Okay, so here are my current specs:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor on an...
Intel DP35DPM MoBo with an...
EVGA 8600GTS graphics card and...
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 6400 RAM
That was the stuff I was looking at upgrading, in addition to a little extra HDD. Here's what I was looking at:
Intel Core i7 960 3.2GHz on an...
Intel DX58SO X58 MoBo with an...
EVGA GeForce GTS 250 1GB and...
G.Skill 6GB DDR3 12800 RAM
Some nice stuff, but holy fraggin' crow, that crap is expensive. Those parts alone cost more than the entirety of my current build, which was from scratch, case and all. I know I can probably supplement my budget by selling off the old parts somewhere, but still...
My biggest question is concerning the processor. I always like to go just a step or two below the biggest and best, but that chip is killing my budget, and I do not really do any major gaming, encoding, etc. I DO, however, like to run multiple resource-hogging programs at a time and for long periods. Is there a big difference between the i7 processors? If I were to step down to, say... the i7 920, would that be a big downgrade? I want to be able to see a noticeable difference in performance when I step up from my C2 Quad (which is fast, but not fast fast). I really don't want to step down to the middle-class i5, but I wondered how that group compared to the more established i7 9 class.
Thoughts? Recommendations? Thanks for any input.
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor on an...
Intel DP35DPM MoBo with an...
EVGA 8600GTS graphics card and...
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 6400 RAM
That was the stuff I was looking at upgrading, in addition to a little extra HDD. Here's what I was looking at:
Intel Core i7 960 3.2GHz on an...
Intel DX58SO X58 MoBo with an...
EVGA GeForce GTS 250 1GB and...
G.Skill 6GB DDR3 12800 RAM
Some nice stuff, but holy fraggin' crow, that crap is expensive. Those parts alone cost more than the entirety of my current build, which was from scratch, case and all. I know I can probably supplement my budget by selling off the old parts somewhere, but still...
My biggest question is concerning the processor. I always like to go just a step or two below the biggest and best, but that chip is killing my budget, and I do not really do any major gaming, encoding, etc. I DO, however, like to run multiple resource-hogging programs at a time and for long periods. Is there a big difference between the i7 processors? If I were to step down to, say... the i7 920, would that be a big downgrade? I want to be able to see a noticeable difference in performance when I step up from my C2 Quad (which is fast, but not fast fast). I really don't want to step down to the middle-class i5, but I wondered how that group compared to the more established i7 9 class.
Thoughts? Recommendations? Thanks for any input.