Might Upgrade CPU -- Intel Only!

Dyre Straits · May 16th, 2008, 10:36 AM

I already have a good motherboard and some very decent RAM to go with it. So, I'm not even going to consider anything AMD-related and there's no reason to even suggest that I should. It won't happen!

With my recent acquisition of an HD3870, and the fact that the E6700 is growing old in the tooth, I'm interested in considering some upgrading on the CPU side of things.

What I'm interested in finding out is some hard information on the Intel Q9450 vs any other Intel CPU that might be just as good...or maybe better. I can pick up the Q9450 for under $300 US. That's also as high in price as I'm even going to go.

So, what do you guys think?

The MSI P35 Neo does show it will support what I'm considering.

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p...Neo-F&class=mb

And, a link to the Intel specs for Q9450....

http://processorfinder.intel.com/det...px?sSpec=SLAWR

lumo · May 16th, 2008, 01:05 PM

i got an Q6600 which is really cheap now and worth the money (is about 160 Euro here)
whereat the Q9450 is not available and overpriced to 290Euro (for only higher fsb and 2mb cache)

i had no program that uses all the cores at 100% (unless video encoding, but i get 100fps+ even with the H.264 codec!)

EDIT: better put in more ram, as it really speeds up working - and ram is cheap now and they are going up soon - you can get the ram for the money you save when you buy the q6600

Unixlord · May 16th, 2008, 05:56 PM

Unless you game at low resolutions your GPU (3870) is the bigger bottleneck.

**Regeneration** · May 16th, 2008, 06:44 PM

E6700 is totally fine at this stage. If you wish to boost it a bit, you should get some good CPU cooler, and overclock it.

Dyre Straits · May 16th, 2008, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regeneration

E6700 is totally fine at this stage. If you wish to boost it a bit, you should get some good CPU cooler, and overclock it.

Presently, I've got a good cooler on it and am running it at 3.2 GHz.

**Regeneration** · May 16th, 2008, 08:35 PM

Then you’re good to go.

f I’m getting decent FPS with a low-budget E2140 and HD 3850, then you shouldn’t have any problems too. Basically, upgrading to Q9450 from E6700 is a waste of money; A GPU upgrade would benefit you a lot more.

I'd wait for Nehalem or HD 4000 series if I were you.

Dyre Straits · May 17th, 2008, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regeneration

Then you’re good to go.

f I’m getting decent FPS with a low-budget E2140 and HD 3850, then you shouldn’t have any problems too. Basically, upgrading to Q9450 from E6700 is a waste of money; A GPU upgrade would benefit you a lot more.

I'd wait for Nehalem or HD 4000 series if I were you.

Thanks!

FWIW, more of what I have in mind [should have included it originally

] is I may want to put the E6700 on another board and build another system using some spare motherboard and RAM with the 'old' HD2600 XT. So, for a better understanding, I'm kind of considering a better option to replace my E6700 in my current rig.

BTW, to Unixlord: How is it that GDDR4 on the HD3870 can bottleneck my current system? I'm using DDR2 800 System RAM (4 GB; 4x1 @5.4.4.12 settings)

(I'm going to make sure my current Profile reflects what I actually have at present.)

gen.Rage1991hrv · May 17th, 2008, 11:07 AM

wtf unix
3870 is great card and work like mad dog lol
it is working faster than g80 gpu
how the hell can it bottleneck system?

Dyre Straits · May 17th, 2008, 11:16 AM

BTW, lumo:

I updated my profile to show that I DO have 4 GB of DDR2 System RAM. On my 32-bit Vista Home Premium, that's enough.

Avoiding a dbl posting...I'll just edit this one.

I downloaded the Crysis Benchmark Tool from Guru.com and got the following results. Notice the results in the red box....

Also, notice the Very High Settings I'm using...although without AA enabled. The resolutions are first, 1280x1024, and then, 1024x768.

gen.Rage1991hrv · May 17th, 2008, 11:53 AM

dyre that is more than enough
maybe because 32 system dose not support 4Gb instead it is lowering down ddr from 4Gb to 3.something