Got Q9550. Looking for upgrade for gaming

[w00p00]

Hello, Ive had Q9550 for quite a while now and recently started looking at new CPUs but since I havent kept eye on the market for long time I cant really make sense of the data.

My current favourite is i5 6600k but the speed is comparable (I also got good cooling system already). The cache is in favour of the Q9550 and I dont have use for the integrated GPU since I use dedicated for gaming (got 580gtx).

The only advantage the i5 has at first glance is the 14nm but the different sites show about double the performance on tests and benchmarks.

So if someone has the time id like to explain to me why are the i5s better and suggest me other good replacements. Oh and also Im wondering if http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/ is good site to look at? If so is 6700k really effectively the best CPU and what makes it better than the 700$ cpus down the list, are they better for rendering or..?

Oh and another thing is, as I said I dont have use for integrated GPUs but I couldnt find any new CPU without one. Is this simply way for intel to make more money or are they useful and can work together with dedicated gpus?

 

[GhislainG]

You can't compare them like you did; the i5-6600k is much faster than the Q9550; your CPU isn't even as powerful as an i3-4170. If you don't want integrated graphics, then wait until Skylake Xeon processors are released. The cost of the IGP is minimal and it may prove useful when the GPU fails.

Edit: For gaming only, the upgrade may not be worth it since the bottleneck usually is the GPU.

 

[w00p00]

You can't compare them like you did; the i5-6600k is much faster than the Q9550; your CPU isn't even as powerful as an i3-4170. If you don't want integrated graphics, then wait until Skylake Xeon processors are released. The cost of the IGP is minimal and it may prove useful when the GPU fails.

Edit: For gaming only, the upgrade may not be worth it since the bottleneck usually is the GPU.

Well thanks for the answer but you didnt really answer any of my questions :/

 

[GhislainG]

What's the purpose of the system? The i7-6700K is the fastest, but it isn't required for a gaming system. Check benchmarks that use your applications and presume that your current system performs like an i3 (or even slower) for most tasks. http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/ is not that useful unless you know what you're looking for. For gaming use the SC column and for multitasking use the MC column.

 

[w00p00]

What's the purpose of the system? The i7-6700K is the fastest, but it isn't required for a gaming system. Check benchmarks that use your applications and presume that your current system performs like an i3 (or even slower) for most tasks. http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/ is not that useful unless you know what you're looking for. For gaming use the SC column and for multitasking use the MC column.

The core2quad is almost perfect for cad and the other apps I run on it so I doubt any of those will cause problems so I want to make sure it will be really good for gaming (and if possible last me as long as the q9550 ^^). Another thing is that I dont really care much about clocking because I want the system to be silent and Id rather not have integrated gpu considering Ill never use it. Also the userbenchmark doesnt have any xeons, could you explain how do they stack up against the i5 and i7.

 

[GhislainG]

At the same frequency, a Xeon performs exactly the same as it's equivalent i5 or i7; Xeon processors usually are clocked slightly slower. The IGP adds 4 watts to the TDP.

 

[w00p00]

At the same frequency, a Xeon performs exactly the same as it's equivalent i5 or i7; Xeon processors usually are clocked slightly slower. The IGP adds 4 watts to the TDP.

Are the new xeons you mentioned the equivalent of the 6700 and 6600? Also from what I found about them, they are cheaper than most of the existing xeons, why is that.

 

[GhislainG]

I don't know which ones you are referring to because Skylake Xeon processors (socket 1151) aren't yet available. You probably found the 3.4 GHz E3-1231 V3 (i7-4770) or the 3.1 GHz E3-1220 V3 (i5-4440). The Quad core basically cost the same; but the E3-1231 V3 is a great deal if you don't need the IGP.

 

[w00p00]

I don't know which ones you are referring to because Skylake Xeon processors (socket 1151) aren't yet available. You probably found the 3.4 GHz E3-1231 V3 (i7-4770) or the 3.1 GHz E3-1220 V3 (i5-4440). The Quad core basically cost the same; but the E3-1231 V3 is a great deal if you don't need the IGP.

Oh it seems Ive found the wrong article looking for the new ones. Is there some info on them? And why did you say I should wait for them, are they going to be better at similar price?

 

[GhislainG]

You should wait only if you absolutely want a Skylake processor with DDR4 memory; don't expect the i7 equivalent Xeon to be as cheap as the E3-1231 V3. If you want a Skylake now, then buy an i5-6600K. Bear in mind that a Xeon can't be overclocked if more performance is required. Skylake Xeon processors apparently are scheduled for a 2017 release.

 

[w00p00]

You should wait only if you absolutely want a Skylake processor with DDR4 memory; don't expect the i7 equivalent Xeon to be as cheap as the E3-1231 V3. If you want a Skylake now, then buy an i5-6600K. Bear in mind that a Xeon can't be overclocked if more performance is required. Skylake Xeon processors apparently are scheduled for a 2017 release.

Yeah I understand that I can't overclock them, I dont do that in general so it isnt drawback for me. I got another question that might be the stupidest one so far, do those cpus work with ddr2 ram or will I need to upgrade immediately that too.
Can you explain what does skylake mean and what are its advantages? Also what is the expected price for 1230v5 , if you dont know do you think it will be around 350-400$ based on other releases, I saw the e7 is about 7k so that's out of my price range ^^

Oh and also is E3-1231 V3 the xeon counterpart of 6600k?

 

[GhislainG]

DDR2 hasn't been supported for a long time; a new motherboard requires DDR3 or DDR4. Skylake is the name Intel gave to the latest processor family; they are a bit faster than the previous generation, i.e., the i5-6600K is slightly faster than the i5-4790K. You can find Intel's CPU naming at several sites like http://www.anandtech.com/show/9483/intel-skylake-review-6700k-6600k-ddr4-ddr3-ipc-6th-generation where you can also compare the performance of Skylake vs previous generations. No Xeon is the equivalent of a K CPU; the E3-1231 V3 is a Haswell while the i5-6600K is a Skylake. The Xeon has 4 cores and 8 threads while the i5-6600K has 4 cores and 4 threads. According to http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Xeon/Intel-Xeon%20E3-1230%20v5.html the i3-1230 V5 should be released this year, but other sites have a different release date. You'll know the price when its released and it will certainly be more expensive than the E3-1231 V3.