Best Processor

[vflflyer]

I have a Asus P5N32-E Sli MoBo with an Pentium D 945 Processor(LGA 775)! I too would like to upgrade to the full capacity of my MoBo.
Would I notice a difference going with a better processor and if so could anyone recommend the best one. I have been looking at the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 3.2 GHz Processor which I think is the best one for socket LGA 775, but I could be wrong. The price is the only thing that is stopping me other than I am not sure if there will be a big improvement. Any suggestion would be great and appreciated.

 

[cjl]

That is the best available, but it isn't worth the money. I'd go for the Q9650 (which is nearly as good, at a fraction of the cost), as long as your board supports it.

 

[runswindows95]

I wouldn't spend the money on the QX9770. For $1,000, you can build a new Core I7 system. Also, just checked with Asus, and your motherboard won't handle any of the Q8X00 or the Q9X00 quads. Better off saving up, and building a new system at this point.

CPU list for your motherboard: http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=vBZLIBtPzYB2bLcb

 

[jerreece]

If you're thinking of spending anywhere near $1,000 you need to rebuild your system. You can pickup an i7-920, X58 Mobo, and Tri-Channel DDR3 for say $600 and it'll outperform what you're thinking of getting. Not to mention it's also the latest technology.

 

[Raidur]

Yeah, if you have that much money to spend I would just do a rebuild. If you are a gamer Q9550 and Q9650 are good like he said and you would get nearly the same performance if you OC it. The Extreme just has higher OC headroom due to an unlocked multiplier (if you can keep it cool enough). However, if you do other CPU intensive things other than gaming, or you plan on having a GPU setup better than 5870 crossfire before you upgrade your CPU I'd just do a rebuild with i5 or i7. Any way you go you'll see a HUGE performance increase over Pentium D.

 

[obsidian86]

the q9650 is currently $320

 

[SpicyKebabman]

^ Yep, and an i7 920 which outperforms it is around $279, or $200 at Microcenter

 

[silverron]

Upgrade is the way to go with i7 920 if you must change board or have the money to upgrade - if your board will handle Q9550, it has 12 mb cache & 1333 fsb for $209.99 at Tigerdirect.com - not bad choice to save money. GOOD LUCK!

"Keep pushing forward, Let's not go back to dos!"

 

[vflflyer]

I am not willing to spend a $1000. for a processor or more if I was to build a new system since I would have to upgrade everything!

I am thinking about the E8500 processor since the E8600 is like a $100 more and really don't think I would see much improvement to justify the additional $100.

Thanks for your imput ladies & gents

 

[someguy7]

As stated above by runswindows. Your board DOES NOT officially support any Q8 or Q9 quads. I find that strange myself. It supports the 45nm dual cores. It supports 1st generation quads and the qx6850(FSB1333) which I did not even know was actually made. So it can handle the power draw and 45nm but not those 45nm quads.

Anyways. You are still using a Pent D cpu. Judging from that I highly doubt it would make any sense to ditch your current system for a new i7 build like some have suggested. I would just pick up a c2d like the e7500 which is $120 on newegg. That would be one hell of a upgrade from your current set up.

You would notice a HUGE improvement over the Pentium D in anything that actually puts a load on the cpu. If you're comfortable overclocking getting that chip to run at 1333FSB should not be a problem.

If you do work that will take advantage of a quad core then look to see if you can find a q6600 or q6700 around and pick that up.

If a pent D lasted you until this point in time either of those cpus will easily stretch out the lifespan another 3-5 years. No need to build from scratch.

 

[vflflyer]

As stated above by runswindows. Your board DOES NOT officially support any Q8 or Q9 quads. I find that strange myself. It supports the 45nm dual cores. It supports 1st generation quads and the qx6850(FSB1333) which I did not even know was actually made. So it can handle the power draw and 45nm but not those 45nm quads.

Anyways. You are still using a Pent D cpu. Judging from that I highly doubt it would make any sense to ditch your current system for a new i7 build like some have suggested. I would just pick up a c2d like the e7500 which is $120 on newegg. That would be one hell of a upgrade from your current set up.

You would notice a HUGE improvement over the Pentium D in anything that actually puts a load on the cpu. If you're comfortable overclocking getting that chip to run at 1333FSB should not be a problem.

If you do work that will take advantage of a quad core then look to see if you can find a q6600 or q6700 around and pick that up.

If a pent D lasted you until this point in time either of those cpus will easily stretch out the lifespan another 3-5 years. No need to build from scratch.

Thanks for the great advise! I think I will go with thr E8500 and a 260 or 275 grahics card and make that last me at least 3-5 years.

 

[jeff77789]

If you're thinking of spending anywhere near $1,000 you need to rebuild your system. You can pickup an i7-920, X58 Mobo, and Tri-Channel DDR3 for say $600 and it'll outperform what you're thinking of getting. Not to mention it's also the latest technology.

i agree. you could get better stuff with new storebought items

 

[Bluescreendeath]

I am not willing to spend a $1000. for a processor or more if I was to build a new system since I would have to upgrade everything!

I am thinking about the E8500 processor since the E8600 is like a $100 more and really don't think I would see much improvement to justify the additional $100.

Thanks for your imput ladies & gents

For the price, an E8500 isn't worth it. An E8500 costs almost $200, whereas an E8400 costs around $160...both are overpriced.

You can get a Q6600, OC it to 3.0GHz, and it'll be much better than either E8400 or E8500. New Q6600s go for about $160ish on ebay or amazon.

 

[Raidur]

Q9400 is probably the best price/performance in the LGA775 lineup since the price increases, if your mobo supports it, if not the Q6600 is your best choice like bluescreen said. If it was about 6 months ago I would probably recommend the E8500 due to its extremely high and easy OC headroom but more and more games are showing better quad core optimization so it's becoming the norm these days and into the future.

 

[jerreece]

Q6600 is a great processor since your current board may support it. Should be a fairly inexpensive upgrade, and will be a huge leap from your Pentium 4. However, depending on what you want to do, keep in mind that the Q6600 can be a bottleneck for SLI setups.

I highly doubt you're planning to go SLI. I recently replaced my Q6600 (which ran @ 3.2Ghz) with an i5-750 and found that my 3dMark06 scores on my GPUs jumped quite a bit. I was running 2 x GTX 260 before and after upgrade.

With a single higher end GPU however, the Q6600 should be great. And it'll still be quite a bit better than what you have now.

 

[Raidur]

3dmark06 score is not entirely based on the graphics card. The CPU plays a big role in 3dmark06 score since there are 2 scores added together, CPU and GPU. What kind of FPS increases in games and GPU score increase did you get jerreece? Kind of curious how 3.2ghz kentsfield keeps up on todays graphics cards, I'd figure it would bottleneck 2 260s too much though, but maybe a bit.

 

[jerreece]

3dmark06 score is not entirely based on the graphics card. The CPU plays a big role in 3dmark06 score since there are 2 scores added together, CPU and GPU. What kind of FPS increases in games and GPU score increase did you get jerreece? Kind of curious how 3.2ghz kentsfield keeps up on todays graphics cards, I'd figure it would bottleneck 2 260s too much though, but maybe a bit.

I don't appear to have records of all my Q6600 3.2Ghz benchmarks. ORB only gives me 3 slots to save in since I'm a free 3dMark06 user.

However, here's a direct comparison of my 3DMark06 benchmarks of the i5-750 at stock, and OC'd to 4Ghz. Both setups had ALL other settings the same.
You might also consider that my P55 board is only 8x/8x for PCI-E slots. Wish I had benchmarks from my Q6600, as my old 680i board was 16x/16x.

i5_750 @ 2.66Ghz

SuperPi 1M @ 16.306 sec

3DMark06 Score
16343 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score
6371
SM 3.0 Score
8839
CPU Score
3640


i5-750 @ 4Ghz

SuperPi 1M @ 10.407 sec

3DMark06 Score
24621 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score
9893
SM 3.0 Score
12236
CPU Score
6069


I did also have a benchmark saved from my Q6600 @ 3.2Ghz with only a single GTX 260 Core 216 however. Keep in mind this was DDR2-800 so there's some minimal difference there. Also I wasn't using the same drivers at the time, as this benchmark was performed March 2009.

Q6600 @ 3.2Ghz

3DMark06 Score
15688 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score
6387
SM 3.0 Score
7180
CPU Score
4404

Purely from mental recollection, I seem to think my SLI scores with the Q6600 were about 18k 3DMarks.