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UpGrade to Q9650?

K

Kato1144

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 18, 2007
Messages
359
Hey I was just wondering if a Upgrade fro my E8400 to a Q9650 is worth it, I just game on this computer but game are starting to get more demanding like Red Faction: Guerrilla and even games like supreme commander run slow after you get 1000+ unit on screen including AI.

anyway will the performance difference be worth the money (359.99 on new egg) or just stick to good old OCing the E8400 (Worried i might kill it at a 1.4VTT).

-thanks
 
Supreme Commander will definitely benefit from it, since the game takes advantage of additional cores. However, most games won't. I don't think it's worth it to get a Q9650, but you might consider purchasing a less expensive quad-core like a Q9550 or Q9400 instead if you really want to improve your performance in games like Supreme Commander or GTA4.
 
If you are more than just gaming, I would look into selling your E8400 and getting a used Q9550. You should be able to accomplish that for less than $75 US + the E8400.
 
Kato1144 said:
Hey I was just wondering if a Upgrade fro my E8400 to a Q9650 is worth it, I just game on this computer but game are starting to get more demanding like Red Faction: Guerrilla and even games like supreme commander run slow after you get 1000+ unit on screen including AI.

anyway will the performance difference be worth the money (359.99 on new egg) or just stick to good old OCing the E8400 (Worried i might kill it at a 1.4VTT).

-thanks
Click to expand...

$360 for a C2Q.... I definitely wouldn't do it.... If I was wanting to upgrade, I would go with an i7 system... the i7-920 at stock 2.66Ghz beats a C2Q at 3.88Ghz.
 
$360 for a C2Q.... I definitely wouldn't do it....
Click to expand...

For that money, I would wait a few months and buy an entire i5 system. Well at least motherboard, processor and memory..
 
Ive hit 3.8ghz with a small bump in voltage with that chip. 4ghz shouldnt be to hard to hit but dont go just throwing voltage at the CPU.. there are other settings you need to worry about as well. I would get what you can out of it and save your money for whats next or for i7 or i5 prices to drop. 360$ Will almost get a nice i7 board and chip (if microcenter is around you). Then you just need ram and a bolt through kit for your heatsink to match socket 1366. So either spend a bit more for i7 or hold out and OC your current chip is my recommendation.
 
cyclone3d said:
$360 for a C2Q.... I definitely wouldn't do it.... If I was wanting to upgrade, I would go with an i7 system... the i7-920 at stock 2.66Ghz beats a C2Q at 3.88Ghz.
Click to expand...

In what? definitely not gaming. Got any links to back up your pile of turd statement? :confused:

Clock for clock the i7 is faster, but not that much faster, especially for gaming.
 
aZn_plyR said:
In what? definitely not gaming. Got any links to back up your pile of turd statement? :confused:

Clock for clock the i7 is faster, but not that much faster, especially for gaming.
Click to expand...

Kinda what I was thinking.. I know clock for Clock i7 is faster in games but we are talking about a huge difference in speed between 2.66 and 3.88ghz.
 
aZn_plyR said:
In what? definitely not gaming. Got any links to back up your pile of turd statement? :confused:

Clock for clock the i7 is faster, but not that much faster, especially for gaming.
Click to expand...

Just going by Sisoft Sandra CPU benchmarks....

Comparing a stock i7-920 2.66Ghz to my Q6600 running at 3.88Ghz. Mine gets close to stock i7-920 scores.. but it is still a bit slower.

Now if you take away the hyperthreading, it might be closer to equaling a C2Q at about 3.4-3.5 Ghz or so.

True a lot of games are not gonna need that kinda CPU power, but it is still outrageous to pay $360 for a C2Q. I am betting though that a stock i7-920 would still be CPU limited in certain places in WoW... due to the horrid threading of the game.. but still.. it would be CPU limited.
 
Why not get a Q9550 and save some cash for something else. If you have a Micro Center near you, they have Q9550s for $169.
 
Atl530i said:
Why not get a Q9550 and save some cash for something else. If you have a Micro Center near you, they have Q9550s for $169.
Click to expand...

Not a bad price for an upgrade. Can probably get decent money for the used 8400.
 
Zero82z said:
Sandra synthetic benchmarks are completely worthless when it comes to judging actual performance.
Click to expand...

For some things, yes... but for judging relative performance to a different processor it is decent enough.

Been using it for that for long enough to know that it is fairly accurate in that respect.

The same goes for the RAM throughput tests.
 
well I guess if i find a Q9550 on sale for cheap I will grab it but other then that you have convinced me it not really worth the money, thanks.

-Kato
 
cyclone3d said:
For some things, yes... but for judging relative performance to a different processor it is decent enough.
Click to expand...
No, it really isn't. An i7 at 2.66GHz is certainly not faster than a C2Q running at 3.8GHz except in certain particular cases that rely directly upon things like HT and the IMC. In most cases, the clock speed deficit of the i7 will put it below the Core 2.
 
Copyright said:
Not a bad price for an upgrade. Can probably get decent money for the used 8400.
Click to expand...

Did this exact upgrade. Purchased the Q9550 from MC for $170, then turned around and got rid of my E8400 on Craigslist for $130 in cash.

I don't see much of any improvement, but then again I haven't taken advantage of much that really shines on a quad-core. For $40 - I still think it's worth it ...
 
Yeah. Not worth it just for gaming.

I built a PC around the Q9450 and I basically use it to play games and encode video at the same time. It's great!!!!
 
Only if you can get a good quad core for under $200. There are some deals at Microcenter for Q9550s for $199 every now and then IIRC.
 
Kato1144 said:
Hey I was just wondering if a Upgrade fro my E8400 to a Q9650 is worth it, I just game on this computer but game are starting to get more demanding like Red Faction: Guerrilla and even games like supreme commander run slow after you get 1000+ unit on screen including AI.

anyway will the performance difference be worth the money (359.99 on new egg) or just stick to good old OCing the E8400 (Worried i might kill it at a 1.4VTT).

-thanks
Click to expand...


I believe it would help. I went from a E8500 @ 4ghz to a i7 920 @ 3.2ghz. In games that are CPU intensive like GTA4, it was a easy 10-15 fps gain. The system also just felt much snappier. It also helped other games as well. A dual core was bottlenecking my 4870x2 @ 1920x1200 res.
 
I say wait, unless you don't have anything else to waste money on. I'm a poor man so I'm sticking with my overclocked e6750 until the next generation.
 
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