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RobHague

RobHague

RobHague

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Joined
26 Jun 2008
Posts
438
Been out of the hardware loop for a while, and just considering my current system (see my signature). Which is about 2 years old now.

My question is, that while generally there is nothing wrong with my current system (it runs everything perfectly well). It does lag behind somewhat with the the latest & greatest games. More specifically, GTA4 which I purchased recently. It's not ideal.

I'm pondering if its worth going from the C2Q to the i7, and getting a totally new system & graphics card etc to last me into the end of 2011. Or if i should just upgrade the Graphics Card and wait till next year, since ive heard that there are socket changes coming..... would the C2Q bottleneck something like a GTX 470 ?

Is it true that Intel are changing Sockets next year?
What Quarter are we talking?

I know you can obviously put off upgrades forever with the prospect of "something new" on the horizon, but i dont want to jump to a platform thats on its way out in less than a years time. So would i7 be a bad idea now?

How are AMD looking nowerdays? At the time of getting my last system it was an easy choice - Core 2 was the winner hands down.
 
Intels socket 1156 is EOL in Q1 2011 followed by 1366 in Q3. Going to AMD would be no more than a sidestep as they struggle to beat C2Q let alone i5/i7.

You already have a good rig and your Q6600 is'nt going to bottleneck a 470 so i would stick with what you have.

***Edit*** Actually, why is your quad only at 3.2Ghz? I misread your siggy thinking it said 458x9. You should be able to get to 3.6Ghz at least with your board.
 
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With your system, I'd say you'll be better off wait for next year for upgrade, as both AMD and Intel will have something new.

AMD Phenom II X4 955/965BE is more or less around the same level as Core2Quad (Q6600, Q9550 etc) if comparing at overclock, but with the benefit costing less than building a Core2Quad back then.

AMD released Phenom II X6 (6 cores) CPUs. It's basically a CPU with the same architecture as the Phenom II X4 955/965BE with two more cores. At the same clock speed, it will be faster than the Phenom II X4 for application/software that uses 5 or 6 cores, but for application/software that uses 4 cores or less, it is the same speed as the Phenom II X4 955/965BE (i.e. games).
 
+1 to the above comments,

Push some more out of your Q6600 and upgrade on the next hop.
Still a very good system.
 
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