Speed vs. Power consumption

[Ruoh]

I'm looking more and more at building a new system, and trying to weigh the pros and cons of quad vs dual core i5. I will certainly be overclocking (air). Most biggest concern is wether it's really necessary to have a four core (instead of two) 4ghz+ cpu for the types of I play. This will be paired up with the quickest ram available for the MB I choose, and an Nvidia card (400 series of some sort).

I'll be playing mostly games like Borderlands/L4D/TF2 etc, and staying away from games like COD.

My current system runs a Q9500@3.88ghz. I have a LOT of idle cpu time with the games above, and I hate to waste the actual heat and power consumed. What do you suggest?

 

[RamonGTP]

I think it would be foolish not to go with a quad core for any new systems unless they are being used for light or moderatly intensive tasks. While a dual core will be plenty for the games you've mentioned, a LOT of games today rely very heavily on the CPU thanks to poor console porting.

The other question is, if your Q9550 is running well and still has power to spare, why upgrade at all?

 

[lupo]

Good point!

 

[DaFox]

The other question is, if your Q9550 is running well and still has power to spare, why upgrade at all?

I really gotta back this up. You might as well wait to see what AMD's Bulldozer and hell even Intels Sandy Bridge-EX bring later next year if you're still happy with your current system.