Upgrade to i7? Looking for advice.

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pdinc

Limp Gawd
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Dec 19, 2006
Messages
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I'm considering upgrading my main rig (see sig) from a Q6600 setup to a i7 920. My Bad Axe 2 recently died and was RMAed, so I'm considering selling it and the Q6600 and getting a i7 setup.

I'm currently looking at a combo that someone is selling - a EVGA Classified 760 with a i7 920 for about $450. I already purchased a 5850 as an upgrade from my 4870x2; net cost of upgrade will probably be $550-$600 once I factor in the RAM.

Is this a worthwhile upgrade or am I wasting my money?
 
Can do i7 2600K for a little over 600.
CPU-----329.99
MB-------179.99
MEM----109.99
TOTAL-619.97
 
Last edited:
Stereodude said:
What do you do with your main rig?
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Main rig is mainly for gaming.

DrDoU said:
Can do i7 2600K for a little over 600.
CPU-----329.99
MB-------179.99
MEM----109.99
TOTAL-619.97
Click to expand...

True, but I don't know what the future of the sockets are - isn't the 1366 still supposed to be the enthusiast socket? Or is LGA1155 sounding the death knell for it?
 
pdinc said:
Main rig is mainly for gaming.
Click to expand...
Then why are you looking at the i7? No game needs 8 threads.
True, but I don't know what the future of the sockets are - isn't the 1366 still supposed to be the enthusiast socket? Or is LGA1155 sounding the death knell for it?
Click to expand...
1366 is basically dead. Then again, Ivy Bridge isn't going to work on a current 1155 motherboard either. Buying anything based on future potential of the socket isn't a great idea. Especially on on the Intel side.
 
Is there any reason I should even think about upgrading from the Q6600 then? I've been told that with a 5850 my system may be CPU bottlenecked.
 
Check out the Q6600 vs 2500K on Anandtechs Bench comparison. Pretty significant performance increase going to the 2500K. Factor in the extremely simple OC ability of Sandy Bridge and IMO, that's the way to go. 1155 will die just like all sockets do, 2011 socket is months away.
 
dnottis said:
buy it used on the forums, save some green man
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I would say it would be much better to spend $229 for a i7 2500K than spend $190 for an i7 930. Since the 2500K is faster than the 930 and the motherboards are about the same price.
 
pdinc said:
I'm considering upgrading my main rig (see sig) from a Q6600 setup to a i7 920. My Bad Axe 2 recently died and was RMAed, so I'm considering selling it and the Q6600 and getting a i7 setup.

I'm currently looking at a combo that someone is selling - a EVGA Classified 760 with a i7 920 for about $450. I already purchased a 5850 as an upgrade from my 4870x2; net cost of upgrade will probably be $550-$600 once I factor in the RAM.

Is this a worthwhile upgrade or am I wasting my money?
Click to expand...

It's a good upgrade. I think $450 is a little high price for the combo in 2011.
 
alg7_munif said:
Keep your CPU and wait for s2011
Click to expand...

That will most likely be a very expensive platform (I expect the cheapest cpu to be over $500) and its questionable if overclocking will even be an option on a "server" platform. Also the extra cores (8 cores / 16 threads) will not help in most gaming in 2011.
 
From your sig why aren't you overclocking that Q6600? Crank that sucker up to 3.4 to 3.6.

Does your rig suffer on any games? I know my wife's Q6600 at 3.6 with a 4870 plays every game I throw at it with no noticeable lag in gameplay.
 
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