E7400 vs Q9550

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SippyCupXIII

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Hello All,

I am in need of some quick help. It has come to my attention that Microcenter has the Q9550 on sale for $170 this week. I am really thinking about taking this deal for my gaming comp. However.....I am not sure if the performance gain will be worth the price of the new CPU. Here is my system as it stands:


Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Motherboard: MSI P7N SLI Platinum
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo e7400
Memory: 4gb G.Skill DDR2 pc6400
Video Card: (2x)1gb EVGA Geforce GTS 250
Sound Card: VIA Envy24HF
Hard Drive: 80gb/(2x)500gb Western Digital IDE
Power Supply: Thermaltake 850watt TR2 RX


I currently have my eE7400 OC'ed to 3.8 ghz (400x9.5). I would OC the Q9550 to 3.4ghz (400x8.5). So we are looking at losing 400mhz on the clock, but I would be gaining 2 cores and 9mb of L2 cache.

So my question is...this this purchase worth it?

(E7400 @ 3.8ghz (400x9.5) VS Q9550 @ 3.4ghz (400x8.5))

Please give me some info ASAP as I plan to drive to get it later today since I work all weekend.

Thanks!
Chris Stickles


*P.S. I will sell my E7400 to get some money and I may try to push the Q9550 past 3.4ghz but I am not sure.*
 
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Deleted member 217926

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To me it would be worth getting the quad if you do not plan on any other upgrades for the next year or so.

If you are planning to upgrade sooner than that then save the money for the full rebuild.

I assume you have a good CPU cooler since you are already overclocking? If so I believe you can go over 3.4 on the quad easily.
 
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SippyCupXIII

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Yes.....I game at 1920x1080 resolution. So if that would make a bigger difference than if I gamed at 1280x1024 or something then that is good. Thanks for the input! Please.....any other info would be great!
 
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jonpaul37

jonpaul37

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Go for it under ONE condition, and that is if you plan to keep that rig for 2 years +, otherwise, if you're planning on getting a new machine over the next year, stick with the dual-core, it'll serve you well until then.
 
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SippyCupXIII

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Yes.....I plan on keeping this rig for at least appox 2 years. I at least dont plan on upgrading within the next year thats for sure. If anything......I would only switch out graphics cards within the next 2 years. I would like to think that everything else would last for 2 years.
 
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jonpaul37

jonpaul37

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I don't think that you'll benefit much from an extra 4GB of RAM. The original 4GB that you have is more than enough for Win 7 64-bit, it would be like $60.00 for minimal gains. maybe invest in an aftermarket HS/F for extreme overclocking (if you don't already have one)
 
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godbrother

godbrother

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I know this may sound bazzar, but have you considered checking on ebay if you can pick the CPU up for even cheaper - used? Seen as the new line of i7 have come out, and new sockets... They tend to be way cheaper then retail.

Just my 2c's.
 
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SippyCupXIII

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Yeah.....it is going to be $83 to order another 4gb kit (2x2gb) off newegg actually. I already have a really good heatsink though. Think you are probably right and I will probably just stick with the 4gb. Either save that money or put it towards something else that doesnt involve my computer.....lol
 
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godbrother

godbrother

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Yeah, its good to go onto ebay and pick up used RAM, or new Generic RAM. I've seen a pair of Crucial Balisitc ram sell for $22 bucks on ebay, (2x2GB) with the heatsinks. I felt like crap.
 
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warmon6

warmon6

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Dang.....

Although if there's any major problems with the item, it maybe hard to get you money back...
 
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SippyCupXIII

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Well.....I got the processor but just put it in a couple of hours ago. Have only done some slight testing but I am happy with the performance so far. A couple of my games dont seem to have some of the fps dips they had with the e7400. I will have to do some more tests though to see how this baby is running!

I currently have it running at 3.4ghz (400x8.5) and that is where it is staying. I tried to get 3.6-3.8ghz but it wasnt stable and I dont want to spend the time tweaking to get it stable.....lol. My temps are a little higher then they were with the e7400 but I was expecting that. They overall are still really good for the OC I am running though.

I did pass on the extra 4gb ram from Newegg as well....I agree that it really wouldnt be worth it. Maybe sometime down the road for the hell of it. (tax return or something) But I think my system is pretty future proof for now.....if anything, maybe replace gfx cards in a year or so but I think everything else to do until my next build "X" years from now.

I want to thank all of you for your info that you gave, it really did help me in my decisions. Its nice I can come here and get advice that matters!

Thanks Again!


*On a side note, my Windows 7 performance index went from 6.8 on CPU and memory to 7.4 with the new processor! So now I am at 7.4 across the board except my HD is 5.3...(IDE drive but it gets the job done!)*
 
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