Would like advise on Possible upgrade.

[silky salamandr]

Alrighty I cant decide what I want or should do. Im looking at upgrading to the new Lynnfield i5 or i7. Before we get started heres my current rig. I purchased these parts from Newegg on 5/28/09

Q9400@3.0ghz
OCZ Fatal1ty 4gigs@1066
XFX 750i extreme SLI Mobo
XFX GTX 285
Sony Optiarc 24x DVD Burner
Seagate 7200.12 1t HD
Roswill 650W PSU
NZXT Digital fan controller(A must to calm down my case fans)
CoolerMaster HAF 932
ASUS 24inch 1080p

The only two areas that bother me is my Mobo and my PSU. CPU runs flawlessly but I really never liked my Mobo.

My question is given my current setup, Is going to a Lynnfield i5 or i7 a sidegrade or an upgrade in performance? or should I be happy with what I have? Ive read alot on here but couldnt find a specific thread that would answer my question.

I know I have a top performing cpu so if I wanna do this, it really has to be a substantial performance increase in all areas not just games. I know a true upgrade would be the i7-920 but ill have to upgrade my psu also so id be looking at over 600bucks for that. My cpu is just 3 1/2 months old so that kinda money is crazy.

Im leaning towards the i5 because I never intend to SLI and its 94bucks cheaper than i7. The 285 is more than enough for me and I rarely play games on my cpu. But saying that I really dont think there would be a huge performance increase going to i5 so depending on what you guys say, Ill lean towards one or the other or keep my current setup.

Thank you in advance for your responses.

 

[ainarssems]

Stick with it, maybe overclock CPU a bit more(3.2G) If You feel You need more speed and if m/b allows it( I know 750i are not greatest overclockers)

Keep it until next generation after i5/i7 comes out.

 

[jimishtar]

are u kiddin me? what's here to upgrade?

 

[silky salamandr]

Thank you for the responses.

I know I know. I just was seeing if spending money to jump to Lynnfield would give me noticible results. Since the lack of responses I think its safe to say that nobody really knows if there is a noticible increase from what I have now.

To psyco, Im just looking at my mobo,proc,ram. Im not lookin at any graphics cards. You dont think the 285 is enough? Also this mobo I have is not a good overclocker by any means so thats why you see the mild oc cause I cant get it stable any higher.

Im kinda thinking its gonna be a sidegrade and thats all Im looking to find out from other opinions.

 

[seabreeze]

There's no need to upgrade anything in that system. Can you provide a 3DMark06 benchmark? What's it do already?

I've got an i5 + XFX GTX285 sitting here to compare, if you want. It provides a stock score of 17,000, a 3.2GHz score of 19,000 and a 3.8GHz score of 20,900 I don't have a 3GHz score recorded for some reason, but you can guess where it will fall, somewhere about the 18,000 point mark.

Are your scores close to these?

 

[nun]

no need to upgrade there

 

[geofelt]

No need to upgrade. If you have the itch to spend, get a second monitor.

 

[silky salamandr]

There's no need to upgrade anything in that system. Can you provide a 3DMark06 benchmark? What's it do already?

I've got an i5 + XFX GTX285 sitting here to compare, if you want. It provides a stock score of 17,000, a 3.2GHz score of 19,000 and a 3.8GHz score of 20,900 I don't have a 3GHz score recorded for some reason, but you can guess where it will fall, somewhere about the 18,000 point mark.

Are your scores close to these?

http://i892.photobucket.com/albums/ac124/dark_energy_technology/i5-720stock3DMark06.jpg

http://i892.photobucket.com/albums/ac124/dark_energy_technology/i5-7503-2GHz3DMark06.jpg

Well it scores 15,076 in 3dmark but thats at 3.0ghz. I think ill take the advise of numerous posters and try to oc to 3.2. Thats actually where I wanted to be but this board is very sensitive to voltages and Ive had problems oc'ing past 3. But honestlly I think I will buy another mobo thats a good oc'er. Any suggestions on what mobo? I would like it to be no more than 170.

Thanks!

 

[Stardude82]

I'm a big fan of hard drive upgrades. Maybe a little striping action? Hows about you get a new mobo with a ICH10R southbridge and another Seagate?

Alternatively, How about an SSD?

If you are by chance by a Microcenter, they have ridiculous i7 deals sometime and worth a bit of a drive. I didn't realize I have one in the area until I looked them up.