Q9550 upgrade or not?

T

teatime0315

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
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Hey everyone, I'm debating on whether to get an i5 2500k or not. Currently MC has it on sale for 180 dollars. Would that be a substantial upgrade over my Q9550? And what is this Ivy Bridge I keep hearing about? Should I wait for that?

Current rig:

Intel Q9550 (stock)
8GB RAM
4850 512mb (soon to be 6950 1gb)
Intel 160GB G2
1920x1200 Resolution

Games that I play:

SC2
Bad Company 2
Battlefield 3 (hopefully I can handle it with the HD6950)

What would you guys do in this situation?
 
teatime0315 said:
Hey everyone, I'm debating on whether to get an i5 2500k or not. Currently MC has it on sale for 180 dollars. Would that be a substantial upgrade over my Q9550?
Click to expand...
Yes

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/50?vs=288

And what is this Ivy Bridge I keep hearing about? Should I wait for that?
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IVY bridge will be the die shrink of sandy bridge, it's due out sometime next year and will probablly bring increased clockspeeds and maybe some minor architectural tweaks but nothing revoloutionary.
 
If your Q-whatever processor is running your GFX card @ 90% or better GPU usage then with SB you will see 10 percent FPS improvement in games according to that chart, that's like diddly squat, because if your game is running say 30 fps and your not happy, getting a 10 percent improvement bumps you up to 33 fps lmao!...might as well just stick with that CPU and upgrade your GFX card or go SLI/CFX IMO so you will see more than piddly 10 percent improvement in FPS (Since you have a 4850 you could easily boost fps by 40-50 percent going to 69502GB or a 560/560Ti 2 GB or an even higher end/better card 580GTX 3GB/6990 4GB.

Now if your games are stuttering here and there, then you might want to make sure first that you don't have any system memory bottlenecks (use task manager=(alt+ctrl+del)->Resource Manager->Memory Usage to diagnose), or any GPU memory bottlenecks (use GPU-Z to diagnose->2nd tab option) before you go all in on a newer cpu to alleviate that problem. But do what you like bro...rock on!

EDIT oh yeah a VGA Chart for BFBC2 with about every modern this gen card benched :)
 
Thanks for the insight guys. You guys probably just saved me some money. I'm going to try and OC it for the first time. I'm running on the stock fan right now. Any recommendations for an aftermarket one that can take it to 4.0ghz?
 
Even if you don't/can't overclock it, keep it for another year until Ivy Bridge. If you can hold out two more years until Haswell that would even be better. If anything, just upgrade your gpu for now.
 
Hyper 212 does look good for air cooling. Just make sure you have room around your CPU socket for clearance. Not sure if high RAM heat sinks will be a problem.

Corsair H50 worked decent for my rig.

Right now I'm running a water loop on my Q9550 and it stays low 50C under [email protected]. Loop has a GPU in it as well.
 
If you don't need to build another rig, just keep the 9550 and OC if your really need more performance.
 
I'm in the same situation as TeaTime, I haven't OC mine either. What Graphics cards would you guys recommend?

I really like my 9550 but just started to look into the next line of CPUs (Ivy Bridge) because of Arma 2 & 3, and Battlefield 3.
 
You might keep in mind that the later stepping of the Q9550 had a little more headroom than the original. Also, the P45 chipset is better at hitting a high FSB compared to P35. I think my P35 based board ran out of headroom before my cpu did. If you've got a P45 or X48 based mobo you could see 3.6+, but P35 is a little tougher. Least you have the higher multi in the 9550 instead of the 9450. I'd still give it a go, overclocking is free performance. I wouldn't upgrade unless you're doing alot of video editing or something like that.

At a min, i'd wait to see what bulldozer is going to do.
 
Looking at your specs, I'd definitely DEFINITELY look into overclocking that Q9550, at least to 3.2 or 3.4GHz. You'll see a nice performance boost with games like Bad Company 2. I'd also upgrade your 4850 because that thing is pretty damn long in the tooth now-a-day with something like a 6870 or even 6950. These two things will transform your rig because 8GB or RAM should be more than enough for the average gamer/user.
 
Right now, I'm at 3.4GHz and testing for stability on Asus P5Q motherboard. I think my aftermarket CPU cooler is decent enough so I might try to push up to 3.6GHz. At 4GHz, I'm afraid of overheating during this coming Summer.

Also, I just ordered a MSI GTX 570 Twin Frozr II/OC for 1920 x 1200 gaming. My PowerMac has the older Dell 2408WFP which I plan to test out with the new video card.

Unfortunately, my 2408WFP developed a stripped line on the right side during start up. After a few minutes it disappears but I'm wondering how long it will last. The Dell U2410 looks very temping to me right now.
 
Yeah I have an HD6950 on the way. Already ordered, Amazon is just taking their sweet time shipping it.
As for the aftermarket fan, I was thinking of picking up the coolermaster 212? Supposedly thats a really good bang-for-your-buck cooler. Since this is going to be my first time overclocking, I'm a bit nervous.
 
Just go slow, the 9550 is a fantastic chip to overclock and you should be fine with a mid-3ghz overclock on any decent air cooler.
 
Yeah I have a 2600K processor almost going to be built. But I decided to revive my old build and I love it. I think I might just want to sell the processor. Here is some screenshots of what is possible with the Q9550...

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/7046/q955041ghzstable.png

4.1 Ghz and I still have more room to grow. I actually know now my bottleneck is my ram, and I also have a GTX 285 OC which is overclocked to OCX speeds. I love the machine and it handles everything I throw at it. I gotta love the EP45 UD3 Series motherboard. P45 All Day!

q955041ghzstable.png
 
Good choice on OC'ing your CPU and getting a new GPU instead. I was also looking into upgrading my CPU but it is more of a "want" than "need." I can definitely still run my games really really well. And so with your gtx 570, there is absolutely no reason for you to not be able to do the same.
 
Yeah. I actually have a cooler master 212 plus. I was having trouble with the fan pinouts with this screenshot, but Intel Burn Test is like 10 Degrees Higher then prime. Highest I reached was at 4.1 Ghz is 77 Degrees, far from a longshot of Max 100. I think temperatures in the High 80's is getting scary. But now I can run this all day without breaking 73 Degreees now. :D I found the correct fan pinouts which supply 12 volts direct and spin my fans to 2000 rpm. The others is PWM pinout but I havent seen my fan go above 600. I have 2 PWM coolermaster fans in a Push In Pull configuration, and the slow fan was in push at this time. Its all fix though now!
 
I had also been using the Q9550 for the last several years. I did me well, but when I got wind of the Sandy Bridge and all the new hardware that could go along with it, I could not resist building one out.

I am going to hold onto my Q9550 rig though, but have yet to attempt any over-clocking. It's seated in a EVGA 780i currently - how would that manage for OCing? The north bridge runs majorly hot, and two of its RAM slots are bad (which was a major deal-sealer for an early upgrade to Sandy Bridge). So I guess I have nothing to lose at this point! At least I have an auxiliary rig now, in-case manage to run it off a cliff.

Thanks for the info here guys. Big help.
 
SonDa5 said:
Q9550 rocks for gaming. Just over clock it. I run my S775 DFI P45 system with [email protected]. Great performance.
Click to expand...

Damn, how did you get it up to 4.3? I highest stable OC I can get my Q9450 up to is 3.56. Even at that, it does a pretty damn good job but I can tell it is a slight bottleneck at times. Pretty sure my mobo is limiting the OC, I barely have to overvolt the CPU.

I've got a 6870 to go along with it but wish I would've spent a little more on the vid card - I like maxing out anti-aliasing and I can't do that w/ some games.
 
toddfx said:
I had also been using the Q9550 for the last several years. I did me well, but when I got wind of the Sandy Bridge and all the new hardware that could go along with it, I could not resist building one out.

I am going to hold onto my Q9550 rig though, but have yet to attempt any over-clocking. It's seated in a EVGA 780i currently - how would that manage for OCing? The north bridge runs majorly hot, and two of its RAM slots are bad (which was a major deal-sealer for an early upgrade to Sandy Bridge). So I guess I have nothing to lose at this point! At least I have an auxiliary rig now, in-case manage to run it off a cliff.

Thanks for the info here guys. Big help.
Click to expand...

I pulled off all of the heatsinks on the north bridge and applied arctic silver. It was a real pain to do so since the old heatsink goo was basically glued on at that point. I used a hair dryer to warm it up a little bit, not too much. Was a little nervous I was going to break something but eventually it came off clean and the north bridge is much cooler now.
 
I upgraded from an X3350 (Q9550) OC @ 4.0Ghz to a 2600k @ 5.0. Black ops finally had no slowdowns, which I guess is common with 775 cpus, as I had a friend w/the same chip and a 580 with slowdown issues. I am now able to play SC2, while fraps recording, and encoding the recordings all at the same time with no lag... My 775 computer would have curled up and died if I attempted such a thing. This upgrade was a very big one for me...so, I recommend...when I fraps w/my setup below on my raptors, I lose 1-2FPS...on my 775, my FPS tanked...just some food for thought.
 
TBONEU said:
Right now, I'm at 3.4GHz and testing for stability on Asus P5Q motherboard. I think my aftermarket CPU cooler is decent enough so I might try to push up to 3.6GHz. At 4GHz, I'm afraid of overheating during this coming Summer.

Also, I just ordered a MSI GTX 570 Twin Frozr II/OC for 1920 x 1200 gaming. My PowerMac has the older Dell 2408WFP which I plan to test out with the new video card.

Unfortunately, my 2408WFP developed a stripped line on the right side during start up. After a few minutes it disappears but I'm wondering how long it will last. The Dell U2410 looks very temping to me right now.
Click to expand...


im curious as to what cooler you are using on your P5Q/Q9550 as i have a similar combo...

EDIT: oh, and what ram/timings do you use ?

:)
 
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Well, with your current setup it'll require a decent amount of messing with to get a stable good OC...research, it won't be hard...if you're still having problems a 2500k is so easy to OC all of the shortbus kids could do it.
 
orpheusnz said:
im curious as to what cooler you are using on your P5Q/Q9550 as i have a similar combo...

EDIT: oh, and what ram/timings do you use ?

:)
Click to expand...

Orpheusnz, I'm using a Xigmatek HDT-RS1283 120MM cooler which I thought was in my sig? And I did some Googling and found this. I used Gazmatrix settings (his last post on the bottom page). Still haven't tried to up the CPU yet, at 3.4GHz it's been very stable so far.
 
The EP45-UD3R is a GREAT motherboard. It was probably one of the best P45 boards to come out near the end of 775's lifetime. Always read about it achieving monster FSB speeds with rock solid stability and sort of wished I picked one up instead of my P5Q Pro.
 
teatime0315 said:
EP45-UD3R
Stock fan. (soon changing)
Click to expand...
The P45 should clock that chip to 3.8/4.0 without a problem....4.2 and over is also very possible but will take some tweaking.....but until you get better cooling, I would keep it below 3.6 which should be possible with just a slight bump in voltage....
 
Just adding more of the same. Keep it ! It´s a great CPU.

Mine is rock solid at 3.57 GHz (420 x 8.5) with a Xigmatek HDT-RS1283 120mm cooler. The GPU still seems like my bottleneck. It would be great to go to 4GHz later on when a 28nm GPU arrives in my system.

Thinking about relaxing my CAS latencies a little to go higher. I am running Vcore 1.336 which seems a bit much... is it safe to go to 1.4-1.5V ?

Would I need a better cooler for this as well?
 
Back at running stability tests at 3.773 GHz...it was not rock solid here, on 6-6-6-18 and 1.35V temps are around 50 C.... maybe this time it will work :)
 
nakedhand said:
Just adding more of the same. Keep it ! It´s a great CPU.

Mine is rock solid at 3.57 GHz (420 x 8.5) with a Xigmatek HDT-RS1283 120mm cooler. The GPU still seems like my bottleneck. It would be great to go to 4GHz later on when a 28nm GPU arrives in my system.

Thinking about relaxing my CAS latencies a little to go higher. I am running Vcore 1.336 which seems a bit much... is it safe to go to 1.4-1.5V ?

Would I need a better cooler for this as well?
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1.4 and even 1.45 is perfectly fine on a Q9550...if you can keep it cool, those volts wont cause any problems.....1.5 and over I would start to be concerned......and even then, I have seen numerous people running 1.5 on those chips......but they were all water cooled......
 
Crosshairs said:
1.4 and even 1.45 is perfectly fine on a Q9550...if you can keep it cool, those volts wont cause any problems.....1.5 and over I would start to be concerned......and even then, I have seen numerous people running 1.5 on those chips......but they were all water cooled......
Click to expand...

I thought 1.35 Volts was the Max Safe Voltage. I have mines running at 1.328 vcore at 4.1 Ghz. I know I can bump alittle more voltage to go to 1.35 volts and hopefully get a clock of 4.4 Ghz. I am stuck at this speed, as I feel its will take alot more vcore to reach higher speeds. I have read that cpu 45nm processors should be max at 1.35 volts while the 65nm processors its safe to go to 1.5 volts. I did boot at 4.22 Ghz, but I know my ram wasnt up to the job. I have DDR2 800 Ram, and running to a 1 to 1 ratio. I was already peaking at 480 Mhz FSB on ram. So I was stressing that part. I will pick up new ram, but at 4.1 Ghz at 1.328 vcore I cant complain. I know I am sitting on a golden chip.
 
FWIW, I'm running a Q9450 overclocked to 3.4ghz. I believe my Mobo (Asus Striker II Formula) is my limiting factor, as it simply won't go any higher and remain stable. I'm using an aftermarket fan, arctic silver on the CPU and NB, which still runs hot. I'm very happy gaming using gtx 470's SLI'd on a 1200p monitor.

To the OP, I think you are doing the right thing by trying to OC your cpu, and upgrade your gpu. I think you'll be happy there until you decide to build your next rig, best of luck to ya :)
 
Been running my Q9450 @ 1.4V for ages, although there is considerable vdroop on my mobo.

Only runs at 3.6ghz under true torture reliability testing though. The magic 4ghz number sure would be nice though. I really haven't seen any true CPU bottlenecks in my games though, but I was running three 1200p monitors before and then a 2560x1600 so GPU is usually the issue first.

Biggest upgrade I've seen in performance was just getting my programs and OS off my disk drive and onto a fast SSD.
 
TyrantTru said:
I upgraded from an X3350 (Q9550) OC @ 4.0Ghz to a 2600k @ 5.0. Black ops finally had no slowdowns, which I guess is common with 775 cpus, as I had a friend w/the same chip and a 580 with slowdown issues. I am now able to play SC2, while fraps recording, and encoding the recordings all at the same time with no lag... My 775 computer would have curled up and died if I attempted such a thing. This upgrade was a very big one for me...so, I recommend...when I fraps w/my setup below on my raptors, I lose 1-2FPS...on my 775, my FPS tanked...just some food for thought.
Click to expand...

What was the speed of the ram on the S775 systems that you say had problems with black ops?

On my GTX 470 with Q9550 I notice very smooth game play with my ram right at 1100 mhz. This is on MW2 and UT3. I would think a GTX580 would even be smoother. I don't care to run fraps at all. I see no need for fraps when gaming.
 
Any of you guys using a Corsair H50? Thinking of picking that up instead of the Coolermaster 212.
Realistically is the H50 going to take me up to 4.0ghz easy? Thanks!

EDIT: Oh yeah, just got my HD6950, freaking such a great upgrade. I'm sure I'm CPU limited but its not unplayable. Glad I listened to you guys instead of the "upgrade bug".
 
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