Intel i7 vs intel core to quad Q9650?

I want to buy a quad core processor and I don't know much about these two , Please somebody tell me is core to quad and i7 are same ? .. (perhaps they both are quad core) , I have a Intel mother board , MSI g31-tm P21 , I don't know it supports I7 or not , In the specification it is written that It supports core to quad , So will it support i7 ? , I'm fear that if i'll buy i7 and my mother board will not support it , So please acquaint me some best advise , thanks you !

Just tell me will my mother board will support I7 ? and which one of those processors is better ?

Answer:

Your motherboard will not support a Core i7, it only supports LGA775 CPUs (including Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad CPUs).

Core 2 Quad and Core i7 are not the same, they are two different product lines. There are no motherboards that take any Core 2 Quad CPUs and any Core i7 CPUs -- there is no overlap in the socket types. All Core 2 Quad desktop CPUs are socket LGA775 CPUs. All Core i7 desktop CPUs are socket LGA1366 or LGA1156.

The Core 2 Quad Q9650 is an excellent CPU. Performance is comparable to a Core i5 760, though it doesn't have some of the newer features the Core i5 has. (Performance is not as good as the desktop Core i7 CPUs.)