Core 2 Quad q9650 vs i5-2500k

The core 2 Q9XXX are still pretty capable gaming cpus by today's standarts, and as you say the system is mainly for gaming you could use a GPU upgrade better.

How much are you willing to spend?, Though the HD79xx cards will be coming out within a couple months you will want to check them out, the 7970 is an absolute monster and at a good price, when they release them they will make current cards drop in price.

At the same speed the 1st generation Intel® Core™ processors outperform the Intel Core 2 Quad by 15% to 20% and then the 2nd generation Intel Core processors outperform the 1st by an additional 10% to 15%. You can get an idea on the performance of these processors by checking out this link http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/49?vs=288

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

Thank you for both of your responses, a lot of good imformation. As far as the new graphics cards, I was looking anywhere from 100-250...I'd rather not drop over 300 on one. Any good recommendations on new cards? Also if anyone else has any other information, i would love to hear. Thanks again!

definitely go with the GPU upgrade and don't look back, you dont need to upgrade your cpu as it is perfectly sufficient for gaming and with 9800gt you will see virtually no performance increases where it matters

I'd recommend you stay with your cpu and get a 7870 when they come out. Or maby a 7950, they will probably be a little over 250, but that's just a guess.

You're better off getting a new video card and overclocking your CPU

I agree. Overclocking is free or almost free.

definately a graphics update is needed

c2d have strength and only need a good card to show that

Best answer selected by joshh967.