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Which Intel Processor is "faster"?

M

Marc Ross Miller

Weaksauce
Joined
Sep 23, 2006
Messages
69
Can anyone say which Intel processor is "faster," the QX9650 or the i7-920? I currently have a QX9650 and I'm thinking of upgrading the processor, the motherboard, and the memory.

Thanks again.
 
Well the first question is what you are going to do on your rig?

Unless you're doing a lot of encoding or multi-threaded apps then you probably won't notice much of a different.

Not to mention the extra $600+ you'd have to drop just to upgrade the CPU/Mobo/RAM
 
The 920 is "faster". However, like the above poster said, it all depends on what you'll be using it for. Also, do you overclock? Because that makes a big difference as well.
 
Damn, I would say that even with encoding or multi-threaded apps in use the upgrade still isnt worth it unless you just have the money and want to blow it.

The i7-920 is the "faster" processor for sure, but not that much faster...if we were comparing a AMD X2 5000 then upgrading would be obvious...but for now, stick with what you have until you absolutely need to upgrade...at that point newer tech will be out and the money spent on upgrading now will go further in the future.
 
It's probably obvious if you can afford the i7 cores get it. The mobo is a 1366 socket which means its more upgrade compatible in the future and the performance is astounding though compared to the QX it's not THAT big of a deal according to benchmarks. I'd still upgrade to the i7 since you can get Xfire/Sli with Physx and triple channel memory.
 
As everyone has already mentioned, "what's your usage"? The QX9650 is a great chip that can handle any task. When overclocked, it can keep up with the i7 in most cases. I would say adding ram, &, or an SSD drive is the best bang for your buck at this time.
 
Not to mention the extra $600+ you'd have to drop just to upgrade the CPU/Mobo/RAM
Click to expand...

If the op sells the current system the difference should be $200 US to $300 US.
 
Thank you all for your responses.

My wife and I use the same PC at home. I'm a sociologist and I use the computer primarily for MS Office (Professional 2007) and internet use (mostly for doing research). My wife is an artist (and part time architect) and she uses Computer Aid Design (CAD) and other software for artists and architects. In regard to overclocking: an acquaintance of mine said to me that overclocking "may make the system unstable," but I have no idea if this is true or not.

Can anyone say if, in fact, "overclocking" can effect the stability of a PC?

Thanks again.
 
It can make the system unstable however its pretty easy to overclock without experiencing any stability problems. With turbo boost intel is actually making partial cpu overclocking a standard feature.
 
drescherjm said:
If the op sells the current system the difference should be $200 US to $300 US.
Click to expand...

You're right. My mistake. But I wasn't sure if he was going to sell his old parts or do an entirely new build.

Marc Ross Miller said:
Thank you all for your responses.

My wife and I use the same PC at home. I'm a sociologist and I use the computer primarily for MS Office (Professional 2007) and internet use (mostly for doing research). My wife is an artist (and part time architect) and she uses Computer Aid Design (CAD) and other software for artists and architects. In regard to overclocking: an acquaintance of mine said to me that overclocking "may make the system unstable," but I have no idea if this is true or not.

Can anyone say if, in fact, "overclocking" can effect the stability of a PC?

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Overclocking incorrectly can and will cause instability but there are plenty of members here willing to extend a hand should you have even a small question. We're all here in this community to help one another.

However, seeing that you aren't a extreme overclocker, you could still do a mild overclock from the stock 2.66GHz to maybe around 3.4-3.6GHz without causing instability while giving you a nice boost in speed.

Now, if you don't need the expandability of the i7 920 your other option is the i7 860, which also gives you HT but uses the less expensive LGA1156 platform. You could save a good $100-$150 with a cheaper board and RAM. Now I don't mean cheaper as in crappier stuff but it could save you money to upgrade to maybe a better GPU for you're wife to do her CAD stuff.
 
SFaznSpEEdSTeR said:
Overclocking incorrectly can and will cause instability but there are plenty of members here willing to extend a hand should you have even a small question. We're all here in this community to help one another.
Click to expand...

Correction: Overclocking can and will cause instability if you do it incorrectly and without thorough testing. However, if you know the upper limits for all of the necessary voltages and test your system for stability in increments, then overclocking will not cause instability.
 
PC_User said:
Correction: Overclocking can and will cause instability if you do it incorrectly and without thorough testing. However, if you know the upper limits for all of the necessary voltages and test your system for stability in increments, then overclocking will not cause instability.
Click to expand...

Yes I forgot that small tibit. As long as you do all the stability testings you should be fine and seeing you probably aren't going to push the OC that far with the amount of task you are going to do on the comp, you'll probably don't have to mess around with voltages too much.
 
i will be coming from a q6600 system, and i got 3gb ram, 920 and mb with a little wireless network adapter for 450 after 8% tax... so it can be done for under 600. once i sell my other mb, cpu and ram combo, i can probably get 200-250 for that setup. i really like the old mb though, it has onboard wifi... i might just keep it.
 
Thanks again to all.

One more question: What kind of testing is suggested for testing the stability of the system?

If I do overclock the i7-920 I wouldn't do it myself. Rather, I'd have the PC specialist who troubleshoots the computers at my office do it. I understand that, as SFaznSpEEdSTeR says, "...mild overclock(ing) from the stock 2.66GHz to maybe around 3.4-3.6GHz without causing instability while giving you a nice boost in speed." Special thanks to SFaznSpEEdSTeR for his kind words.
 
I also recommend Intel Burn Test. Very thorough (make sure to run 2 instances to stress the CPU @ 100%) and relatively quick so you don't have to prime the system for 24-48 hours.
 
i keep seeing people make mention of running 2 instances of IBT. i don't get this. why do i need 2 instances of it?

if i set IBT to maximum stress level (to use all available ram) and set the number of threads to 8 (i have a xeon x3440 with HT enabled) i see 100% usage of my cpu.

edit: 100% usage of my cpu as reported by coretemp and/or realtemp
 
Jason said:
i keep seeing people make mention of running 2 instances of IBT. i don't get this. why do i need 2 instances of it?

if i set IBT to maximum stress level (to use all available ram) and set the number of threads to 8 (i have a xeon x3440 with HT enabled) i see 100% usage of my cpu.

edit: 100% usage of my cpu as reported by coretemp and/or realtemp
Click to expand...

That also works. :) I meant you have to run 2 instances if you leave the number of threads on "Auto."
 
Marc Ross Miller said:
Thanks again to all.

One more question: What kind of testing is suggested for testing the stability of the system?

If I do overclock the i7-920 I wouldn't do it myself. Rather, I'd have the PC specialist who troubleshoots the computers at my office do it. I understand that, as SFaznSpEEdSTeR says, "...mild overclock(ing) from the stock 2.66GHz to maybe around 3.4-3.6GHz without causing instability while giving you a nice boost in speed." Special thanks to SFaznSpEEdSTeR for his kind words.
Click to expand...

Theres LinX 0.64, Intel Burn Test, Prime95, and OCCT just to name a few.

Now as for the overclock, I don't know how much your PC specialist know about overclocking (and please don't take this the wrong way) but when I said that I was referring that to something you can do yourself. You can pretty much do the said 3.4-3.6GHz overclock just by raising a few voltages a few notches while seeing only a slight temperature increase. It's only usually once you past 3.6GHz+ that you need a bit more tinkering to get stable while keeping temperatures at a reasonable level.

However, it might be good that you let your PC specialist to do the overclock for you because otherwise you might catch the ever-contagious OC bug:D
 
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