I5 750 or Q9400 for a gamer

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rogigor

rogigor

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Oct 15, 2009
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Hi

I'm thinking about upgrading my PC. Now my rig is:

C2D E6750 @3.2Ghz
3Gb ram DDR2
Gtx 260 core-216
Abit IP35-E

I use my PC mainly for games so I need some new stuff. I wanna buy ATI HD5870 (or gtx480 but it's too hot, noisy and expensive for now) and I don't know which CPU to choose: Q9400 (or 9505) or I5-750 and, because of the now socket, new motherboard - MSI P55-GD55 IP55 and new Ram

The question is: is there a noticable difference in games between the quad and i5? I know that the later has turbo boost, more cache etc, but does it really, and i mean really, makes such a big difference? I don't wanna spend more money just to experience 3-4 more fps with the newer cpu...
 
both the Q9400 and the i5 750 are very capable CPU's - however the Q9400 usues the LGA775 socket which has been replaced by the LGA1156 (i5's) and LGA1366 (i7 9** series)

If you have the budget the i5 or i7 is the way to go
 
What resolution are you playing at?

I wouldn't spend money on 775 tho if you have to upgrade get an i5/i7.

I wouldn't recommend a lower end MSI board i would stick to Asus/gigabyte
 


What sort of budget and are you going to be overclocking and will you be wanting SLi/CF?? and for that resolution i cant see you needing anything more than you currently have.
 
the budged is ~700$ maybe more. Yes I'm going to be overcloking and one day maybe I'll want sli/cf (but in a distant future)
 
Your current processor is fine, it won't Bottleneck a 5870 much. The latest Article Toms did shows that in a sense. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i3-gaming,2588-5.html

For example, my Q6600 at 3.2ghz scores the same CPU score for Vantage as the Phenom II x4 965 Stock. And that chip pushes that card well.

You will probably notice some bottle necking with certain games at 1680x1050 but I would guess nothing major. In fact, I did a bench run of 3DMark06 to see how much difference there is between my Quad and a Dual Core like yours.

2 Cores
32ghz2cores.jpg


4 Cores
3DMark0614710.jpg


Take special notice to the GPU sub scores, pretty well no change between half the CPU power and Full. Even at a low resolution my GPU is a clear bottleneck.

My advice is to grab the GPU you want and see how it works with your e6750. If you're worried you can probably get more speed out of that chip. But I think it'll work out good. Until there's a noticeable nagging bottleneck, there's no sense upgrading the CPU in my opinion.
 
EDIT:

Since you are willing to pay $700 and want to OC(which is best on i5/i7) in the future, I would suggest you buy i5-750 system.

However, do remember to spend a little more for a decent CPU cooler if you want to OC.

BTW, CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Plus is the best bang for the buck FYI!
 
That's be a bit a of a silly upgrade in my opinion. The 5770 is almost identical in performance to the GTX260. They trade blows in benchmarks.

A 5870 would be my pic. And stay with the e6750 for now.
 
Ok. Thanks for the info I think I'll really try buying new video card first, then CPU. Btw, as for the CPU cooler, do you think that Scythe Ninja 2 will be ok?
 

True! But remember that he is playing at 1680x1050 which is what HD5770 more than capable of and so HD5850/5870 is a huge waste.

I would rather sell the GTX260 and buy HD5770 or stay with GTX260.

BTW, the reason why I suggested HD5850 is that 1680x1050 monitor is a bit outdated now and he might grab a new monitor soon.
 
A buddy of mine just picked up a 5850 not too long ago. It is far from a huge waste at his monitors resolution of 1680x1050. And from what I seen of Toms latest article, the 5850 is still the Bottleneck of his system. He's got a Q9550 @ 3.4ghz.

I think the OP might see some bottle necking because of the Dual Core, but not enough to warrant a CPU upgrade. But I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it turns out.
 
Hey maybe you should keep your video card. The GTX 260 216 is still a fantastic card. I'm using it right now and I max everything without trouble (except poorly optimized crysis)
 


HD5850 is more than enough for almost every game except Crysis even under 1920x1080, let alone 1680x1050.

20442.png


20448.png


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20463.png


As you can see, HD5850 give 60fps+ in most games which is more than enough for any 1920x1080 monitor.
 
You would get the answer from these charts if you looked into them. That is, adding in another HD5770 to beat HD5850 a year later for much cheaper price.

By going HD5850 for 1680x1050 monitor, you are actually paying more for overkill(useless) performance NOW and worse performance in the future.

And remember that OP's playing under 1680x1050 instead of 1920x1080.
 
Well I'm not gonna buy a new monitor :) And I don't live near a Microcenter. In fact I live in Poland. As for the video card, from what I see on these charts, buying 5770 would be a step back from my gtx260 and 5850 isn't much cheaper than 5870 so...
 
No can do sir :) Gtx260 is a great video card but I do want to experience DX11 in games like Metro 2033 and more which are to come. Maybe I'll just buy 5870 and see if the CPU is the bottleneck and then buy a quad or i5
 
I'd go with the Q9400. It'll cost you almost double the money to run a LGA 1156 computer. To get a Q9400, it'd cost $180, getting a i5 750 would cost double, as you need DDR3 RAM ($100 for 4GB) and a new motherboard ($100 at least). Unless the i5 has a significant performance boost in your chosen game in the regions of 100%, I recommend taking the Q9400 or keeping the Core 2 Duo.
 
Finally someone who said it straightforward :) I must check out some reviews and comparisons of quatro and i5 and see if the latter has much better performance.
 
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