Q9650 vs i7-950

[qcx2987]

my primary use will be very large excel spreadsheets (with 4 30" monitors) fastest recalc possible as they are well over 200 mb each and i have more than one open at a time. or any other option. trying to keep the entire system under 1000. no monitors, small hard drive, at least 8 gb of memory

 

[qcx2987]

wow, didnt know this question was that difficult. so if none knows, where can i find the answer. tks

 

[Raidur]

To answer about the Q9650 vs i7-950... the Q9650 is an old CPU on an old chipset/socket. The i7s are much faster, come with hyper threading, turbo, and overclock a little better. The new chipsets for the i7-9xx series are also superior with triple channel memory and the faster QPI to replace FSB.

I will note, the i7-930 is a better buy with a superior stepping and much cheaper price.

Not much experience with excel... but if you are reading/writing large files a SSD drive may be helpful.

Go post in the System>New Build section and you'll have better luck with your system build.

 

[Emperus]

More than good clock speeds, you need faster hard drives and good RAM count.. Your 8GB RAM selection sounds good.. Now just try to squeeze in a fast SSD or a couple of mainstream hard drives is RAID 0.. I would recommend an AMD rig comprising of a Phenom II X6 1055T, a compatible motherboard, two radeon HD 5550's, one Crucial Real SSD 256GB (for apps and OS) + one Seagate Baracuda 7200.12 500GB (for backup and storage), one dvd writer drive, Antec 300 case and Corsair VX 550W PSU..

 

[qcx2987]

thanks guys, never even though of the sdd drive, or know about the new build section. really appreciate the input

 

[qcx2987]

Best answer selected by qcx2987.