what to do???

[burningforce]

I have a q6600 processor and am looking to upgrade motherboard, memory, processor.

But I do not know what to do.

-Should I wait for i9 (might be very expensive when it comes out) and get that??
-Should I just get a i5 components which somewhat match an i7 in performance?
-or just get a i7 system?

i have around $700 to spend on motherboard,processor and memory. highest I want to go is $800 but lower is always good

So what would you do if you were me? this computer will be for gaming, video encoding and generally multitasking.

here are my specs atm:
Q6600 @2.4Ghz
8GB g-skill memory
gigabyte ep45-ud3r mainboard
geforce 260 core 216 video card
corsair 620hx power supply

i think thats it

[Ualaa]

I upgraded the processor to an i7 920, motherboard to an Asus P6T and the ram to 12gb of ddr3.

It was basically $1000 canadian. $800 us, is pretty close to $900 can. And you could go with 6gb or 9gb of ram, to reduce the cost.

I'd personally go with an i7 over and i5 system. i9 might be a ways off, or quite expensive or whatever. The i7 is probably the best system you can get at the moment.

[burningforce]

thanks for the response ualaa

from what i read on benchmarking sites, the i5 can match the i7 in gaming an is a great overclocker. The only thing the i5 lacks is the ability to run sli/crossfire at full speed (not even sure this is possible on i5) and i5 does not have hyper-threading(HT). I can not find any benchmarks that pit a i5 without HT with a i7 with HT. and I do not think it will make that much of a difference using HT in games.

now that I did some shopping around, I can get an i5 components I wanted $250 cheaper then the i7 components I wanted.

so my question is, am I wrong about HT not affecting games performance? will this socket be around longer then the other intel sockets over the years?

thanks

[Grondir]

The new i9 chips will use the same motherboard skt as the i7 (1366), so if you can i'd go for that one. The 920 is a great overclocker and should last 3-5 years without upgrade, and then you can stick an i9 in it's place

[Ualaa]

I don't believe hyperthreading does much for warcraft.

A while back, I was freezing (well 1-2 random slaves) frequently. It turned out to be my video card (Radeon 4870X2) having some kind of conflict with the new motherboard, processor or ram, when I upgraded.

Anyway, one of the guys suggested turning off hyper threading, by only having cores 0, 2, 4, and 6 used by IS Boxer, with 1, 3, 5, and 7 disabled. Turning off HT didn't solve my issue, but it did increase my FPS by a slight amount.

I still like the i7 920 chip, and Grondir mentions you can put the eventual successor to the i7 into the same motherboard. Then again, if the 920 will last you 3-5 years, you might be doing a full system upgrade at that time too.

Price is a consideration when you have a budget. If HT is the main benefit between i5 and i7, that and crossfire/sli which isn't much of a boost for warcraft... an i5 might be the way to go.

[ollee]

Originally Posted by Ualaa

(Radeon 4870X2)

Thats your problem right there...

I would just go for the i7 920, its the chip i have, and whilst i dont do as much WoW as i should, when i did my benchmarks, i had no problem rocking it out and i am running a 250gts w/ only 6 gigs of ram(im cheap). as i do alot other than wow(some video editing, audio editing, communication's stuffs, other gaming, live video manipulation(vhmulticamish), and live video encoding(fme)) it has never failed me...

occasionally the HT can interfere with somethings, but they all you need is to fiddle a bit with the affinity and youre set to go.

[Ualaa]

As I said, the 4870 X2 card was my problem.
That is one card, not two in SLI.
And there was no issue at all with it for two years with the Q6600.

I've downgraded to a GTX 275, which is essentially as powerful as a normal 4870 (1x card), but its still overkill for wow.
Warcraft does not like x2 cards (like a GTX 295, which is two 285's on one board), and for the majority of users performs better not in SLI/Crossfire then using those modes.

[Poyzon]

I'd go with the i7. Here's my system (which is eerily similar to Ualaa's). This runs 5 WoW's and watches Tim's stream with plenty of room to spare.

GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 1GB
CPU: Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.66 GHz
Mobo: ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58
RAM: 6GB G.SKILL (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
HDD: 3 x WD Caviar Black 640GB @ 7200 RPM
PSU: Corsair CPMSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V
Case: Antec 902
Optical: LITE-ON 22x DVD Burner
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Keyboard: Logitech G11
Mouse: Razer Naga
Monitor: Dell 22", Dell 19"

Off-topic: My only issue was my case. The wire that connects the RESET button on the case to the motherboard had a short in it. This would result in random reboots or reboots whenever I plugged anything into the front-side USB case slots.

[burningforce]

thanks for the info everyone, i made a decision and will get an i7. Just because if I decide to sli/crossfire or upgrade to the i9 I will be set.

now I just need to save some money to buy it. should have the system in a couple of months