Worth upgrading from QX9650? Suggestions please!

[senna]

It has been two years since I got my QX9650. With the release of newer processors, would it be best to upgrade now or wait one more year for newer products? Money is not an issue.

I have been keeping tabs on the i7 processors 7i 930, 950 and 975 (Is the 980x available yet?). Looking at the benchmarks, reviews and other graphs show great gains in certain areas but not much in others.

My computer is primarily used for video games, secondary to desktop publishing and tertiary to music production. I have moderately over-clocked my CPU.



Current system specs
CPU: QX9650 @ 3.00Ghz, 3.60Ghz OC'ed (9x400fsb)using thermaltake V14.
Max OC 4.0 Ghz (10x400FSB), sometimes unstable.
Ram: OCZ 2gb x4 (8GB) DDR2 800Mhz (Sync mode on OC as well)
Mobo: EVGA 780i
GPU: 2x EVGA 280 GTX SSC in SLI mode.
Power: Cooler Master 850 Watt (Forgot specific model)
Monitor: Dell wfp3008 30" @ 2560x1600
2x 500 GB Hd's in Raid 0,
4x 500 GB unraided for storage.
2x DVD/CD burners.
X-Fi Platinum with front panel
6 120mm high performance fans

 

[Raidur]

As far as gaming goes you won't notice a difference with any i7 cpu. Your resolution is very gpu taxing so your cpu should last you through even your next gpu upgrade (assuming you use 8x/8x or better sli and you don't skip the next generation), especially if you push it to 4ghz. 😉

I'm not sure how cpu intensive your other tasks are. Maybe someone else can shed some light for you there, but for gaming you are A-OK.

Tbh if money isn't a problem i'd have the latest and greatest (to an extent) at all times.

 

[sportsfanboy]

The way things progress in tech, you can easily skip 2 or 3 generations without having any problems running stuff. You may need to upgrade your graphics more often than that, but you get the point. I personally would wait for the 22nm manufacturing process from Intel or AMD, and see what's what.

 

[unknown_13]

That CPU is going to do an extremely good job in the next 1-2 years ( and maybe beyond that )
As far as me, i wouldn't change anything in that perfect rig😀

 

[senna]

I see, thanks for the insight everyone. As far as my current build is concerned, is there anything else I can upgrade to push its performance further?

 

[unknown_13]

As for now your rig is perfect. You might wanna upgrade your graphics card ( probably an Fermi GTX4xx ) in a year and half, but for now, upgrading is just throwing money in empty😉

 

[flyinfinni]

Your rig is awesome right now. The only thing you are missing at all right now is DX11 (You'll get multi-monitor capability when the drivers are released). So if DX11 matters to you, then you might consider a GPU upgrade, but 2x280GTX's should smoke most games for a while yet.

 

[bzamora]

You did not mention which hard drive you have. If you don't have an SSD, the best thing to improve the perf is to add one now (Intel X25-M, or if 'money is no object', an Intel X25-E)

 

[noiz]

Yeah, go for a SSD RAID 0 config if you don't have one already!

 

[senna]

I have 2 500gb HDDs in raid 0, its no SSD but it loads what I need for now.

My only concern with SSDs is the cell wear or whatever that was called, don't want something that pricey to all of a sudden fail a few months down the road.

I am also quite excited about the 4xx FERMI series. Looking for final benchmarks comparing them with the 58xx ATI series.

 

[flyinfinni]

Thats not really an issue if you aren't writing and rewriting it constantly, especially if it has TRIM and wear leveling stuff. using it for a boot drive and stuff where it mostly just reads, you shouldn't have problems.

 

[senna]

Aside from the drives, when I over-clock the CPU, I typically set the FSB set to 1600 Mhz (multi to 10x) and set the ram to sync mode. Does this typically yield good results or would clocking the ram higher be better for it/upgrading to DDR3 ram/mobo?

I checked with the PSU calculator website and it states that I am running my power box near max (Using 85% efficiency as a safe figure). Running the CPU near the 4.0 Ghz speed seems to create some instability with my system, regardless of the CPU V-core setting. (set to 1.35v on OC)

* Temperatures go up to 57c-60c.
* My PSU is a 850 watt one, I have it set wrong on the original post. Added other parts onto build.

 

[flyinfinni]

If you can't get it stable at 4.0 GHz no matter the voltage, you may just have hit your limit. Eventually you do hit that;-)

As for the RAM, a 1:1 FSB ration is good. If you can crank your RAM more, its not bad, but may not help you THAT much.

 

[senna]

Best answer selected by senna.