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Help with some indecision (i7 vs Q9550)

andrewdodd13

andrewdodd13

andrewdodd13

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I'm going to buy a new setup soon, I'm just really indecisive at the moment. I would quite like an i7 for the "e-peen" as it's been put here.

But I already have a S775 motherboard (ASUS P5KPL-VM - which is short a protective faceplate at the back :() and I just saw that you can get a retail Q9550 for £180.

So really I'm looking at an i7 £500 setup vs Q9550 £220 (I'll get 4gb of 800/1066MHz RAM when I buy).

Is it worth getting the i7 for the future upgrade path, and slight performance benefits (and e-peen ;)) or should I just stick with my LGA775 mobo and get the Q9550?

Also, slightly aside, how does the Q9550 compare to the Phenom II AM2+ Black Edition (the 3.00GHz one)? Just for having a bigger e-peen than my friend. :)
 
Well what do you use your PC for? Any video encoding/CAD work etc? If not, there is no point on the i7.
 
+1 for Q9550 here considering you already have a mobo. If you didn't I would say i7 as it seems pointless to buy an LGA775 mobo at this point. I guess it depends partly on how far away your next big system upgrade would be.
 
If you want i7 for a future upgrade path you're not in luck, as the socket is being reserved for only the high end CPUs come september, at which point the 920 and 940 are being discontinued. However, the i7s represent a good deal in terms of value for money in the context of the new 'i5' CPUs that are coming to replace them, so might be a good time to go i7 since it should last a long time due to it's power.

Whether to go 775 or 1366 will be a question of need and budget. I think few people need to go i7, but if you can afford it you may as well should you be interested in futureproofing in terms of raw power.
 
valdai said:
+1 for Q9550 here considering you already have a mobo. If you didn't I would say i7 as it seems pointless to buy an LGA775 mobo at this point. I guess it depends partly on how far away your next big system upgrade would be.
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I don't think you should discount 775 for people who don't have a mobo. The 775 mobo's are much cheaper, especially when you consider the cost of the RAM too and then pile in with the lower price of the Q9550.
 
alexhull24 said:
If you want i7 for a future upgrade path you're not in luck, as the socket is being reserved for only the high end CPUs come september, at which point the 920 and 940 are being discontinued. However, the i7s represent a good deal in terms of value for money in the context of the new 'i5' CPUs that are coming to replace them, so might be a good time to go i7 since it should last a long time due to it's power.

Whether to go 775 or 1366 will be a question of need and budget. I think few people need to go i7, but if you can afford it you may as well should you be interested in futureproofing in terms of raw power.
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My original plan had been to go S1366 i7 atm then Sexcore (I thought that was a joke at first, haha) in the future.

I've gone for the Q9550, saved me some money, which I'll probably buy a 4870X2 with. :D Cheers for the input.

(As an aside, I use this PC for everything. Gaming, SETI, downloading, video encoding, coding, Linux compilation, so it's kinda CPU intensive, but meh. :))
 
It was probably the right choice for you, enjoy the uber gfx card aswell!

We'll see how the 'i5' CPUs pan out, but i'm sure you'll find the q9550 is more than capable enough for applications for a few years yet.
 
If you want i7 for a future upgrade path you're not in luck, as the socket is being reserved for only the high end CPUs come september, at which point the 920 and 940 are being discontinued.
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There is still no word 920 is going EOL and 940 has been replaced by the 950 already.
 
nightmare99 said:
There is still no word 920 is going EOL and 940 has been replaced by the 950 already.
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Official word or rumour? I wouldn't at all be suprised if it was the case, would be foolish of intel to have their own CPUs competing with each other. Only other thing would be to raise the price of the 920 considerably.
 
so are you saying that an x58 mobo bought today may not be compatible with the chips that will be the upgrade path from todays i7's?
 
In my opinion, yes, though Intel supposedly has yet to officially confirm this. The next logical upgrade path from i7 that I can see, assuming the base models are withdrawn or increased in price, would be based on the LGA1156, which is supposedly the new mainstream compared to LGA1366. Whether Intel will stick to this arrangement of reserving the 1366 socket in the future for high end enthusiast/commercial builds will remain to be seen.
 
So in that case the only REAL reason to go to i7 is so you can re-use the ram later then (assuming at least the RAM will be compatible with the LGA1156 mobo's)?

What's the point of someone like me with an old socket 939 mobo going to x58+i7 when they can get q9550+775, albeit with slightly less performance, for a lot less money given that both systems will probably need both mobo and cpu to be upgraded when the next upgraded is carried out?
 
I don't know, it's all a bit speculative at the moment until Intel clarify what's happening to i7 and we get some more results in for the performance of the 'i5' chips. Initial reports look good for overclocking actually, 5GHz has been banded around.
 
Yeah, this i7 stuff is really starting to look a mess. I'm kinda glad I went for the Q9550, means I don't have to worry about this for a good year or so now. :)
 
dubcat said:
I don't think you should discount 775 for people who don't have a mobo. The 775 mobo's are much cheaper, especially when you consider the cost of the RAM too and then pile in with the lower price of the Q9550.
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That's a good point actually, I guess I was only thinking from a high budget perspective. Hell I just bought an LGA775 mobo 3 months ago now I think about it :D
 
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