Q9XXX vs Core i7 930 vs Sandy Bridge vs AMD?

[TridenT]

So, I'm here in dual core world. Kinda sucks. It's not enough. I needz the quads corez or morez.

I'm currently in a Asus Rampage Formula X48 motherboard (LGA 775) with 4x1GB of DDR2 and a C2D E7200. So, cheapest option would be a Q9550 or something like that. Next option is Core i7 930/920 but that's going to cost a lot more because I'd basically have to get a new motherboard, new ram, new CPU. ($80 + $160 + $250) Then there is Sandy Bridge which is just around the corner apparently, but how much will that cost? ($80 + $200 + $300?) I don't know how well those will overclock either. :/ (And I likes teh overclawkin')

I could go AMDs way too I guess with a 1090T or something, but they seem to be below what Intel is offering speed wise.

Ideas?

 

[Sp12]

Sandy Bridge.

50$ DDR3 (Already that price and dropping)
~120$ Mobo (Premium end for overclawkin)
~216 i5-2500K

 

[GR8Madmax]

You have to first think about your budget and what you will be doing with the upgraded system. Then go from there...

I am in a similar boat as you (C2D e6600 @ 3.0ghz) and have already started buying parts for a new SB i7 2600k system (decided to keep the C2D system untouched for the wife). All I have left to buy is the CPU and motherboard.

My decision was simple since I don't have a budget and do quite a bit of video encoding. I also like the overclocking potential of the i7 2600k chip and wanted HT which the i7 2500k doesn't have. So SB was an easy choice.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Just get a Q9550 and call it a day. Run it at 450 FSB.

 

[Chaoticlusts]

well regardless wait for sandy bridge simply because there will be a price drop then from both amd to stay compedative and intel bumping some old cpu's down a tier and it's soooooo close (Jan 5th) I'd say go with sandy bridge if your budget allows for it...especially if you multitask and watch HD movies while doing other stuff at the same time..the inbuilt decoder on die (I could have messed that term up entirely I blame sedatives) I'm assuming will take basically all the strain off the cpu doing that making a quad core even nicer

I'm running an E6600 my budget is between $1500-$2500 (I'd prefer to keep it close to 1500 to use the other money for investing) and plan on upgrading my whole system going with sandy bridge as the CPU (I'm in Aus btw so some things cost more for me than for you guys in the USA if that's where you are)

If your budget isn't up for sandy bridge...then there will be all sorts of lovely overclockable quadcores on both AMD and Intel's sides at very nice low prices around when SB hits the market (hell there is now but expect some more...mebbe not that major price drops)

basically easy answer is don't buy a month before a new generation comes out wait out that month and there will be *loads* of charts around with performance per dollar values on them on wonderful sites like this one and they'll point you towards what is best for you

 

[nyker96]

Sandy Bridge.

50$ DDR3 (Already that price and dropping)
~120$ Mobo (Premium end for overclawkin)
~216 i5-2500K

:thumbs-up:

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

IMO - Ram options are still in the dumps. I'm still runnin my Q9650 machine and its fine for me; unless my AVCHD machine uses the same watts during idle and low usage, i'm sticking with this 775 rig for a while.

 

[TridenT]

I don't want the i5-2500K though because that thing doesn't have HT. I assume there is significant performance improvements with HT. If there isn't at all then maybe I'd consider it.

Am I wrong or?

I'm thinking of doing video streaming of my screen while playing games, so I think I could utilize that very well.

 

[aigomorla]

AMD = efficiency @ price point... this is the type of people who dont care what platform they are on, as long as its stable, affordable, and competitive. They are a bit slower then the intel competition, they lack the overclocking headroom, but should never be ignored off a list when considering budget.

i3-i5 = These people want intel for a budget. They want efficiency, but are willing to pay a bit more then the AMD for flexability in gpu sector.. ie.. if they will scale cards or not.

i7 = middle tier for people who want a machine to last a while... looking at around 2-3-4yr life, possibly longer, since intel is more focusing on efficency then raw clock speed.

Gulftowns = money no object, have to have the best. These guys are absolute monsters, average overclocks are @ 4ghz and higher on 6 cores / 12t.

Sandy Bridge = This is what 1156 should of been. Limited to multi overclocking due to the PCI-E being tied with blck. Meaning u no longer have independant overclocking control of each variable.... independant overclocking multi's will be introduced in 2011.


I have told people countless amounts of time... now is the time to grab an i7 and ride it out to LGA2011 to see what that introduces...

1155 SB is MEH... maybe if i wanted a lappy.

 

[betasub]

i7 maybe be only "mid tier" to aigo (and those with experience of multi-socket Gultowns - Ruby?), but Intel also successfully marketed it as "high-end consumer". No surprise that it is very popular on ATforums...

 

[nanaki333]

is AMD's new APUs going to continue on with the AM3 socket? if so, you may just want to go the AMD route and get an x6 now, and then you can get their new hotness later potentially only needing a bios upgrade.

EDIT: or just get a phenom x2 for $89 and unlock the lil bastard

 

[RussianSensation]

If you are on a budget, sell the 7200 and get a used Q9550. Not sure how much you could it the 9550 for though. If you plan to do a full platform upgrade, I would wait until SB benchmarks and overclocking results in January. If these can clock to 4.5+ghz on 1.3V or so, there would be point in going with Socket 1366 despite the budget nature of S1155.

 

[Gillbot]

Why do you NEED more than 2 cores? I still have a E7500 that does nearly everything I want it to along with a T7500 laptop which I use 99% of the time. I also have a 980x and i7 965 when I need the power, and honestly I RARELY ever use them.

 

[tokie]

I'm in a similar situation. I have 4GB of good DDR2 and don't want to buy another 4GB of DDR3. I am looking at just getting a Q9XXX for pretty cheap.

I don't think the performance difference for me between that and Sandy Bridge would be too noticeable. I'm only CPU-bound currently in games like BC2 and SC2, and I'm pretty sure a Q9XXX would alleviate that at 1080p for at least another few years.

 

[Zargon]

I'm starting to reach the ege of my stock q9550 at 19x12 in bc2 and bo.....

i have a 4850x2

 

[Gillbot]

I'm in a similar situation. I have 4GB of good DDR2 and don't want to buy another 4GB of DDR3. I am looking at just getting a Q9XXX for pretty cheap.

I don't think the performance difference for me between that and Sandy Bridge would be too noticeable. I'm only CPU-bound currently in games like BC2 and SC2, and I'm pretty sure a Q9XXX would alleviate that at 1080p for at least another few years.

Sell your DDR2 in FS/FT then upgrade to DDR3. That's what I did, and I got more for my DDR2 than I paid for my DDR3.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm starting to reach the ege of my stock q9550 at 19x12 in bc2 and bo.....

i have a 4850x2

Stock is your problem. Those CPUs overclock so easy. Just boost the FSB to 400Mhz, run your DDR2 at 800, and enjoy 3.4Ghz.

 

[TridenT]

Why do you NEED more than 2 cores? I still have a E7500 that does nearly everything I want it to along with a T7500 laptop which I use 99% of the time. I also have a 980x and i7 965 when I need the power, and honestly I RARELY ever use them.

Because two cores cannot do videostreaming even remotely well in my tests. I've tried and the games will run smooth but the stream will just crawl.

Also many games benefit from it from the benchmarks I've looked at... (Anandtech bench and others) I just happen to play games that use more than two cores apparently.

 

[tyl998]

Video streaming? Are you talking about things like Youtube? Sorry me be newb when it comes to video stuff,

 

[TridenT]

Video streaming? Are you talking about things like Youtube? Sorry me be newb when it comes to video stuff,

UStream, Justin.tv, etc. Videostreaming the whole screen. (1920x1200) Possibly having the videostream resize it to a lower size (1280x768, etc)

 

[tyl998]

I've never had problems with video streaming...most of the time the stutter is from my internet connection not being fast enough stream at 1080p

But I think I understand how HD read/write speeds can affect streaming.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Why do you NEED more than 2 cores? I still have a E7500 that does nearly everything I want it to along with a T7500 laptop which I use 99% of the time. I also have a 980x and i7 965 when I need the power, and honestly I RARELY ever use them.

Sell me your 980X ! :awe:

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

I have told people countless amounts of time... now is the time to grab an i7 and ride it out to LGA2011 to see what that introduces...

Already done and just up-ed from 3x 2GB to 4x 2GB on an EX58-UD3R (tripple channel runs normally with 4 DIMMs) in anticipation of 2011's quad-channel DDR3 *drools*

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

I'm in a similar situation. I have 4GB of good DDR2 and don't want to buy another 4GB of DDR3. I am looking at just getting a Q9XXX for pretty cheap.

Well, I have a bunch of E4300 systems with DDR2-800 sticks. So I got PII X4 940 Black Eds and Gigabyte MA785GM-US2Hs to replace them - can't beat an AMD unlocked multi-quad + mobo for ~$120

 

[TridenT]

I've never had problems with video streaming...most of the time the stutter is from my internet connection not being fast enough stream at 1080p

But I think I understand how HD read/write speeds can affect streaming.

I doubt it's my connection. Even at 1000kbits it streams like shit. 1000s of dropped frames in minutes. It's pretty ridiculous. It shouldn't drop that much unless my CPU can't keep up.