On Fence about upgrade

[dxwarlock]

Over the years upgrading parts has always been an easy black and white issue for me, but now I'm stuck on a decision.

Right now I have a q9550 running at 3ghz, and have been eyeballing the i5-2500k.
But stuck at a decsion, as upgrade to the i5 would mean new CPU, new MB, (my current board is ddr3 so can just move over the ram).

Anyone have any input on if the 300+ id spend is worth the upgrade? is the difference in performance for gaming worth the cash? reviews or any comparisons I can find of the 2 are contradicting, and depending on who wrote it its either "its a solid upgrade for sure" or "its about the same performance as your current one".

power usage, cooler temps, newer architecture, etc I'm not so worried about in the long run; I'm sure the i5 runs cooler, less wattage, and uses new socket. but I'm looking at the "if its not broke, don't fix it" standpoint. why pay 300+ to upgrade not to see a difference in demanding games.

Just performance side by side is my biggest dilemma over making the move.

anyone here have any input on the matter?

 

[Cygnus x-1]

What do you have for a GPU currently? You might be better served overclocking a bit more and use the money for a better video card.

 

[king smp]

this is a comparison of stock clocks of a Q9550 and 2500k
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/50?vs=288
obviously the 2500k wins
but factoring in the OC on the 9550
especially if you could push it a little harder
(should be able to with good cooler)

I personally dont think it is worth it
if you look at the game benchs
the 2500k is only about 10fps better without the Q9550 being OCd

your CPU is strong enough not to bottleneck any video cards except maybe
a GTX 580/HD 6990 and even then would probably be ok

as disaster asked

what is your GPU?

A good GPU upgrade right now depending on what you have now
would be the best idea

and can always be moved to new build

hold off until Ivy Bridge and SandyBridge Extreme CPUs are released
they are saying that Ivy Bridge is 20% faster than SB
so that would a performance jump worth the money

Your system aint broke; dont fix it

while C2Q is now EOL
the higher end C2Q like yours are still powerfull CPUs

 

[dxwarlock]

Sorry, right now I'm running 2 5870 in crossfire

 

[Cygnus x-1]

Yeah just overclock the chip more and your good. I would wait until Ivy Bridge, haswell would be better if you can fight the urge to upgrade.

 

[dxwarlock]

Best answer selected by dxwarlock.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey