775 to 1156, is this setup worth it?

Soldato
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Currently have q9550, P5Q3 mobo, 4GB DDR3 Corsair XMS 3 DHX, 4870 GPU, 800w psu. However im considering an i7 upgrade (skt 1156) for windows 7 and the new 5xxx cards. I was thinking maybe the i7 860 and the gigabyte UD2 p55 mobo. I can use my current DDR3 dual channel for now anyways and maybe sell off the 775 parts or upgrade my sister's old pc. A few questions though :/

1. Is it worth it over my current setup?
2. Is the UD2 mobo any good? I know its the cheapest
3. My psu for some reason (although 800w) only has a 4pin cpu power connector, will this suffice? Or is a new psu in order?
4. My current 500GB hard drive has oem vista 64bit installed and my sisters pc has windows xp 32bit installed. Would i be able to swap over the skt775 cpu/mobo to my sister's pc and install the oem license of vista 64bit on her 250gb hard drive? That way i can install windows 7 64bit on my current 500GB.

My usage will be mainly gaming and probably a bit of encoding/rendering. I probably won't be doing this untill next month (if you think its a good idea) when i receive w7 so hopefully there will be an offer on here for some of the parts before then maybe :)

Let me know what you think anyways,

Cheers, Rich
 
Soldato
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As you already have a great quad core rig, I suggest holding off upgrading - the improvement will be be marginal and likely non existent when gaming.

If you haven't already, buy a good CPU cooler (like this or this) and overclock the heck out of your chip. If that CPU is the E0 stepping then I believe the ceiling is around 4.0GHz.

Also, new AMD 5800 series graphics cards are coming out at the end of the month, so upgrading to one of these new monsters may be an option to consider - they will definitely improve your gaming performance.
 
Soldato
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As you already have a great quad core rig, I suggest holding off upgrading - the improvement will be be marginal and likely non existent when gaming.

If you haven't already, buy a good CPU cooler (like this or this) and overclock the heck out of your chip. If that CPU is the E0 stepping then I believe the ceiling is around 4.0GHz.

Also, new AMD 5800 series graphics cards are coming out at the end of the month, so upgrading to one of these new monsters may be an option to consider - they will definitely improve your gaming performance.

Yehh :/ i'm just concerned about any bottlenecks with the new cards and my cpu. Plus jumping the boat now would mean i'd still be able to get some money for it and no worries with bottlenecking. Feel free to tell me i'm wrong though lol i always feel like everything i've got is vastly inferior when new hardware comes out.
 
Soldato
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800W psu with only a 4 pin atx? Which psu exactly is this, as 800W and missing connectors is not a sign of a quality psu

OEM windows is tied to motherboard

I think you want an ssd, and probably a new power supply, but otherwise to keep the same system you have now. Q9550 is excellent [you're not running is at 2.83, I hope]
 
Soldato
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800W psu with only a 4 pin atx? Which psu exactly is this, as 800W and missing connectors is not a sign of a quality psu

OEM windows is tied to motherboard

I think you want an ssd, and probably a new power supply, but otherwise to keep the same system you have now. Q9550 is excellent [you're not running is at 2.83, I hope]

Yeh i'm pretty sure the psu isn't that great, i've been looking at the corsair 750w or maybe the PC P&C 750w if it ever comes back in stock. Never installed a modular psu so i tend to shy away from them lol are they easy/easier to install? And at the moment its at stock as i'm concerned about the psu powering it oc'ed with that 4 pin atx and like i said i have been considering maybe selling it.
 
Soldato
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Fair enough. Can't go wrong with pc p&c, they're fantastic supplies. The 750W would be ideal, and should last just about forever. Corsair are also solid though. Modular is the same/easier to install, but costs more for the same quality, and scatters cables all across the back of the supply rather than coming out in one place.

The Q9550 is a seriously good processor. It'll go up to 3.6ghz easily, and if you're persistent you can get 4.0 out of it. I can't see the change in hardware making any difference at all, whereas an ssd does :)
 
Soldato
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Fair enough. Can't go wrong with pc p&c, they're fantastic supplies. The 750W would be ideal, and should last just about forever. Corsair are also solid though. Modular is the same/easier to install, but costs more for the same quality, and scatters cables all across the back of the supply rather than coming out in one place.

The Q9550 is a seriously good processor. It'll go up to 3.6ghz easily, and if you're persistent you can get 4.0 out of it. I can't see the change in hardware making any difference at all, whereas an ssd does :)

Thanks for the info on that jon :) i'll look into getting a new psu sorted out first then. Any other suggestions from anyone else?
 
Associate
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FWIW - I've gone from Q6600 to i7 860. The bulk of my CPU grunt is for rendering in 3ds max, specifically with Vray. Have I noticed an increase in performance? 30% maybe? 50%.

DOUBLE.

My rendering times have HALVED.

I couldn't believe it.

My Q6600 is now retired to a render-node box. Thus, I have actually trebled my rendering capacity.

Gaming - another matter, I doubt I'll notice the difference.
 
Soldato
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FWIW - I've gone from Q6600 to i7 860. The bulk of my CPU grunt is for rendering in 3ds max, specifically with Vray. Have I noticed an increase in performance? 30% maybe? 50%.

DOUBLE.

My rendering times have HALVED.

I couldn't believe it.

My Q6600 is now retired to a render-node box. Thus, I have actually trebled my rendering capacity.

Gaming - another matter, I doubt I'll notice the difference.

Very nice mate, shame about the gaming though as i would have liked a decent performance jump there.
 
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