Which should i buy Intel Q9650 or Q9550 or inlet core i5/i7?

Thinking of replacing my intel duo2 E8400 wolfdale which runs at 4.2 gigs so need a beefy replacement.
Quite a price hike between the Q9650 and Q9550 is it worth it for just 200mhz and a higher multiplier and in theory better over clocking? Or should I change boards and get a intel core i7/i5 in the same price range? Really not sure about this chip dont really understand it properly coz all i can see its just a quad core with the memory management on bored and an optimized instruction set and a new level of cache. Thanks.

 

Since the LGA 775 socket is discontinued, I would save up for a decent i5/i7 setup. I got a Q9550 a couple months ago and will be upgrading in two-three years.

 

Save for i7.

 

How can 775 be discontinued can still buy the 775 chip and over the last 18 months there prices aint change even amd seems to have a larger then normal choice. But like all things it day will come.

 

Intel is no longer manufacturing 775 CPU's, which is why the socket is considered to be discontinued. However, there is still plenty of stock floating around.

 

Ok thank you for the heads up most useful will be building a few computers this year. Maybe I'l get lucky and find a cheap to clear 775 out there somewhere.

 

Well according to the passmark benchmark charts the Q9550 was slightly faster then the 2.6 i5 quad and loads faster then the 3.3 i5 dual amd phenom x 4 was on a par with the i5 quad but slower then a Q9550. i7 were top of the charts but for now just too much money.

 

Money wise only 20-30 uk pounds between the Q9550 and the i5 dual/quad amd phenom was in the middle. The quads were probably scoring better on the multi core tests but even so the i5 3.3 dual did look poor value for money as the i5 quad was cheaper.