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i7 or Quad Core?
Last Post 09 Apr 2009 11:12 PM by serpico. 5 Replies.
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HaVocUser is Offline Advanced Member Advanced Member Posts:569 Avatar
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24 Jan 2009 04:13 AM  

Ok, so I am having this dillema....

 

I am trying to choose between getting the Q9650 or the i7 920.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 3.0GHz 12MB L2 Cache - $333

 

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache - $295

Now, I know that they will be changing the sockets for the i7 chips.... Q3 this year I believe... making it impossibe for me to just upgrade the CPU without upgrading the motherboard.  HOWEVER, if I went with the Q9650.... I wouldn't be able to upgrade this either.... as they won't be making any more upgrades for this socket.  So, either way I won't be able to upgrade using the motherboard I buy now. 

 

 For the i7, I would spend about $250-$300 for a motherboard, and about $128 for 4GB DDR3 RAM.  This, plus the CPU comes to about $673 - $723

For the Quad core, I would spend about $175-$225 for a motherboard, and about $109 for 4GB DDR2 RAM.  This, plus the CPU comes to about $617-667

 

So, what do you guys think?

 
tiamatUser is Offline New Member New Member Posts:23 Avatar
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24 Jan 2009 08:27 PM  
If you have the $, go with the 920 and new motherboard. They scale so well with multi-threading its not even funny.

If you do any type of audio or video encoding/decoding - the difference they make is unreal.

Newegg is $284.00 right now with free shipping, do what I did - hit the button and don't look back.
"Mouth from the South"
TmoUser is Offline Basic Member Basic Member Posts:449 Avatar
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27 Jan 2009 11:32 AM  

The faster DDR3 RAM will also make a difference now and in the future... if you have to upgrade the mobo anyway you may as well get as far down the road as you can.
ExotixUser is Offline New Member New Member Posts:44 Avatar
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26 Mar 2009 04:25 PM  
I'm curious to see what you end up going with, because I (unwillingly) installed Vista and it appears my processor would be better off upgraded. Plus, all this new ram technology puts all my oldschool hardware to shame. I'm trying to find something that supports Cubase (audio recording/drum machine/sampling/mixing... basiclly a shitload of stuff to run all at once), that also puts out decent performance for shit like WoW and various FPS's. Then again, sound recording =/= video game performance, and I refuse to go Mac.
HaVocUser is Offline Advanced Member Advanced Member Posts:569 Avatar
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26 Mar 2009 09:12 PM  
I ended up going i7. There is not much of a price difference.... its only like about $100 more, give or take
serpicoUser is Offline New Member New Member Posts:42 Avatar
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09 Apr 2009 11:12 PM  

mail me your old comp so i can play games

Z 
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