Intel i7-950 or i7-960?

[Hunter2451]

Hello! I am looking into upgrading the CPU in my system. It has an LGA-1366 socket, meaning my upgrade capability is limited. I was wondering if I would get a noticeable performance increase by upgrading from the i7-950 to the i7-960? The PC is a dell, so overclocking isn't an option, unless I use software overclocking, which I have heard is unsafe. Can anyone confirm this?

I'm new to i7 CPU's. I've used Dell Workstation pc's all my life until now, so I'm used to Xeon CPU's.

The GPU I'm using is an EVGA Geforce 660 FTW

Intel i7-950 (Current CPU): http://ark.intel.com/products/37150/Intel-Core-i7-950-Processor-8M-Cache-3_06-GHz-4_80-GTs-Intel-QPI

Intel i7-960: http://ark.intel.com/products/37151/Intel-Core-i7-960-Processor-8M-Cache-3_20-GHz-4_80-GTs-Intel-QPI

I apologize if there is anything wrong with this post, this is my first or second time posting here.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

EDIT: Wow! I wasen't expecting so many replies in 5 minutes. Thank you! I won't be upgrading the cpu until I can afford a new mobo and case

 

[sancco]

so you have a 950, and are considering buying a 960 and putting it in? or you have a 960 lying around?

because the improvement would be incredibly minimal. maybe like a few percent.

 

[CTurbo]

Very little difference. I wouldn't pay more than like $10-15 for the 960.

 

[CTurbo]

I meant if you had neither, I wouldn't pay more than 10-15 MORE for the 960 over the 950.

If you already have the 950, it is definitely not worth the time and money to make that upgrade.

 

[navyboy887]

I'm not familiar to 1st-Gen Core i7 CPUs, but a quick look at CPUBoss (http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-960-vs-Intel-Core-i7-950) shows that the performance increase between the 950 and 960 isn't very much. I would suggest saving your money and building or buying a newer system so you can maximize your upgrade possibilities.