Have been seriously considering moving to the phenom II 965 from my q9550 as some of the benchmarks look particularly good for gaming (for price/performance) and am3 will offer a future six core route as well (albeit not as good as intels i'm guessing) unlike i5. So i'm wondering if nows a good time to jump off the sinking 775 socket and go for something new :/ I'm just unsure as to what cpu offers the best performance for gaming without spending huge amounts.
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Gaming cpu- from q9550 to an i5, 965be or i7 920?
- Thread starter Nocky24
- Start date
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erformance ratio between the two chips is irrelevant if you already own one of them. I was recently in the same situation looking to move from my q6600 to an i5 750, but the cost to do so really didn't justify the fairly minimal gains.
This is obviously subjective though but for me I still don't feel like my CPU is holding me back in any games.
If gaming is your main concern then I'd say put the money into a more powerful GPU.
erformance ratio between the two chips is irrelevant if you already own one of them. I was recently in the same situation looking to move from my q6600 to an i5 750, but the cost to do so really didn't justify the fairly minimal gains. This is obviously subjective though but for me I still don't feel like my CPU is holding me back in any games.
If gaming is your main concern then I'd say put the money into a more powerful GPU.
Soldato
no, the Q9550 holds it own, I own one its a great chip
there is a good upgrade path with AMD but its not worth getting existed about as you have to get new mobo, ram and cpu maybe even cooler...yes fine the AMD may be a bit quicker in gaming but paying £300 for that "bit" is not worth it.
there is a good upgrade path with AMD but its not worth getting existed about as you have to get new mobo, ram and cpu maybe even cooler...yes fine the AMD may be a bit quicker in gaming but paying £300 for that "bit" is not worth it.
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If you wana upgrade then AMD is the way 
Soldato
I would stick with the q9550 to be honest.
Looking at going with the Q9550 from a E6440. I'm guessing this should be a good jump yeah?
Just noticed Op Flashpoint 2 is included. Is this an Overclockers exclusive or a general Intel bundle? As long as it isn't as horrible as Arma 2 then this is a no brainer for me.
Just noticed Op Flashpoint 2 is included. Is this an Overclockers exclusive or a general Intel bundle? As long as it isn't as horrible as Arma 2 then this is a no brainer for me.
Soldato
it depends if you have overclocked it? and what you want to use it for, for general gaming, than no, just clock your E6440.....
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if you just want to mess with new tech get an i7 920 - if you just want your games to run faster - stick wih what you've got
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I used to be an amd fan too back in the days of single core processing and the early days of desktop 64bit.If you wana upgrade then AMD is the way
However AMD have fallen apart in the last few years, and the price of an i7 or i5 setup is much more appealing than an amd setup. By the looks of it, there will be a 6 core fitting the 1366 socket coming too..
I have an i7 920, it clocks to 4ghz pretty easily and doesnt struggle with any games, even at stock speeds.
Power per pound, you're probably looking at a i7 920 or 860 for a gaming machine.
Soldato
Q9550 to a Phenom 2 is a step backwards IMO.
Soldato
Short answer- No.
The best time to upgrade is when your current system doesn't do what you want it to do. When this actually happens stuff will be much cheaper/faster with hex cores everywhere.
Unless you are trying to beat some video processing record then your Q9550 is perfectly fine. As others have said, if you haven't overclocked it - then do. You will get a mich bigger performance gain overclocking a Q9550 to 3.5GHz than jumping over to an i7 860 @ stock.
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so would there be a big gap in a stock q6600 vs a overclocked i5 750?
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funnyly enough i have just changed my pc from a phenom 2 720 triple core to a i5 i allready had the 8gb ddr3 ram so that saved a bit, but if i had to buy more ram i would have stuck to a 955 not the 965 due to 140w ( new ones due soon that are 125w)
i'm a hardware nut tbh allways upgrading etc.
i'd just stick a 955 in yours forget fast ddr3 ram unless you watercool and hardcore overclock. imo
i'm a hardware nut tbh allways upgrading etc.
i'd just stick a 955 in yours forget fast ddr3 ram unless you watercool and hardcore overclock. imo
Soldato
Yes, there would (in games that are reasonably CPU intensive atleast). The i5 is 266MHz faster at stock (plus the extra clockspeed from the overclock), has the benfit of an onboard memory controller, is made using a newer architechture (which gives it faster clock-for-clock performance compared to the q6600) and is made using a 45nm process (compared to the Q6600's 65nm)/
However, if you can overclock the i5, why not overclock the Q6600? - with the right board these chips can do 3.6GHz+. Also, in most games the graphics card limits the performance of games, not the CPU. So for a gaming upgrade, overclocking the Q6600 and buying a better graphics card is the best option.
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I personally went from the Q9550 3.4ghz - 17 920 -3.7 - 4ghz. I have noticed good gains in some areas i use my system for. Everyday use and basic stuff hardly anything except quicker loading etc.
Its not a massive upgrade path for the cost , however it puts you on the latest platform with the more up to date tech.
McT
Its not a massive upgrade path for the cost , however it puts you on the latest platform with the more up to date tech.
McT
Which sort of areas? Like mainly gaming? (as thats what i'd use it for) or rendering, encoding, etc?
Whatever you do don't change from a Q6600 or Q9550 to a Phenom 2 for gaming unless you really really hate overclocking... despite the reviews clock for clock the intel CPUs are almost always faster or the same performance for gaming and deff. a lot faster for desktop use.
Encoding and rendering are areas where Nehalem's different architecture is clearly faster.
In games situation is pretty much even (and old vs. new graphics card makes lot more difference) and Nehalem as bigger chip might even consume more power for same performance as Yorkfield and especially compared to Phenom's power budget you have big margin for overclocking:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/phenom-ii-x4-965_4.html#sect0