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Would the new Intel Core i7 920 be faster then my Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650?

techlover828

techlover828

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jun 28, 2007
2,358
2
Maine
I'm considering upgrading my Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 processor, Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R MoBo, and 8GB of 800MHz ddr2 ram to a Intel Core i7 920 processor, GA-EX58-UD5 MoBo, and 6GB of 1600MHz ddr3 ram.

This upgrade would cost around $100 after selling all my old parts. So, is this a worthy upgrade? Considering the i7 proc I'm looking at is the cheepest of it's class, and my current proc is the extreme, so top of it's class, not to mension it costs $1000 new vs. the i7 which is only $280 or so. Basically I'll I'm asking is this upgrade is going to be worth it as far as speed?

BTW I'm running this as a hackintosh, not that would matter in this question.
 
Tallest Skil said:
Has the Hackintosh community gotten Bloomfield working with OS X yet?

I could have sworn they were, but if not, this upgrade would render it inoperable.
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well I wouldn't upgrade right away I would probably just wait until the people at efi-x to support the x58 architecture as I have one of there cards.

So specs will be significantly better? Also, would the processor, ram, and mobo be the only things I would need to replace if I wanted to upgrade to the new processor?
 
techlover828 said:
well I wouldn't upgrade right away I would probably just wait until the people at efi-x to support the x58 architecture as I have one of there cards.

So specs will be significantly better? Also, would the processor, ram, and mobo be the only things I would need to replace if I wanted to upgrade to the new processor?
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Off the top of my head, yes, but MAYBE, just MAYBE a new Power supply if your old one is not powerful enough.
 
More than 4 or 5 could be risky as it puts a lot of stress on one of the rails (cant remember which).

Dont forget that unless you PSU has dedicated SATA power adaptors, you need to count optical drives as HDD's, and basically anything else with a molex adaptor.
 
techlover828 said:
I'm considering upgrading my Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 processor...
This upgrade would cost around $100 after selling all my old parts. So, is this a worthy upgrade? Considering the i7 proc I'm looking at is the cheepest of it's class, and my current proc is the extreme, so top of it's class, not to mension it costs $1000 new vs. the i7 which is only $280 or so.
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I did not find the QX9650 Extreme but the Q9650/3GHz/12MB Cache for 299€ if you really get 1000$ for the QX9650 why not sell and replace it with a normal Q9650 and have a nice pile of cash. You could also try to overclock it through FSB. I Overclocked my Q9450 (2,66GHz stock) to 3.00 GHz with a 800 MHZ FSB without a problem. Bear in mind that you would loose 2 Gigabytes of Ram with your upgrade (dont't know if you need them). Just a thought...
 
Donar said:
I did not find the QX9650 Extreme but the Q9650/3GHz/12MB Cache for 299€ if you really get 1000$ for the QX9650 why not sell and replace it with a normal Q9650 and have a nice pile of cash. You could also try to overclock it through FSB. I Overclocked my Q9450 (2,66GHz stock) to 3.00 GHz with a 800 MHZ FSB without a problem. Bear in mind that you would loose 2 Gigabytes of Ram with your upgrade (dont't know if you need them). Just a thought...
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Well the proc is $1000 new, but I can only get around $450 new and getting Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 would be $300, so $150 is not really worth all that trouble and loss of performance. I think I'll probably just wait a year or two and see where I stand at the point.
 
techlover828 said:
... so $150 is not really worth all that trouble and loss of performance.
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Yeah, never change a running system. :)
On the performance part i have to give a little side note:
From your signature i assume that you run the Q9650 Extreme at stock speed, of 3.00GHz with 1333 MHz FSB and 12 MB Cache it should be as as fast as an "normal" Q9650 so there should be no loss of performance if you replace it. Even my Q9450 at 3.0 GHz should beat it (if Memory performance is needed) because of the increased FSB (1600 MHz) i use to overclock it to 3 GHz. The only Advantage the Extreme should have over the "normal" processor is that the multiplikator is unlocked.
 
Donar said:
Yeah, never change a running system. :)
On the performance part i have to give a little side note:
From your signature i assume that you run the Q9650 Extreme at stock speed, of 3.00GHz with 1333 MHz FSB and 12 MB Cache it should be as as fast as an "normal" Q9650 so there should be no loss of performance if you replace it. Even my Q9450 at 3.0 GHz should beat it (if Memory performance is needed) because of the slightly increased FSB (1600 MHz) i used to overclock it to 3 GHz. The only Advantage the Extreme should have over the "normal" processor is that the multiplikator is unlocked.
Click to expand...

How do I access the multiplikator? I don't necessarily want it running that hot...
 
The Q9650 Extreme is running fine at 3.0 GHz no need to downclock it. You can unlock a new Menu in the Gigabyte BIOS called "MB intelligent tweaker" there you can set the multiplikator and FSB. Be carefull when changing settings there.
Edit:
*To unlock the intelligent Tweaker try Ctrl + F1 in the BIOS.
 
It depends on what its used for really. Memory throughput and 4+ threaded apps that are a lot better on the core i7, but some number crunching single threaded apps might still run better on the core 2 extreme. I'd just keep your extreme. Its plenty fast and the difference won't be noticeable. You'd also have to purchase the expensive motherboard and the expensive triple channel DDR3.
 
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