Intel i7 860 ($470), is it decent?

My Specs:

Intel Core2Duo E8200 @ 2.66GHZ
ZM660-TX PSU
Mainboard: Gigabyte Technology EP35-DS3R
4GB RAM
XFX Nvidia 275 GTX
320GB HDD
Samsung 22" (1680x1050)

I finally made the big move away from Windows XP and bought Windows 7 home edition.

I'm very happy with Windows 7. I've only had it for a few days and I have nothing but positive things to say about it.

However, I did notice a big hit in my performance in games. Games that ran smoothly on the highest settings in XP are a bit jittery in Windows 7, including games on the Source Engine that don't require much horsepower. These performance drops range from 25-50 FPS.

The hardware store I have access to (can't order online) sells the Intel i7 860 as it's fastest chip. They're charging $470 for it. A quick browse on the internet informed me that the retail price in the US is around $280, but since it is an import that has been taxed and tariffed here, the best I can do is just shy of $500 big ones.

Is it still worth it? Would it take care of my performance issues?

Cheers.

The i7 870 is a new socket, so you would need more than just the CPU. Minimum would be CPU/motherboard and maybe RAM.

I don't think this would help. It may just be game/driver specific issues that are causing the slowdown. For me, I noticed that Windows 7 was worse with AA than Vista (GTX260 and i7 920).

There is something more to this than just the OS change. Windows 7 alone should not cause a 25-50fps drop in any game. Fix that problem first. It would say it is driver related. And if you want to increase your cpu speed look into overclocking.

A good upgrade for you would be a good overclock, after you fix your other issues. Read up.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] uals-guide

If you really feel you should upgrade, budget shouldn't be included considering the CPU you already have. You're looking at $180+ (Q9400+) to get a worth while upgrade, but I guess you were considering the hugely priced (and overpriced I might add) i7 860 you found. So you know it goes for $290 on the egg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115214 . Even then if you are gaming you will only see an increase in a few games (quad core optimized games), and even a decrease in some (non-quad core optimized games), considering how much more then E8200 will OC over the Q9400.

If you don't have one look up a good aftermarket heatsink and make sure your mobo is a decent/good overclocker (I believe its decent).

Try overclocking \ Fix the underlying issue.

You sholdn't see a significant performance change going from XP to Win7.

I suspect driver issues, especially the graphics drivers. Go to nVidia's website and download the latest drivers.