Core 2 Quad Q8300 vs core i5 650

650 by a bit

That's what I initially thought, but I got worried seeing the older quad core scoring higher on PassMark: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

I know the i5 650 isn't a true quad core, so that got me more worried. Is that score not telling the whole story?

well after reading again more cores would be better fro graphic work I suppose
but q8300 is old tech frankly I believe the core clock difference will likely overcome the difference

Look at these benches the I5 is the clear winner in everything.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/89?vs=144

Passmark is not very accurate and you will notice no one uses it for any real comparisons.

According to the benchmark provided, I would say they are about the same at the moment with Q8400 being superior in apps that can utilize four cores.
In addition, more and more to-be-released apps/games will take the advantage of quad core CPUs and so I would take Q8400 over i5-650.

Ok Anandtech tells a different story. Some tasks are still better with the old quadcore, but I knew it was getting phased out and the i5 would have DDR3 ram. It's similar enough, but I'm not sure how I feel about the cpu graphics. Thanks. I used to know hardware, but haven't built or kept up with the knowledge since the ide to sata switch and these new i cores are confusing.

These were the two I was trying to decide on. The i5 had a free shipping code and the Q8300 would've been $10 more after shipping. I've ordered refurbished stuff from both of them before - hope this one works out too.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=CG5275-AR003-PB...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/ite...

Since they perform similarly at the moment, cost about the same and i5-650 system has better & cheaper upgrade path. I would take the i5-650 then.

p.s. i5-750(LGA1156) is better and costs less than Q9550(LGA775) and so I would get the LGA1156 i5-650 system.

Agreed, the i5 tech will be current for years to come. They only perform similarly on anandtech because I'm looking at the Q8400. They only have that and the Q8200 on the charts. The sys I'm looking at is a Q8300 2.5 ghz, so I guess the i5 would still be better anyways. Just ordered it, but it doesn't say Win 7 - 64 bit. I'm assuming it has to be since it's more than 4 gigs ram, but maybe that's why it's cheap... hmm

Why don't you just OC your Q8300 for now?

I have an old E6300 Dell Xps, but not worth dropping in a new cpu since the mobo won't OC and it's acting wonky already. Don't have a Q8300, those are two new pc's I'm trying to decide between.

Lol.. poor guy was having a hard enough time deciding on the two systems without even considering how they compare with overclocking...

I'd lean towards the i5 system also, just because it's newer tech and more likely to give you a small window of upgrade options.

Having said that, I can't remember the last time someone I know actually upgraded just a CPU, it's usually the CPU/MB/RAM all at the same time anyways..