Was this a worthwhile upgrade?

[ryan2258]

My current system is a Q9550 Core 2 Quad OC'ed to3.4GHz with 4GB DDR2 1066 RAM and 3 OC'ed GTX 260 core 216's in tri sli. I was playing games at 2560x1600 resolution and getting pretty decent framerates. I had heard that the Core i7 920 does wonders at higher resolutions so I purchased one along with the Asus P6T mobo and 6GB of DDR3 RAM from OCZ. (I got a great deal btw...total for all was $550) Still this is a big chunk of change for me and I was wondering what kind of performance increase i can expect to see.

 

[jaguarskx]

Don't know, however...

I've read that Hyper Threading can have a negative impact on some games on a Core i7. Google for how to turn it off and see if performance improves.

 

[geofelt]

My current system is a Q9550 Core 2 Quad OC'ed to3.4GHz with 4GB DDR2 1066 RAM and 3 OC'ed GTX 260 core 216's in tri sli. I was playing games at 2560x1600 resolution and getting pretty decent framerates. I had heard that the Core i7 920 does wonders at higher resolutions so I purchased one along with the Asus P6T mobo and 6GB of DDR3 RAM from OCZ. (I got a great deal btw...total for all was $550) Still this is a big chunk of change for me and I was wondering what kind of performance increase i can expect to see.

I suspect that the cpu will not give you much. But the extra ram might improve your minimum frame rates.
http://www.corsair.com/_appnotes/AN811_Gaming_Performance%20Analysis_6GB_vs_3GB.PDF

 

[ryan2258]

Thanks for the responses guys. This article is what ultimately helped me decide to pull the trigger on the core i7. http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i7-multigpu-sli-crossfire-game-performance-review/19 . I'm thinking that I won't see a big difference until I upgrade my GPU's. Nvidia's Fermi GPU's sound like they are going to be incredible.

 

[Herr_Koos]

Thanks for the responses guys. This article is what ultimately helped me decide to pull the trigger on the core i7. http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i7-multigpu-sli-crossfire-game-performance-review/19 . I'm thinking that I won't see a big difference until I upgrade my GPU's. Nvidia's Fermi GPU's sound like they are going to be incredible.

Yes.. Incredibly big and incredibly hot, from what I've seen so far. Not impressed.. Yet.

 

[ryan2258]

I was basically just trying to future proof my system and I wanted to sell the components I have now while they are still worth something. Hopefully I can get a decent amount for my 780i mobo, G.Skill RAM, and my q9550. Also I'm just a sucker for anything that's new and claims to be faster than what I have now lol.

 

[theholylancer]

I was basically just trying to future proof my system and I wanted to sell the components I have now while they are still worth something. Hopefully I can get a decent amount for my 780i mobo, G.Skill RAM, and my q9550. Also I'm just a sucker for anything that's new and claims to be faster than what I have now lol.

you know that by all accounts a 5970 will beat out a fermi single card and there is rumors that there will not be a dual fermi card until much later (akin to GT200 when they cant put 2 280s together)

granted, when fermi hit, there may be a radeon refresh, and will have price drops on the existing stuff, so meh you got some good things now and I guess waiting a little bit more is okay.

 

[geofelt]

I was basically just trying to future proof my system and I wanted to sell the components I have now while they are still worth something. Hopefully I can get a decent amount for my 780i mobo, G.Skill RAM, and my q9550. Also I'm just a sucker for anything that's new and claims to be faster than what I have now lol.

When you have an itch, scratch it. If you have the funds, go ahead. Expect an improvement, but nothing dramatic.

One can certainly wait for fermi. It is better to wait for actual benchmarks before comitting to anything.

It is not clear to me that tri sli of anything is a very good way to go. But, you have the actual experience with it.

As an experiment test two things:

1) The effect of a faster graphics system: Lower the resolution and details of some of your games, and see how well your cpu is able to increase frame rates. If you get a good boost, it says that your cpu is capable of driving a better graphics configuration.

2) Alternately, Lower the maximum cpu utilization to about 70%. Either by software, or reducing the overclock. If your framerates do not drop much, it is an indication that your cpu is not your gating factor.

I would be interested in your results; post them if you do conduct such an experiment.

 

[ryan2258]

Best answer selected by Ryan2258.