Should I upgrade from my Core 2 Quad set-up?

xcvtop

xcvtop

xcvtop

Associate
Joined
10 Jan 2012
Posts
92
My system is as followed, core 2 quad q9400 oc'd 3.3, 8gb OCZ DDR2 PC2-9200 Reaper memory oc'd, MSI P43T-C51 Mobo, MSI R6970 Lightning, Cooler Master Silent Pro M 850W and 3 Hard drives. I feel like i should wait till the end of this year as im very interested in what AMD do with Piledriver and see the performance benifits of Ivy Bridge over Sandybridge. Right now I get good fram rates in all games i play BF3, DIRT 3, MW2, FIFA 12, BRINK, APB RELOADED etc etc... but my friend recently got an Alienware pc and he has used my PC and has said to me that I do not understand how fast it is compared to mine. So my question is should i upgrade or wait?

bdw i live in the UK and my budget is around £1200 and i will be keeping my Graphics Card as it is a beast
 
Up to you. £1200 would get you a very tasty Sandy Bridge setup which would last you ages. If you are currently happy with your PC though, waiting for Ivy Bridge or Piledriver could be good.

Why not have a play around on your mate's Alienware and see if the performance increase is as dramatic as he says?
 
ok i have been reading a lot about AMD Piledriver and there claim that it will be 10%-15% faster then bulldozer and that should help to close the gap on Intel, what do you think about Piledrivers potential and should i wait for that or go Ivy Bridge?

also i do a lot of music production most times i have 2-3 programmes running at once with many vst's running would the Hyperthreading help with that or would an i5 2500k do?
 
xcvtop said:
ok i have been reading a lot about AMD Piledriver and there claim that it will be 10%-15% faster then bulldozer and that should help to close the gap on Intel, what do you think about Piledrivers potential and should i wait for that or go Ivy Bridge?

also i do a lot of music production most times i have 2-3 programmes running at once with many vst's running would the Hyperthreading help with that or would an i5 2500k do?
Click to expand...

I'd say go Intel. Wait for Ivy Bridge.
 
I think you have a pretty well balanced system there for gaming, I would wait for ivy in your case and as you said you are happy with your graphics card and will not be updating it so I don't see a point for you to update the rest of the system if you are happy with it.

You maybe better of updating things like your monitor and sound setup to enjoy the pc more, or even a new case. What resolution do you game at ? Also do you do things like video encoding and things that require a lot of CPU power ? If you only game at say 1920 x 1200 or 1920 x 1080.. I would leave it as is mate and enjoy it till you feel it is getting slow for you and not what your mate says. You are the one using it do you feel the system is holding you back ?


Also ivy is only going to be about 10% faster then a sandy bridge at most regarding the CPU side of the chip the real update is on the inbuilt GPU which as a gamer you will not use and use your 6970.

Think about it a bit and see if you can sell your motherboard, cpu and ram at a good price, if you can maybe just look at a 2500k, new z68 gen 3 motherboard and 8Gb of ram. It won't cost you much to update and you will not need to spend the whole £1200 on an update and you can use the rest of the money as I said on maybe a better screen, sound system or gaming mouse..etc.., things that you see the benefits of and make the pc more enjoyable to use and maybe in the future add a 2nd 6970 when they are going for nothing.
 
Last edited:
I'm still using a similar build to the OP and despite being very happy with the performance of my computer with any game I throw at it, I was almost bitten by the upgrade bug the week after Christmas. However, I ended up asking myself if I would actually see £400-£500 worth of an improvement in user experience from a new Sandybridge build in everyday use. I decided that the answer was 'probably not', so I will keep my C2Q system for another year and review my options again then.

Instead of a full upgrade I bought a brand new Crucial M4 128GB SSD for £135, and I have to say it really feels like a solid investment and has quenched my upgrade desire very well. Perhaps OP could try down that route first?
 
tidusjar said:
I'd say go Intel. Wait for Ivy Bridge.
Click to expand...

Commala said:
Instead of a full upgrade I bought a brand new Crucial M4 128GB SSD for £135, and I have to say it really feels like a solid investment and has quenched my upgrade desire very well. Perhaps OP could try down that route first?
Click to expand...
These two suggestions would be what I would also suggest. An SSD will make the machine seem quite a bit more responsive. If you go for an M4 you'll be able to move it to an Ivy Bridge system if you decide to go for it, or whatever AMD system you go for instead. Your system has plenty of life left in it :)
 
xcvtop said:
my friend recently got an Alienware pc and he has used my PC and has said to me that I do not understand how fast it is compared to mine.
Click to expand...

That certainly sounds a lot like an ssd. For general use, having programs open immediately and games install ludicrously quickly is very nice.

xcvtop said:
AMD Piledriver ... should help to close the gap on Intel, what do you think about Piledrivers potential and should i wait for that or go Ivy Bridge?

also i do a lot of music production most times i have 2-3 programmes running at once with many vst's running would the Hyperthreading help with that or would an i5 2500k do?
Click to expand...

I remember people saying similar things about Bulldozer. Don't assume AMD is going to suddenly surpass Intel, their processors have performed significantly worse for a long time now.

Hyperthreading is a means of increasing throughput on a processor. 4 cores + hyperthreading is not as good as 8 cores, but it is generally a bit better than 4. Nothing to be particularly excited about.

Stick with the q9400. Ideally take it above 3.3ghz, but don't upgrade it. I went from a q9550 to an i7 920 (my P45 motherboard blew up), and I don't believe I would notice the difference without running fairly heavy code. Certainly not in gaming.

Your computer's quick, and your mate's a gullible fool for buying anything from alienware. Get a ssd :)
 
thanks for all the feedback, my friend doesnt have a ssd as alienware charge crazy prices for them.

i think im going to stick with my current set-up for as long everything runs very well, and then upgrade later on, im going to wait for 200gb+ m4 to come down in price before i go ssd.

2 more question, how long would you say my current set up has left in it?
and how long will my graphics card be able to play the top games with high frame rates?
 
Last edited:
What specs are his PC?

You've got he 6790 which is one of the best GPUs around atm, it'll last a good few years I would have thought (depends how games go, how much you like settings up. It's hard to know what will happen in the future :P

I'd keep your current set up as long as you can TBH. I mean, the longer you wait the more will have been released so the better the improvement will be to a new setup!
 
Im on a lesser spec than you (6600 @3.6 gtx 460 etc) and im still happy with my setup , and with your budget Id say wait for ivy , just like a lot of people are saying as then you will get a massive increase in speed and power and not get the awful feeling that something better just came out about 5 mins after building yours.
 
Spend a 1/4 of that 2500k and a gigabyte z68 ap-d3 mobo and 8 gig of ram and a good cooler

Save the remainder for your next upgrade be it IB or a new flu or whatever
 
If your mate is running an alienware without an SSD and he comes to your Core 2 Quad, 8GB, HD 6970 PC and he says: "you do not understand how fast it is compared to mine"

Then in my opinion this means one of three things:

- He has a faster HDD than yours or it is less cluttered.
- He does a lot of CPU intensive stuff
- He recognises the lack of an alienware sticker - so it inherently can't be as fast as his amazing PC

If you are happy with your current performance then I wouldn't suggest spending any money. If you do want an upgrade then I would strongly echo the previous suggestions of an SSD. This not only makes using the PC day-to-day much quicker but it also really helps load times - which for games like BF3 can be very important.
 
Last edited:
Ok guys i think im going to keep an eye on ssd prices and try and pick something up when/if prices drop. Hopefully my current set-up will last 2-3 years (hope i don't have any hardware failures) and ill keep on saving so i have more money for my next build.

Thanks again guys all your help is much appreciated
 
^ Well put sir.

You forgot that his mates probably has more flashing lights. Those are hugely important for performance :P
 
Try and find out the full specs of your friends Alienware system and post them here we can they have a look at them and compare them to yours.

Stoner81.
 
I have to admit, I'm in a similar situation (Q9550) and my reason for wanting an upgrade is basically SATA3 and DDR3 (I need 4GB more of RAM, but I don't want to pay £60 for out of date tech).

However, I've been pushing my overclock a bit today (gone from 8.5x400 to 8.5x467 and it seems stable) and doing benchmarks while I go. I think benchmarked my mate's Sandy Bridge i5-2500k whilst overclocking that from stock to 4.4 GHz and to be honest... I'm not blown away. Admittedly synthetic tests mean nothing but I was expecting a bit more than 30% for some reason. :|
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom