Intel Quadcore Upgrade

[analogcolor]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Next few days

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Video Streaming, Photoshop processing, Heavy internet usage. Multitasking but not all of these intensive tasks at one time. Multi large screen monitors. 1920x1200 and 1680x1050

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: I have a custom built case with gigantic air movement. 2 optical media drives on IDE, 4 Sata HDs totaling over 1.5tb, a 9800 GT 512mb Nvidia GPU

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com (or anyone with a good deal)

PARTS PREFERENCES: Intel Processors always, NVidia Graphics Card

OVERCLOCKING: Yes

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe. Currently have one 9800 GT 512mb

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200 + 1680*1050 (27.5" HannsG and 22" wide samsung)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: So the rundown...I built a custom PC 3 years ago with these parts:

p4 650 3.4ghz HT
ASUS P5ND2-SLI 775 nForce 4
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm
4gb PQI 667 DDR2 Ram
a OCZ 600w Power supply
and since upgraded the video card to a XFX 9800 GT 512mb

I want to upgrade the main components and keep as much as possible. I am willing to deal with bottlenecks for a short time so I can afford the right components.

I want:
Intel quad Core (Quad core or i7)
A motherboard with plenty of usb ports for peripherals, some kind of digital/coax audio out, and preferably black in color (I'm not THAT prissy about this).
Memory 1333 or above. I can sacrifice here for cost since memory is getting cheaper and I can upgrade this easily.

I want to spend around $500 for the upgrade but I want to have some longevity out of the components.

My usage is heavy browser usage mostly. I play Fallout 3 quite a bit and enjoy the occasional fast FPS. I also use photoshop and lightroom quite a bit.

What I am looking at:
An i7 system I put together goes over my desired budget...and is more than I NEED. But sounds so pretty.

Evga E757 MoBo
Nehalem 920 i7 processor
And some memory 1333 DDR3 or above

A quad core system a little more on the budget side

Q8440 Core 2 Quad 2.66ghz
XFX 790i MoBo: Yes I have heard some bad reviews of this MoBo. But the option of RMA to newegg quells that a little.
And some memory 1333 DDR3 or above

What are your opinions of these upgrades and the direction I should go in?

 

[analogcolor]

One more thing: The reason for the upgrade. Playing fallout 3 or COD4 pushes my processor to 100% at all times and I experience lag and hangups. When I OC my CPU and Mem I cant seem to find a stable speed for both.

If anyone would care to talk me down from upgrading...Im all ears.

I very much appreciate it.

-Joe Burns

 

[Upendra09]

Don't get an i7 now, if you do u won't have the longevity in it, the whole rig will be obsolete in a month. Since new i7s are coming out soon. ON a different socket so go with a quad core and oc that. As for mobo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128371............109.99 w/ 10 mir-99.99

Gigabyte is a good manufacturer and they have new 2 oz pcbs which help with heat dissipation and some other things, and it has a dual bios so if one crashes the other one is still good.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115057
intel C2Q 2.66 ghz .......................................................184.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145198
Corsair RAM DDR3 1333 with a heat spreader.

this is it, this should give you alot less lag, hope it helps

 

[mrnathan92]

If you can get the money go with the i7 build

 

[Helloworld_98]

@upendra, why will current i7's be obsolete?

they still beat the 1156's in CPU intensive tasks and games like Fallout and video encoding, even with turbo mode.

Also 1156 will never get hexa cores, let alone octa core processors. so a 1366 build could last you 4-7 years as they support both. Not forgetting to mention that for each upgrade which would be about every two years you'd spend less than buying the current best setup in your price range. And in that budget assuming it was the same as for the i7 1366 build you would get an extreme edition processor so very high overclocks along with a high-end graphics card.

 

[analogcolor]

@Upendra, I like the Gigabyte brand...but that board looks a little too budget line for my taste. The reviews trash its stability quite a bit. Do you have personal experience with it?

All of these reviews have me confused anyways. I fall in love with a MoBos stats and then read a few newegg reviews and read about frequent DOAs.

Things I am considering that I would really like some input on:

Q8400 Quad Core 2.66Ghz $185
E8500 Dual Core 3.16GHz

Dual core with higher native frequency is more expensive than a quad core. Both of these are reported to be very good at overclocking. But most games and most software can't even take advantage of Quadcore. This seems like a valid argument, but quad-core will become the popular thing to do very soon.

Benchmarks seem to favor the dual-core processor for gaming currently. And people report stability problems playing Fallout with quad-core systems.

Quad-core is actually a few dollars cheaper...and it would run anything I throw at it well when overclocked. When software takes advantage of the cores I wouldn't have to upgrade.

 

[knotknut]

Sounds like you really want a Quad Core.

If you live anywhere near a Microcenter http://www.microcenter.com/at_the_stores/index.html
You can pick up an i7 920 for $200.00 (walk in only)

GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard $184.99 after rebate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375

CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 $89.00 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145222

You would be in to an i7 920 set up $473.99 plus tax

Even without microcenter you would be @ $550.00 and with a good up grade path longer than if you went with a core duo Qxxx/Exxx

You will be able to use two Nvidia or ATI cards.

With having to buy CPU-MB-Ram to upgrade anyway there isnt really any other smart choice...

 

[analogcolor]

I really appreciate everyone's input and advice. I have been going back and forth non stop with this. One moment I want to go all out and just buy the i7, MoBo, and RAM...then the next I just want to figure out how to get a stable overclock out of my current rig...and then I want to compromise and get a 775 quad-core or dual-core.

I have so many questions that I cant remember them and I wouldn't expect people to read them anyways. I'll try to organize this so it's easy to read and in order of cheapest to most expensive.

1) This is my cheapest and least fun option...but overclocking my current rig will give me a marginal return that may make me happy for a short while. I have my 3.4ghz cpu rated at 3.8ghz easily but have huge stability problems over this speed. I assumed this was a problem with overclocking the memory so I bought some OCZ 800 speed memory that is faster than my MoBo memory standards. This did not work. I had massive problems with windows7 64bit and locked up in Ubuntu also (so it definitely was hardware).

this could be a whole thread in itself...so Ill leave the solution of this problem to another day. But I wanted to know if people thought it was possible to get my current rig to a stable 4.0 ghz or if buying another 9800 to run in sli would give me a good improvement.

2) I am considering putting together a socket 775 quad or dual-core kit and overclocking the *** out of it :]. If so, I would want the best value I could get because I know it would be sinking money into a system that will be obsolete rather quickly. Some quick ram and a quality motherboard that can overclock well is all I will need.

3) Building an i7 system isn't to cheap with the $199 920 from microcenter. The board I have picked out is the EVGA x58 SLI LE because it is well reviewed, has what I need, and it's sexy.

With the i7 I am not sure about a couple of components. My PSU is 600w and is linked in the first post. Will this PSU be able to handle an overclocked i7, geforce 9800, with 4 HDDs, 2 optical, 6 fans and at least 4 usb devices?

Also, will a socket 775 heatsync like the one I have fit and handle a 1366 processor?


I am trying to stay below 500 if possible. I can go over...but Id prefer to have the cash around since I'm not as serious of a gamer as I used to be. Any and all advice you can give is much appreciated.

-Joe Burns
Aim-analogcolor

 

[analogcolor]

Some more opinions before I do something brash and waste all of my money?

 

[tecmo34]

3) Building an i7 system isn't to cheap with the $199 920 from microcenter. The board I have picked out is the EVGA x58 SLI LE because it is well reviewed, has what I need, and it's sexy.

With the i7 I am not sure about a couple of components. My PSU is 600w and is linked in the first post. Will this PSU be able to handle an overclocked i7, geforce 9800, with 4 HDDs, 2 optical, 6 fans and at least 4 usb devices?

Also, will a socket 775 heatsync like the one I have fit and handle a 1366 processor?


I am trying to stay below 500 if possible. I can go over...but Id prefer to have the cash around since I'm not as serious of a gamer as I used to be. Any and all advice you can give is much appreciated.

-Joe Burns
Aim-analogcolor

* MOBO and CPU are very good options and good deals...
* PSU is powerful enough to handle what you are throwing at it...
* I would not recommend that heatsink. I would recommend picking up a new one. You will need a bracket for your current one that is going to cost you roughly $15.00 or so... so why not get a new heatsink for $20 or more!!

 

[analogcolor]

I realized this not long after. I figured it would not be compatible but was confused when I saw 775/1366 compatible HSFs. There is no bracket for my HSF as far as I know anyways.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185093&Tpk=mugen%202
Mugen 2 is gigantic but is one of the best for cooling

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029
The Dark Knight is much skinnier but is very tall. I'm not even sure it will fit in my atx case. But it is beautiful and would make everything in my case black

 

[analogcolor]

Would getting another 9800 GT and running them in SLI on my current board take some of the demand off of my processor?

I was considering getting another cheap card to SLI with to hold me over untill the new i5's and i7's come out.

 

[tecmo34]

Would getting another 9800 GT and running them in SLI on my current board take some of the demand off of my processor?

I was considering getting another cheap card to SLI with to hold me over untill the new i5's and i7's come out.

If your question is... If running 2x 9800GT's will help your current CPU last longer until you can build a whole new system with either an i5 or i7... The answer would be yes...

I prefer the Dark Knight myself.

 

[analogcolor]

I don't mean make it last longer. The CPU seems to be a bottle neck in my system and I guess I'm asking if it will take some of the processing load off the CPU so the CPU isn't constantly lagging the game.

 

[tecmo34]

I don't mean make it last longer. The CPU seems to be a bottle neck in my system and I guess I'm asking if it will take some of the processing load off the CPU so the CPU isn't constantly lagging the game.

Yes, it will take a little load off of your CPU but in the end, you will still be bottlenecked by your CPU to some extent.