Help me decide on a new rig ASAP!!!!

[superchris7]

Uh, no. I7 is insanely overhyped, especially by gamers. Why do you wait for it so badly, CPUs almost never matter in games, with RTS being the obvious exception, but I get by perfectly with a Q9550.

Worry more about your GPU.

None of those will be able to run current games on max at playable fps, just so you know. But go with #2, I guess. If you're a serious gamer, drop the Q9550, get yourself a Q6600, and a 4870X2. Should be about the same price.

Appreciate it! What kind and how much memory do you have with your Q9550? What GPU do you have?

 

[superchris7]

Well...I went ahead and got it. I know some of you will sigh when you see this, but it's running great!

I already had this...
Antec 900 /w extra fan for the side and middle bays
Giga-Byte ODIN 800w PS
Ultra Card Reader with Floppy drive

I got this to add....

AMD Phenom 9950
Giga-Byte 790GX MB
Giga-Byte ATI 4850 GPU /w Zalman fan
4Gb OCZ 1066 DDR2
Zalman CNPS9700 LED CPU Fan
LG 6x Blu-Ray Burner
Logitech Wave Pro Keyboard/Mouse

It's running great!! I got it together last night. Installed Vista 64 Home Premium in about 25 minutes. It's running at a cool 25C system and 30C CPU. So cool...that I'm getting up the nerve to OC to 3.0 Ghz. I'm going to download the Crysis Demo to see what that's like. Again, I know the Phenom isn't the most popular CPU around here, but I like it. I think going any faster would have been too much for me, but time will tell. Once again, thank you for all of your suggestions.

 

[Wisecracker]

Is that the 125w or 140w Phenom 9950?

Rumahs have the 140w 9950 actually running cooler than the 125w Phenom 9850 ...

 

[jibbs]

Well, if it's mainly for gaming I'd go with number 2, and if you're gonna play a lot it's worth the extra $100 to upgrade to the 4870.

If you use the computer for other work like photoshop, premiere, 3D max or Maya, or do any heavy multithreading then go with option number 2

and like anything else $$ always becomes a factor

 

[superchris7]

Is that the 125w or 140w Phenom 9950?

Rumahs have the 140w 9950 actually running cooler than the 125w Phenom 9850 ...

125w. I overclocked it to 3.0Ghz, and it's still running great! The temp is at 35C. I've been messing with it all day, and I'm very impressed. I haven't been able to download the Crysis demo yet. I think I will now.

 

[Startingline13]

You can def get 3.0 Ghz out of that.

I have the phenom 9550, and I OC'd it from 2.2 to 2.65 Ghz and it's running stable.
Also, turn off aero and all that vista junk to get better performance. I noticed a big change in performance from upping my CPU that small bit.

Also did you get vista 64 or 32?