New computer - e8400 or q9550?

[self_righteous]

Hi everyone,
I'm buying a new computer in a coulpe of days (mostly to play games, surf the net, watch movies etc) and I have a few questions.
I won't change my mobo and cpu for at least 2 years so I have to buy sth that will be still powerfull enough in 2011 to play newer games.

I'm concidering two options:

e8400 + Asus P5Q + GeForce GTX 285
or
q9550 + Asus P5Q + GeForce GTX 285

The problem is that q9500 is about 50% more expensive than e8400. I know that currently only a couple of games use 4 cores, but maybe in 2011 the situation will be different. Is it worth to pay 50% more for 4 cores instead of 2?


BTW, can you reccomend a PSU that would be appropriate for q9550?

 

[someguy7]

Take a look at AMD alternative.

The q9950 is currently overpriced and so is the 8400 by a little bit.

PII 720 BE or 940 BE are hard to pass up. More so the 720.



But out of the two cpus you picked out I would go for the dual core. 50 percent more is not worth it. There are cheaper quad cores you could sub in for the q9950 though.

As for the PSU. Either of these cpus do not draw a huge amount of power. You do not need to worry about matching a psu with a cpu. Its more of matching a psu with the rest of the system(GPU/GPUS)

 

[self_righteous]

Yeah, I know that people reccomend the new Phenom II but... well... ok, I know this is just a stupic psychological thing but for me, if I buy an Intel cpu i don't look back. I bought it, I know it works fine, I know I can always OC it without problems etc. With AMD I would always wait for sth bad to happen, like I'm 99% positive that it must fail at some point so that I may regret not choosing Intel... I know it's stupid

 

[Peaks]

I have been having this same dilemma recently.

My advice to you would be to get a quad core. Because the q9950 is overpriced look into either the q9650 or q9550.

The e8400 is a good gaming chip but you shouldn't be spending money on dying technology.

 

[mi1ez]

Where did you last 2 guys (not inc OP) get Q9950 from?!? He gave 9550 as one choice!

 

[mi1ez]

Oh, forgot the question. Go 9550 and a decent cooler!

 

[self_righteous]

@ peaks
I didn't take q9950 into conciderarion here... no way.

@ mi1ez
thanks for advice... and that's 'SHE gave 9550...' btw ;-)

@ zipzoomflyhigh
yeah, I know that 775 is a dying system but I doubt that e7200 will be any good for games in 2years. And I juz won't buy i7 with the prices of s1366 mobo (come on... to pay the price of a new q9550 for the cheapest i7 mobo? and then pay that again for the cpu itself. at least that's how it looks like in my country... im not crazy ;-) ).

 

[Kraynor]

+1 for the Q9550 coupled with a good cooler and thermal paste because the stock versions of both are terrible.

 

[antmiu2]

1+, e8400 + good cooler to oc and still way cheaper

 

[h0devil]

q9550 100%
and have look to i7

 

[self_righteous]

Ok, thanks guys. I think I'll go with q9550 + cooling + Asus p5q... and OC it .

 

[mamw93]

Q9950 will perform better and outlast the E8400 by years.