q9550 or upgrade to ivy bridge/haswell

[Sean Andrews]

Hi Im a casual gamer looking to upgrade my old c2d with a q9550 cause my HD6450 gpu is bottlenecking it
My question is should i go that route or get an i3-3220 or wait for a haswell i3(low end)
PS im on a budget, q9550 costs almost half than that of a new system upgrade
but will upgrade if futureproofing is an even bigger issue with q9550
Thanks

 

[doxtor]

***not i3-3220 - it has HD2500 graphics, but i3-3225 !!!! http://ark.intel.com/ru/compare/65693,65692,43546,41315,42915

q9550 is a fast cpu even after several years. it works faster than AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition.
i've got q9450 to prove that things are changed ) http://

take a look how memory & cache works on q9450, now here is the start of ivy bridge with the lowest G2020
http://

now you can see that ivy bridge level 3 cache of the lowest segment cpu's is faster than q9450 level 2 cache
so If you'll change your system's m/b into even cheap B75 with core i3 core i5 processors (with HD4000 graphics & memory works on 1600mhz) you'll got a real boost even while playing games) if you are planning to install latest games you'll need to change your videocard in near future too (your HD6450 64bit needs to be changed too!!!), so new chipsets like b75 h77 z77 will provides you PCIex 3.0 too )

oh forgot to mention others good new features such as USB 3.0 & SATA3 that will helps you to make all other things work faster. now it's time to upgrade )

 

[MU_Engineer]

Hi Im a casual gamer looking to upgrade my old c2d with a q9550 cause my HD6450 gpu is bottlenecking it
My question is should i go that route or get an i3-3220 or wait for a haswell i3(low end)
PS im on a budget, q9550 costs almost half than that of a new system upgrade
but will upgrade if futureproofing is an even bigger issue with q9550
Thanks

The Q9xxx units are still pretty darned expensive as you have seen- they are the fastest parts that fit in a Socket 775 board. Get yourself a new build with a quad-core i5 (not a dual-core i3) or an AMD FX-6300 or 8300 series CPU and you will be much happoer as the CPUs are not all that much more expensive but they are noticeably faster. If you can't afford these CPUs plus a decent board and DDR3, save your money until you can buy such a new setup. Putting a lot of money into an old machine in buying a pricey several generation old CPU doesn't make much sense, especially on a desktop setup where you board will probably die in a couple of years anyway.

 

[amuffin]

Why don't you overclock and get yourself a card like the GTX 660ti or radeon 7850.

 

[jaguarskx]

If you waited this long to upgrade, you might as well wait a couple of more months for Haswell. I'm still running with a Q9450 and I'm not sure if I'm gonna upgrade to Haswell or Broadwell (next year).

One thing is for sure, I'm upgrading to Skylake in 2015 so Haswell or Broadwell is going to end up in a HTPC.

 

[8350rocks]

If you waited this long to upgrade, you might as well wait a couple of more months for Haswell. I'm still running with a Q9450 and I'm not sure if I'm gonna upgrade to Haswell or Broadwell (next year).

One thing is for sure, I'm upgrading to Skylake in 2015 so Haswell or Broadwell is going to end up in a HTPC.

http://wccftech.com/intel-broadwell-skylake-bga-package-intel-focused-soc-mobile-chips-mainstream-cpus/

Skylake = BGA?

 

[jaguarskx]

At this point there is speculation that most of Intel's CPUs beginning with Broadwell will be BGA, but there will be some socketed models as well. Nothing will be known until they are released so there no point in worrying about it yet or giving it too much thought.

 

[3ogdy]

You know what?
I would get the Core 2 Quad for now. That is mainly for the following reasons:

1.The Radeon HD8000 series is supposed to come Q1 2014 and they should definitely be worth the wait.
2.2014 should also see a shift towards DDR4, so getting a new system with the new memory standard would be nice.

I would get the Q9550 for now and wait until 2014 for a more worthy upgrade.
You know, it's usually a lot better to upgrade to something new than to upgrade to the current tech and after that, just a few months later, see it's already outdated. Of course, technology evolves on a constant basis, but we don't get completely new standards every year now, do we?

 

[Sean Andrews]

first off i highly appreciate all your responses
n secondly what i gather from this post is sink money in the q9550 for now and upgrade when dddr4 is released in like 2 years
but upgrading to ddr4 compatible architecture rather than haswell/ivy bridge...i mean will ddr4 be that good and worth the wait and money?
still confused q9550 then ddr4, or lga1155 or lga1150?

 

[MU_Engineer]

You know what?
I would get the Core 2 Quad for now. That is mainly for the following reasons:

1.The Radeon HD8000 series is supposed to come Q1 2014 and they should definitely be worth the wait.
2.2014 should also see a shift towards DDR4, so getting a new system with the new memory standard would be nice.

I would get the Q9550 for now and wait until 2014 for a more worthy upgrade.
You know, it's usually a lot better to upgrade to something new than to upgrade to the current tech and after that, just a few months later, see it's already outdated. Of course, technology evolves on a constant basis, but we don't get completely new standards every year now, do we?

New memory follows a very predictable cycle, especially with all major vendors using the same type of memory. New memory is introduced and is several times more expensive per given quantity than last-gen memory and has lower performance due to higher latency and identical or even slower maximum clock speeds. The price of the new stuff drops and the performance increases to roughly reach parity with the previous-generation stuff after about 12-18 months and then supersedes after about 18-24 months. You really don't want to get into a new memory generation until the second generation of parts that use that memory debut and support the new memory at speeds and capacities that actually outperform the outgoing stuff.

So in short, avoid DDR4 until the second generation of Intel CPUs that supports it debut, or the first generation of AMD CPUs that support it debut. AMD sits back and waits for the new-spec memory to become somewhat reasonable before making new sockets and generally only offers support once that new memory becomes halfway reasonable.

 

[Sean Andrews]

Ive ALMOST made up my mind to get the q9550 cause by the looks of things haswell i3s wont be available till early next year in my country
Thanks for bearing with me but ive got one more question if i do get the q9550 will the mobo die? (its a q33 chipset from 2007-08) and my system is an HP dc5800 microtower for reference
Plus i'll probably need to upgrade the psu and that might be a problem as well cause its a branded system
HELP

 

[MU_Engineer]

Ive ALMOST made up my mind to get the q9550 cause by the looks of things haswell i3s wont be available till early next year in my country
Thanks for bearing with me but ive got one more question if i do get the q9550 will the mobo die? (its a q33 chipset from 2007-08) and my system is an HP dc5800 microtower for reference
Plus i'll probably need to upgrade the psu and that might be a problem as well cause its a branded system
HELP

HP's literature says they offered the dc5800 with up to the Core 2 Quad Q9300, which is the same wattage as the Q9550. You would be fine to run the Q9550 in that machine without replacing the PSU as long as you didn't also add something else that by itself would require a larger PSU like a decent add-in video card.

 

[Sean Andrews]

I do have a gpu onboard (hd 6450) already and its recommended wattage is 400W.
My PSU is 300W
My processor is a 65W C2D, replacing it with a 95W C2Q will probably blow the psu
What do you suggest?

 

[farhan92]

The hd6450 is a pretty weak card even by yesteryears standards it doesnt consume more than 40W. You'd be fine with a quad...but since its an old system capacitor aging might be an issue, in which case youre better off with SB/IB.