Q9650 or I7 920 ???

beerdave · Feb 27, 2009

I have an old P4 3.0 (478) that I am looking to replace. I have been looking at both the Q9650 and the I7 920. Is the I7 920 worth the money or get the Q9650 and have some cash in my pocket. Will be used for mostly gaming, but will use Autocad and Photoshop.

todd5854 · Feb 27, 2009

core i7. They are both quads obviously, but i7 has the best of both worlds for video editing AND gaming. Brilliant, Intel.

beerdave · Feb 28, 2009

But what about the cost difference? Is the bang for the buck there? With the $300-400 difference could go towards SLI

JAYDEEJOHN · Feb 28, 2009

Irf gaming is your main usage, Id go C2D, and get the sli setup. If autcad etc are a must as well tho, you might lean towards the i7.

quantumsheep · Feb 28, 2009

q9550 ftw. Then overclock the nuts off it.

JAYDEEJOHN · Feb 28, 2009

I agree, it just depends on how important the autocad usage is to the OP. If the OP uses it all the time, and for money/business/work, he may want that i7 tho. You can oc the i7 too, its all comes down to costs and usage, like most i7 threads

boulard83 · Feb 28, 2009

»MOTLY for gaming .. some autocad and photoshop.

NOW ... hard to tell. a complet new build .... gaming ....

my opinion : I7

entire new system with C2Q or C2D will cost roughly 1000 for something good. Entire new I7 will cost ... 200-300 more box and WAY more futurproof ...

and YES I7 oc really nicely too.

jlvitt · Feb 28, 2009

core i7 is the wave of the future but ddr3 latencies are still high and the c2qs are still capable beyond most games standards with the right gpu - even autocad and photoshop will perform quite well with a c2q.

for the ultimate futureproof though - go for the i7

sefit · Feb 28, 2009

+1 to jaydeejohn, really depends on what you want…if your budget has some limit and you are serious about gaming than grab E8500 or Q9550, oced it and spend your money on some decent GPU on top end (4870x2/GTX 295) and 1920x1200 monitor (quality 24 or 26 inch). There is no sense in so-called “ i7 gaming rig build” with one 4870/GTX 260 on 22inch as this is common case in these days…

boulard83 · Feb 28, 2009

i desagree ..

GO c2d e8400 if you cant affort I7. a q9550 decent build will cost near teh I7 price ...

If budget tight : E8400 on P45 with Decent GPU + a good CPU cooling and good to go !

If you have 1000+ to spend, I7 FTW ...

jlvitt · Feb 28, 2009

anyone who has any sense would freely admit the i7 is overkill unless futureproofing or using it extensively for rendering/encoding right now. typical pc users can't even use all the cpu bandwith of a quad core right now. software development is never going to catch up to hardware now, imo.

boulard83 · Feb 28, 2009

thats what im telling ......

BUDGET TIGHT : E8400 + P45 + decent GPU + Decent CPU cooler + 2x2 go ram 1066
your good for 4.0ghz CPU without any trouble !

FUTURPROOF : if budget is ok ! I7 and your good for LONG time.

cjl · Feb 28, 2009

jlvitt :

DDR3 latency is not high - my system has a main memory latency of 33ns, which is far less than ANY core 2 system with DDR2 out there. Latency is a function of both the memory and the controller though - the reason the latency is so low for me is because of the combination of DDR3 with the new on die controller of i7. Core 2s with DDR3 will not significantly outperform DDR2 based ones due to the other bottlenecks and limitations.

boulard83 · Feb 28, 2009

+1 cjl

new I7 DDR3 is useless with C2D-C2Q cause of the memory controler limitation. Even going from 800mzh ro 1066mzh memory is not really improving performance (gaming). OCing my memory dont worth the eat-stress vs the gain in FPS.

I stick with my last post for this new build ...

sefit · Feb 28, 2009

boulard83 :

Donc pas tellement tranchant…prices in Germany: (I live in Belgium for a while but everything is terribly overpriced here)

i7 – 265 EUR
Asus P6T Deluxe – 250 EUR
DDR3 1600 6 GB OCZ Platinum – 130 EUR
Cooler Noctua NH-U12P for 1366 – 60 EUR

705 EUR

Q9550 – 245 EUR
Gigabyte Asus P5QPro – 110 EUR
DDR2 4 GB G.Skill Pi Black – 55 EUR
Cooler – Xigmatek HDT1283 + retention bracket– 30 EUR

440 EUR

Difference = 265 EUR and then 24inch Samsung Syncmaster T240 instead of 22inch Samsung Syncmaster T220 (cca 100 EUR difference) and 4870x2 instead of 4870 (cca 160 EUR difference)

Same money, two different builds but only one winner for gaming…and no decent i7 build for 1000 USD , you need at least some 1300 EUR (1700 USD) in EU...mais les prix au Quebec pouvent etre differents...je sais pas

boulard83 · Mar 1, 2009

I7 920 : 279.99
ASUS P6T : 249.99
RAM 1600 ddr3 7-7-6-18 :136.99

666.97$

Q9550 : 279.99
EVGA 780I : 169.99
RAM 1066 ddr2 5-5-5-18 : 65.99

515.97$

APPLES to APPLES ( remember a P6T is at least a SLI board ... ) i end 150$ difference.

at this price ... im going to go for I7 if i was building a new system.

___________________________

PC P&C 610W : 69.99$ after MIR
WD caviar 640gb 32mb 7200rpm : 79.99$
case RC-690 : 89.99
DVD : 20$

we no speak about : I7:926.94 . . . . C2Q:775.94

___________________________

Now for the GPU ...
GTX295 : 500$
GTX285 : 330$
GTX260 : 230$

HD4870 : 240$
HD4870X2 : 425$
HD4850X2 : 275$

Currently my choice is the GTX285.

__________________________

in those build ive only used BEST (or near to) rated parts in neweggs.

I agree that if you go budget, the 775 build is WAY cheaper. You cant go budget with I7 ...

But the I7 is FUTURPROOF. thats why if im was building NOW ......

You cant go wrong building a C2Q. its going to be an awesome build ... but for the difference ?

___________________________

I forgot cooling

Add 27.99 for a XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler and 9.99 more for the I7 kit

sefit · Mar 2, 2009

I7 920 : 279.99
ASUS P6T : 249.99
RAM 1600 ddr3 7-7-6-18 :136.99

666.97$

Q9550 : 279.99
EVGA 780I : 169.99
RAM 1066 ddr2 5-5-5-18 : 65.99

515.97$

pretty much what I thought, prices in CAN or US are different in comparison to EU which means much lower, of course...lucky you.

APPLES to APPLES ( remember a P6T is at least a SLI board ... ) i end 150$ difference.

at this price ... im going to go for I7 if i was building a new system.

I think that beerdave wants to go with ATI therefore I used CF mobo and bearing on the mind that no 775 socket allows SLI and CF I opted for Asus 5PQ Pro which allows CF… moreover 1366 socket and 775 socket is not possible to compare in this respect and the reason is quite obvious…C2D,C2Q – CF or SLI, i7 both. Using apples to apples formula - Asus p5q pro/GA-EP45-UD3P are very nice mobos offering good money/performance ration, same as ASUS p6t for i7 (it actually one of the cheapest). 780i mobo for Duals or Quads is definitely (overprices) high end enabling SLI and therefore matching to this you must pick up something like Asus P6t6 Ws Revolution or GA-EX58-Extreme…that would be fair enough. Moreover you don’t need any DDR2 1066, good DDR2 800 is good deal and much more stable (in many cases).

in those build ive only used BEST (or near to) rated parts in neweggs.

I agree that if you go budget, the 775 build is WAY cheaper. You cant go budget with I7 ...

But the I7 is FUTURPROOF. thats why if im was building NOW ......

You cant go wrong building a C2Q. its going to be an awesome build ... but for the difference ?

E8500 with P45 and good GPU definitely best deal for gaming nowadays, but this year/next year we can witness first games like GTA4 using 4 cores....and in 2011/12 I doubt that that Core i7 will be still king of the castle. Are we condemned to live without progress for next three years, any new 32nm technology, 8 cores ? In 2011there will be new dilemma…going still i7 or new staff…you can never have futureproof, you can hold on 3 years and than upgrade…that’s our fate

You can not go wrong with i7, that’s best CPU, crème de la crème and if you can afford it - grab it, but i7 gaming rig needs to have 2 GTX 285 in SLI and 26inch quality monitor, going with one 4870 and 22 inchy-pinchy…that’s pure waste of money on that strong CPU. e8500 is prefect but Q9550 gives safer ground for 90 USD more…that’s all…

boulard83 · Mar 2, 2009

@ sefit.

Those are US price ... NEWEGG.COM .... its pretty the same price in canade since our dollar worth less then yours ... buts its EQUAL. but sometime the .COM have better deal ... other time its the .CA ... ask me why ... i dont know lolll newegg deal seems to be different between the 2 site ...

I agreed that a P5Q CF is near to be "equal" (i mean apples to apples" with a P6T but i founf this 780I for under 200$ ... so why not using it to compare !

For the DDR2. look my spec

i use 800mhz mem

but the 1066 is now cheaper.

I7 VS Q9550 or Q9650 i would be buying the I7 if im was building NOW.

I7 vs C2Q like E8400 for tighter budget the E8400 will lead you in a better system letting you more money to put on GPU - PSU and cpu cooler.

The Computer world is an INFINITE money hole ...... THATS IT ! but i like it

RetiredChief · Mar 2, 2009

Ref: SLI and Xfire. I believe the X58 Chipset allows both, unlike X48 which only supported Xfire.

Qoute From Gigabyte X58 board specs
"(The PCIEX16_1, PCIE16_2 and PCIEX8_1 slots support 2-Way/3-Way NVIDIA SLI/ATI CrossFireX technology and conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)"

My current system is: MB - Gigabyte P965-DQ6, CPU Lowly E6400 @ 3.2 GHZ.
This system is fine for me, No need to upgradge except for the Hell ot it. Which would have to be to a quad. So 9550 or I7 620. When I upgrade All parts Not Required to up grade are carried over. So in my case I only need: CPU, Motherboard, and Memory (Plus HSF for Proc - but that can hold off). Even if uprade needed new parts the cost would be the same for either.

Proc I7-920 $10 more than Q9550
MB $50 More ( if I went with Q9550 I would buy the BEST board I could
while not going over $200 Prefet Gigabyte X48 (or 45-DQ6)
Memory $ 60 More (Q9550 - Muskins DDR2-800 2x2, CL4 vs
Muskins DDR3-16000 3x2, CL 9 (In my cass $120 More as I already
Have spare $ gigs DDR2-800

Bottom Line - for $120 diff, I will go with I7. Rational. Two years downstream I might be able to upgrade proc/memory where as the Q9550 upgrades would be marginal and not cost effective.

IF my current MB supported the Q9550 - No choise, I would get the Q9550 and not even look back for probably tne next 3 Yr.

sefit · Mar 2, 2009

Those are US price ... NEWEGG.COM .... its pretty the same price in canade since our dollar worth less then yours ... buts its EQUAL. but sometime the .COM have better deal ... other time its the .CA ... ask me why ... i dont know lolll newegg deal seems to be different between the 2 site ...

only to prices, in my first answer I posted prices in Germany which is together with UK best deal for PC components here (bigger markets, more competitiveness). Personally I live in Belgium and I do not recommend even to have a look at prices here…
in Germany you can get i7 for 270 € which is 350 $ and this is best what you can get…in Belgium you go over 400 $ easily, GTX295 you can get for 440 € (570 $) and 4870x2 for 370 € (480 $)…only for illustration how pity it is. Definitely I would like to be on one of your sides (whatever side)

I7 VS Q9550 or Q9650 i would be buying the I7 if im was building NOW.

I7 vs C2Q like E8400 for tighter budget the E8400 will lead you in a better system letting you more money to put on GPU - PSU and cpu cooler.

fair enough….

boulard83 · Mar 3, 2009

its the OP that decide ! its all about BUDGET !

Q9650 or I7 920 ???

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