Q9550 or E8500

[sturmtruppe]

Im looking to get a new processor within the next 2 or 3 months and a new gfx card. Not too bothered about the card right now since new ones are on their way, ill wait and see.

Not really got the budget for an i7, i only use my pc for gaming anyway. What i cant decide is whether to go for a higher clocked dual core or go for the q9550. Im currently using an e6700 (2.66 ghz) so what would the best choice be? 2 extra cores, or a 500mhz boost to the clock speed.

I dont really have the headroom to overclock mainly because i cant afford it if anything goes wrong.

ps right now playing a range of stuff like crysis, gta san andreas, bioshock, gears of war etc

 

[alex24]

What do you use the machine for? If you're not OC'ing and just a normal gamer and don't do any major video editing or intensive multi-threaded applications, the e8500 is a better bet. Depending on your system you may be able to clock the e8500 very safely (no increase in volts) to a very respectable clock, probably more than what the quad on stock would manage, though depends a lot on the chip. Saying that, if you're not OC'ing, 500mhz is hardly night and day.

Anything multi-threaded (more than 2), and for general longevity for future apps and resale value, the q9550 is probably a better option, actually, even the quad can clock quite well.

Depends if you think it's worth the extra to you. Also, depending on what card you get, you could just try overclocking your current chip, there's a lot to gain if it's a half decent model, and may well not bottleneck the gfx.

EDIT: Also with the £50 odd quid you save on the dual core, you could get a better GFX card (prices are good atm for several models), which makes a lot more difference to most games.

 

[king-core]

Q9550 for sure

 

[linktoinsanity]

I'd go for the Dual, unless you do a lot of media encoding/multitasking. The extra money would best be spent on a better graphics card as alex says.