Worth Upgrading i7 950 to Xeon W3690?

[admaster99]

I currently have an Intel i7 950, with a Asus Sabertooth X58, motherboard with 16 gigs of ddr3 ram, running a gtx 970.

I am wondering if it would be worth upgrading my i7 950 to the Xeon W3690 processor? I choose the Xeon W3690 because it appears to be the fastest processor my motherboard can support, and I really want to keep this motherboard.

Use will be primarily for games. Any help is appreciated thanks.

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... http://cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+W3690+%40+3.47GHz
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7+950+%40+3.07GHz
YES
at what price?
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=FCLGA1366&_sop=15&_from=R40&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.XFCLGA1366+w3690.TRS0&_nkw=FCLGA1366+w3690&ghostText=&_sacat=0

 

[admaster99]

Thanks for the quick reply, yea the ones listed on ebay where the ones I was looking at. I figured between $200 to $250. I have been running this setup for about 5 years now so I figured the upgrade for the cost of $200+ wouldn't be a big deal because I got my money out of the i7 950. I just want to make sure I am getting the best performance out of my gtx 970.

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... if it was my main machine I would go for it...
Make sure you have the updated MB Bio's installed first with the i7 950.

I got an E3 1240 v2 last year for my 1155, $200 shipped... love it.

re-sale the i7 950 back to them... B )

 

[k1114]

For games it won't make a difference. A quad core with ht already has plenty of threads so the extra cores and small boost in speed will hardly do anything. Have you thought of ocing the 950?

 

[admaster99]

Yea I've tried overclocking but seem not to be able to obtain a stable overclock at a decent speeds. It's been awhile since I tampered with oc'ing but I don't believe I was able to get 3.5 ghz to be stable. Or maybe it was the temps that where the problem, getting to hot. I can't remember for sure but I knew I had problems getting a decent overclock.

Though I look around and it seems like people are getting upwards of 4.0 ghz no problem. So I'm not sure if I'm doing it wrong or what the deal is. I would really appreciate it if somebody good walk me through it or give me some advice or any information really. Because if I could oc it at a decent speed I would be very happy😀.

Also not to be contradicting but I also looked at reviews of different cpu's performance on games in the past and it seems like a newer i7 4770k gets 10+ fps over my i7 950. Though I could be wrong but that was the impression I received from reading reviews on some of the different intel cpu.

 

[k1114]

Newer cpus would get a bit better fps. It's 4 generations apart so it quite a bit better ipc not to mention higher clocks. The 4770k is 4 cores, 8 threads, just like yours and it gets better fps. The extra cores on the w3690 won't help and .3ghz is hardly anything. Don't count on hitting 4ghz but 3.5ghz would at least get similar performance as the w3690 without spending any money. What cooler do you have? http://www.overclock.net/t/538439/guide-to-overclocking-the-core-i7-920-or-930-to-4-0ghz

 

[admaster99]

I have a "Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus". Thanks for the replies and the guide I will tamper with it again and see what I can come up with. So those benchmarks previously posted should the Xeon was almost double the performance of the i7 950 I can really gain that much buy overclocking to 3.50 ghz?

 

[k1114]

No because the benchmark he posted was mutlithreaded so takes account the extra 2 cores/4 threads. Games aren't going to use that so oc should get similar performance as the xeon depending on the speed you get. Even games that are multithreaded aren't going to show much after 8 threads.