pro overclocker at all but it was VERY easy to get a 2.75ghz.

There isn't a game i have then doesn't run well on stock clocks. I play games like DiRT, NBA 2K9, Crysis, Half Life Source games like CS:S, DOD:S, TF2, Gears of War, Call of Juarez, Battlefield 2/2142, and many others. The performance in incredible. With the overclock and upgrading my GPU my games are flying now.

Keep in mind i upgraded from a s939 4200+ at 2.4ghz, 4GB PC3200, and a Zotac 8800GTS 320mb and then a HD 3850. My current system with my SB Audigy just puts it to shame. I almost get 60FPS in Dirt when i overclock my GPU, so i know this system has power. When i lower the res all the way down i get 100 to 150fps in dirt, so i know the processor can push it real far.