Q9550 vs core i5

[skate9345]

im standing between 2 cpu choices either buy a q9550 now or wait and get more money and get a core i5, my current motherboard only support pci 1.1 and i only have 2gb ram, so i don't know if its worth to upgrade that old system more or just wait and go all new, is the difference worth the exra money performance wise between q9550 and core i5?? pls help

tnx in advance

 

[Bluescreendeath]

If you already have a 775 system, and if you live near a Microcenter, get the Q9550 for $179...

Otherwise save your money for 1156 and i5...

 

[skate9345]

If you already have a 775 system, and if you live near a Microcenter, get the Q9550 for $179...

Otherwise save your money for 1156 and i5...

but what i was asking about is if the performance difference is worth the extra money, not anybody to tell me what i already know which is to get a q9550 now or wait and get a core i5! its why i even asked in the first place, just read the whole question before posting a respond, tnx in advance

 

[Hellboy]

but what i was asking about is if the performance difference is worth the extra money, not anybody to tell me what i already know which is to get a q9550 now or wait and get a core i5! its why i even asked in the first place, just read the whole question before posting a respond, tnx in advance

The i5 is far superior to the 9550.

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/lynnfield/

it even beats the next one up - a 9650 in nearly all bench marks ( the level entry one ) and the 8 series definately smacks them down.


go for a i5 as socket 775 will be end of life next year for not much more than what your paying for your old

but if your existing board fits it, its the cheaper option.

 

[Raidur]

I was trying to decide between saving up for i7 or getting a Q9550.

I chose the Q9550 because it performs nearly the same as i5/i7 in games (especially if you OC) unless you are running an extreme GPU setup like 5870 trifire (or more), which by the time I have that kind of GPU setup, intel (or AMD) will have something even better out that will last me even longer. Couldn't justify an extra $250-$400 for a ~0% gaming performance increase (and I don't do much of anything else that is CPU intensive).

Now if I was building an entirely new system and didn't already have a LGA775 board i5 or i7 would be a no-brainer.

Though now that I re-read your post... you don't have a pcie 16x slot? If you are trying to game and don't have one of those, upgrade that mobo, i5/i7 ftw.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

but what i was asking about is if the performance difference is worth the extra money, not anybody to tell me what i already know which is to get a q9550 now or wait and get a core i5! its why i even asked in the first place, just read the whole question before posting a respond, tnx in advance

Worth the difference? The difference between an i5 and a Q9550 is $20 at Microcenter for the CPU itself.

Like I said before, if you already own a 775 board, it is not worth the difference, which is why I said just get a Q9550. If you do not own a 775 board and want to build a computer from scratch, get an 1156 i5/i7 board.

But you said you have a PCIe 1.1 slot, which means your motherboard probably can't even support the 45nm Q9550 anyways...

 

[skora]

Here's benchmarks comparing the two. i5 is blue:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=109&p2=50

What GPU do you have, intent to get?

I'm with BSD here, if you already have a 775 system and aren't running a big GPU, then the 1.1 PCIe x16 will do just fine. Otherwise, you're looking at the cost of ram and a new mobo. CPU prices are close.

 

[BadTrip]

Worth the difference? The difference between an i5 and a Q9550 is $20 at Microcenter for the CPU itself.

Like I said before, if you already own a 775 board, it is not worth the difference, which is why I said just get a Q9550. If you do not own a 775 board and want to build a computer from scratch, get an 1156 i5/i7 board.

But you said you have a PCIe 1.1 slot, which means your motherboard probably can't even support the 45nm Q9550 anyways...

agreed, if the motherboard only supports 1.1 pci-express I would be surprised if it supported the 45nm cpus. i5 FTW!

 

[jaguarskx]

Please provide current specs.

What is the upgrade for? Purely gaming?