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how good is my cpu now

Ive noticed a huge difference in quite a few games coming from a Q9650 @ 3.6GHZ to an i5 2500k at 4.6GHZ. Might have been something to do with my old P35 board as well though.

Still. My pc is twice as fast in some applications now :).

In some completely GPU limited games i don't notice much of a difference.

It wasnt an essential upgrade but i got the upgrade bug. Q9650's and DDR2 ram still fetch great prices in the used market as well so you won't probably end up spending that much!
 
that comparison shows that even at stock speeds, an i5 2500k is near enough twice as fast as my current cpu. should be a fun upgrade for me ^.^
 
If your using it for something other than gaming then you might see some gains, but in gaming i can't believe you'll see much.

We have a Q6600 @ 3.2GHz with a GTX570 here less than a meter from my i7 2600k with a Radeon 6970 and under gaming, browsing or general usage you would not be able to tell which was which at all, not yet anyway.

Audio/Video encoding is another story mind you.
 
Your cpu is still a great piece of kit, hold onto it, i regret selling my Q6600 - sent to portugal :( Quad cores still rip the **** out of most cpus value wise and have a great heat tolerance and overclocking capability
 
I'm not looking to upgrade my Q9550 for at least 6 months. Does everything I need of it right now. Probably the best CPU i've owned.
 
Yeah definitely not worth spending on the current sandybridge options for general use. I'd be holding onto that for at least 6 months~1 year. :)
 
theres a i7 995x 3.6 in that list, cant remember that one!

I know, thats why I said some results can be a bit odd!

that comparison shows that even at stock speeds, an i5 2500k is near enough twice as fast as my current cpu. should be a fun upgrade for me ^.^

Please remember that the list will not be a direct comparitive for games or game performance
 
i know, but my 9450 altho it is a great cpu, its going to my missus' family as a student pc, so they will get a lot of use out of it and il get a cheapish full upgrade out of it.

£180 for my cpu/mobo/ram upgrade isnt bad at all
 
To be honest the Q9650 is selling for around £160 and I can't see that going down any time soon. If you fancy they upgrade then wait for the new sandy bridges which will be out later this year on LGA2011, but other than that you have a fine CPU that will run almost anything. OC it to 3.8 dude, it will take it easy. I still use my Q9550 with no problems.
 
In answer to your original question, a hell of a lot better than mine. Good ol' E2140. Might be alright if i had a board that would let me clock it... damnit, i've been staying out of the loop too, made me forget my need to upgrade.
 
I've currently got a 2500k and running it at 4.5GHZ... you REALLY don't need any more than that for at least three years unless you do lots of video rendering and stuff.

I would say 3.8GHZ is enough for any gaming needs. If you're going to upgrade it, then I would suggest upgrading it when you max it out, the new AMD chips look promising if you can wait.

i run my quad at 4 just because i didnt like 3.8... i like nice round numbers like 4.0 :D

but yea anything more than 3.8ghz is more than enough for next couple years
 
Well if you have your Q9550 @4.0 you like a bit of overclocking. If you want to compare your chip to what others are using on this forum and have a bit of fun in a nice friendly thread( which makes a nice change on this forum ) follow the link:D

You will see how ur cpu stacks up against the older and newer I7 chips and quad and 6 core cpu's from intel and amd.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18259741
 
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