i7-920 or Q9550?

[wulf109]

I'm thinking about building a new computer and I'm wondering which chip would provide the best speed in encodeing and transcodeing video,DVD and Blueray. Both chips are around the same cost,but the i7 would require a new motherboard and RAM. The Q9550 would work with my existing motherboard and RAM is very inviting.
The Q9550 has 12MB's of L2 cache and the amount of effects speed. The i7 has a small L2 cache but 6MB of L3 cache.

[FulciLives]

I have no idea which is the "better" chip in terms of speed etc. but if the i7 requires a new motherboard and memory then I would do one of two things:

1.) Get the Q9550 instead and use it with your existing equipment
2.) Wait until the i7 matures

My idea with point #2 is that the i7 CPU's are pretty new. It shouldn't take too long (knock on wood) for better and faster versions to come out which means lower prices eventually. After all that the buying of a new motherboard and RAM might be easier to swallow. Right now it seems a shame to buy a new motherboard and RAM when for the same money (CPU cost) you can get the Q9550 and use it without upgrading everything else (thus a big savings as no new motherboard / RAM will be needed). Or just wait a bit more for i7 to mature.

That's my take on it unless some one chimes in saying the i7-920 is really THAT much faster. Then maybe. My guess is it isn't going to be faster enough to warrant purchasing a new motherboard and RAM.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

*** EDIT ***

Here is a link that might help ---> CLICK HERE

This is a link to Tom's Hardware where the results of several test are shown. The first column is the i7-920 and the second column is the Q9550

[Soopafresh]

Good info, John. I also found an X264 benchmark graphic, in the middle of this page

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2008/11/03/intel-core-i7-920-945-965-review/7

There's not a huge difference, with the 9550 completing the job in 616 seconds and the I7-920 (the low end I7) completing it in 546 seconds.

I'd say keep your motherboard and RAM, install the 9550 and wait a year or so for the I7-965 price to come down.

[budz]

I keep your existing motherboard and ram & buy the Q9550. The prices are dropping for the Q9550. I believe newegg has it at $282.99. I paid $320.00 for mine 2 months ago. I read at overclock.net that Mwave.com has the Q9550 for $274.99 & the Q9650 for $339.00.

If you're looking to overclock the Q9550 & get a C1 stepping you can achieve a overclock up to 4.00ghz. Usually it's the E0 stepping that can overclock at higher speeds but I've seen people with a C1 stepping go up to 4ghz.. The Q9550 is a very popular quad cpu especially when using the Gigabyte EP45-UD3R or UD3P motherboard. It can overclock very well with those 2 gigabyte mobo's. Down below are 2 links regarding those mobo's.

http://www.overclock.net/intel-motherboards/415077-gigabyte-ep45-ud3p-overclocking-guide.html

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=205132