ARGH CPU upgrade dilemma advice!!

cerebus

cerebus

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Ok so let's say I have X amount of money to spend on a modest (mainly 2ndhand components) pc upgrade. Realistically I need to upgrade my cpu, psu and mobo at some point in time, but of most urgency (imo) is the CPU because e7200 just isn't cutting it anymore. So as I see it I have 3 options which with careful wrangling I can manage:

1: Spend everything on a better Intel CPU - say a Q9550
2: Go AMD - say an X4 940 + AM2+ board
3: Get a modest CPU + board + psu - say an e8500 + p5k-d + 550W

Whaddya think fellas? Hope you all had a stonking new years btw.
 
The new i5/i3's are dual cores and pricey. A Q9400 still performs about the same as a i5 750. The new i5 661 dual core has hyperthreading and also performs similary to the Q9400 and i5 750. The i5 cpu's also use turbo boost for these similar results, so with turbo boost disabled and then overclocked to the max a Q9400/Q9550 may be the better option especially since you already have a 775 board. The Phenom II X4 965 also performs similarly to the above cpu's.

I would go for a Q9550 and keep it until the next breakthrough in cpu's.
 
To those advising me to go i5 - that's great and all but I've budgeted and I really can't do it. It's possible that in another 5 or 6 months i'll get the money together to wrangle it but atm what I've given as my options is all I have. I've done my research....

So do you think a q9550 would outperform the x4 940? Let's say there's a r400 difference between them - is the q9550 still a better bet?
 
The X4 940 pretty much as fast as the Q9550. The Core i5 750 and Phenom II is the best option right now IMO.

I recommend you read Anandtech reviews of the CPU's. Very good comparisons. He just reviewed the new 32nm Intel Core i3 and i5 CPU's!
 
Thanks synaesthesia i'm actually leaning towards trying out Phenom2. I've done a fair bit of reading on the specs. As far as I can tell the cheapest well performing i5 cpu/board combo I could get would set me back r2500 or more even 2ndhand which i really can't swing for - whereas 940/9550 would perform roughly on par anyways. I'm not sure how much I desperately need to go i5 anyway - if I can save, I'd rather try out i7 one day because the performance gains seem to be quite significant.
 
I would just get a Q9550, it's a single replacement which will keep costs down. Those Anandtech reviews don't make the i3/i5 look that great when you consider their cost.
 
Thanks ponder - the only thing is my motherboard really sucks. it's a gigabyte 945gcmx-s2 - so if by any means I can get shot of it i'll be happy. Q9550 wouldn't allow me to do that currently whereas I could stretch it (I'd have to lol) with Phenom2. But q9550 is faster...
 
Ok I didn't see you already have an Intel board. That changes things.

A Q9550 will give you best bang for buck then, if your motherboard supports it. Of course the motherboard is ultimately still limiting in other aspects then, such as maximum RAM which is only 3gb.

Just to clarify a few things which I thought was incorrect by SaiyanZ, although he was mostly right, a Core i5 750 is faster than any Core 2 Quad or Phenom II and is very well priced with 1156 motherboards. So is socket 1156 Core i7 860. The socket 1366 Core i7 is too expensive now and the same speed so there's no real point to getting that in my opinion.

AMD Phenom II processors are really good, and the system prices are very competitive with Intel so that's another option.

So basically you can drop in a Q9550 or sell your motherboard&CPU to upgrade to an i5 750 or Phenom II. I might wanna buy them off you if you wanna do that BTW.
 
cerebus said:
1: Spend everything on a better Intel CPU - say a Q9550
2: Go AMD - say an X4 940 + AM2+ board
3: Get a modest CPU + board + psu - say an e8500 + p5k-d + 550W

Whaddya think fellas? Hope you all had a stonking new years btw.
Click to expand...
What do you use your PC for> and why do you want to upgrade?
and AMDs are over priced

SaiyanZ said:
The new i5/i3's are dual cores and pricey.
Click to expand...
i5 is quad core, I don't know about the i3
 
Thanks Saiyanz - atm I'm really leaning towards Phenom2. I'll let you know if/when I decide to sell off my cpu/mobo combo which may well happen albeit later this month :) I'm really just tired of this motherboard, I need more real estate.
 
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What do you use your PC for> and why do you want to upgrade?
and AMDs are over priced
Click to expand...

Well gaming, office work, transcoding, voice recognition - the whole gamut basically. I need to upgrade, my e7200 already bottlenecks my graphics card (260 OC).

And why do you think AMD's are overpriced? For the performance they match or surpass Intel as far as I can see, esp the Phenom 2s.
 
cerebus said:
Well gaming, office work, transcoding, voice recognition - the whole gamut basically. I need to upgrade, my e7200 already bottlenecks my graphics card (260 OC).

And why do you think AMD's are overpriced? For the performance they match or surpass Intel as far as I can see, esp the Phenom 2s.
Click to expand...
I would go with teh quad core extreme, that should last you for a few years

And not necessarily the CPUs but when you add mobos into the equation.... :eek:
 
budget is kinda flexible lol........the options I gave are the best I could work out with what budget I have.
 
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