q9450 worth upgrading to Sandy Bridge?

[smoothvirus]

Current specifications:

Q9450 (oc 3.2ghz)
Asus P5Q-E
4GB RAM (Gskill)
ATI 5870 1GB
Vista Ultimate 64
SeaSonic M12 SS-700HM 700W
Cooler Master Cosmos S case

Last year I thought about upgrading to a Core i7 920 but ultimately decided it was not worth going with a new CPU/Motherboard/RAM.

So now it's 2011, was pondering going with this setup:

Intel Core i5-2500K
ASUS P8P67-M PRO
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3
OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G
Win7 Home Premium 64bit
total price from Newegg: $823.94

I'll keep my case, hard drives, power supply, and video card. Not sure if it's worth upgrading the video card right now. I don't *think* I'll need to update the power supply.

One big reason to upgrade; I'm sick to death of how bloated and slow Vista is. I have an Asus G73 laptop with Win7 on it and it runs circles around my desktop as far as boot times and starting up applications. However I know for a fact that the hardware on my desktop is theoretically faster.

 

[mnewsham]

I would personally get the OCZ vertex 2 and windows 7 64bit, then wait until ivy bridge and maybe socket 2011. That is a good computer you already have, if you are set on upgrading tho that would be a fine upgrade

 

[Zargon]

the PSU would be fine as long as its not too old

the GPU will do fine too for a while

do you game heavily?

 

[mfenn]

I would personally get the OCZ vertex 2 and windows 7 64bit, then wait until ivy bridge and maybe socket 2011. That is a good computer you already have, if you are set on upgrading tho that would be a fine upgrade

:thumbsup: Those two will make a bigger difference in general-usage performance than Sandy Bridge will.

 

[Zargon]

yup

 

[sticks435]

Pretty much my plan. Wait to see what happens with the Gen 3 SSD's, and by that time hopefully the GTX 560 will drop in price. Snatch those up, then wait to see who wins the platform wars.

 

[Zargon]

I'm playing the SSD waiting game too

althought the 64gb C300 is a shellshocker today and is tempting at 100 OTD no rebates

 

[smoothvirus]

I guess the recall of many Sandy Bridge motherboards has answered the question for me. Not worth it for now, that's for sure! Maybe in May or June when the Z68 chipset comes out.

I do game quite a bit, lately I've been simming on MS Flight Simulator X, where CPU speed is paramount. I've been hearing about Sandy Bridge CPUs overclocking to 4.8ghz (on air?), which would be a big boost.

So it might be worth it come summer. My question at this point is sockets... I don't want a board with a socket that Intel decides is a dead end.

 

[Blain]

My question at this point is sockets... I don't want a board with a socket that Intel decides is a dead end.

Intel will always kill their sockets, some sooner than others.
You won't and can't stay ahead of them on that issue.

 

[BoomerD]

Intel will always kill their sockets, some sooner than others.
You won't and can't stay ahead of them on that issue.

True dat. Technology changes all the time. The concept of "future proofing" is a pipe dream at best.

 

[TheDrD]

Socket 1155 may be compatible with Ivy Bridge chips...

 

[mnewsham]

Socket 1155 may be compatible with Ivy Bridge chips...

they are already planning IB to be socket 2011 and 1155 so it's a safe bet you have an upgrade path for at least another generation.

 

[mfenn]

I guess the recall of many Sandy Bridge motherboards has answered the question for me. Not worth it for now, that's for sure! Maybe in May or June when the Z68 chipset comes out.

I do game quite a bit, lately I've been simming on MS Flight Simulator X, where CPU speed is paramount. I've been hearing about Sandy Bridge CPUs overclocking to 4.8ghz (on air?), which would be a big boost.

So it might be worth it come summer. My question at this point is sockets... I don't want a board with a socket that Intel decides is a dead end.

Hate to tell you this, but all sockets are dead ends. LGA 775 just spoiled people because it lasted for an exceptionally long time. Anybody remember Socket 423? Didn't think so.

 

[smoothvirus]

Well, I was in MicroCenter yesterday, and they had the 2600K on sale for $275. I'm guessing that when the motherboards come back in stock they'll sell out of the 2700K at that price. So I grabbed one - knowing I'll have to wait for a month or two. I have a Zalman CNPS heatsink now, hopefully that will work on the new socket.

 

[mfenn]

Well, I was in MicroCenter yesterday, and they had the 2600K on sale for $275. I'm guessing that when the motherboards come back in stock they'll sell out of the 2700K at that price. So I grabbed one - knowing I'll have to wait for a month or two. I have a Zalman CNPS heatsink now, hopefully that will work on the new socket.

The mounting holes for 1155 and 1156 are the same, so if a bracket exists for 1156, then you are good to go.

 

[smoothvirus]

Zalman sells a clip support kit for the 1155 that will fit the CNPS9700 so I'm good there. Just noticed that the board I have listed in this thread is a micro-ATX model. That will not do - the CNPS9700 would not clear the 5870 video card on that board. Looks like the P8P67 PRO (no -M) would work fine though.

 

[mfenn]

Zalman sells a clip support kit for the 1155 that will fit the CNPS9700 so I'm good there. Just noticed that the board I have listed in this thread is a micro-ATX model. That will not do - the CNPS9700 would not clear the 5870 video card on that board. Looks like the P8P67 PRO (no -M) would work fine though.

Good catch!

 

[smoothvirus]

I finally put everything together this weekend. Pretty sad how much free time I have these days because I have had all the parts sitting on my desk since May.

So far so good. Got Windows 7 up and running, so now I'm restoring my data to the new installation. I got the OCZ Vertex 3. I have heard lots of bad mojo floating around on tech forums about OCZ, so I'm backing my SSD up with Acronis to a NAS.

Just kind of slapped everything together this weekend, didn't really do much in the way of tweaking. After I get things the way I like it I'll let it run for 2-3 weeks and then overclock.

 

[mfenn]

Yeah, I know how you feel. I get depressed when I look at my virtual pile of Steam games that I haven't even installed. Glad you got it up and running!