Did I just make a BIG mistake buying a Q9650?

[nyker96]

if you building brand new, i would recommend i7. but since you are upgrading Q9xxx is the way to go.

 

[ZipSpeed]

Originally posted by: sgrinavi
What I did see was a HUGE reduction in heat and voltage.

This. I'm not pushing the overclock very hard on my Q9550 but still amazing to see the chip running at stock voltage with minimum voltages on the RAM, NB and SB. Absolutely no regrets getting this chip.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: taltamir

Originally posted by: FalseChristian
I wish I had your 'problem'. I've been dreaming about a Q9650 for weeks now as an upgrade from my E8400.

not worth it, a Q9550 costs the SAME as an i7 920 for the CPU... sure the i7 requires you to buy a new and expensive mobo and ram, but the whole deal is sour, and completely defeats the purpose of "drop in replacement" (which is, extra performance at a low cost).

intel is just ripping off its loyal customers. but than again, nothing to do about it since nobody else can compete with their product. (the i7 i mean, the p2 competes with the c2q)

There's not much Intel can do except change socket.
Maybe they could reduce prices of Core 2 Quads, but that would be shooting themselves in the foot given the current (already pretty inexpensive) prices.
The "mistake" or reason that it seems like Intel are ripping people off is because the i7 920 is so cheap.
If the 920 was say $400 you wouldn't complain about it vs the Q9550, so by pricing it fairly low there's a perceived unfairness.

So what? obsolete technology at new tech prices... its not just perceived.

the "cheap" i7 though is "cheap" because nobody would bother making motherboards for it if the cheapest i7 was 500$. Even still it is a stretch, and requires overpricing by mobo makers to make it worthwhile.

Anyways, the Q9xxx series still competes with the phenom 2.

Intel could have made a s775 compatible nehalem and just halted production on anything else. There are many routes intel could have gone, but what they are doing is designed to squeeze every last penny they can from their customers. Nothing wrong with that, they provide a service and owe me nothing. But don't expect me to be "loyal" to, or bend over for such treatment.

 

[BroadbandGamer]

OK... I sent the Q9650 back. Now what I'm thinking is just overclocking my Q6600. I don't think going from a Q6600 at stock speeds to a Q9550 (Q9650 won't work in my mobo). I'm pretty sure I could squeeze more performance out of this Q6600. If I can, then it absolutley wouldn't make sense to upgrade to a Q9550 IMO.

What do you guys think?

I'm not sure exactly how to go about overclocking this Q6600. I've got the G0 stepping so I shouldn't have any problems there. I guess I'll start reading the OC Guide.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

3.4 is average for the Q6600

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: taltamir
Intel could have made a s775 compatible nehalem and just halted production on anything else.

How are they expected to add an integrated memory controller into a chip that is designed for a socket that uses a northbridge memory controller. They might be able to build in a workaround for that, but at what cost to performance or development time or reliability? I don't understand your statement here.

 

[RallyMaster]

Your first mistake was replacing your Q6600 with a Q9650 because IMO, there's no point in doing so. You would be making a bigger mistake if you thought the Core i7 was the cure.

 

[Adul]

Does your motherboard support the Q9650?

 

[vj8usa]

Originally posted by: BroadbandGamer
OK... I sent the Q9650 back. Now what I'm thinking is just overclocking my Q6600. I don't think going from a Q6600 at stock speeds to a Q9550 (Q9650 won't work in my mobo). I'm pretty sure I could squeeze more performance out of this Q6600. If I can, then it absolutley wouldn't make sense to upgrade to a Q9550 IMO.

What do you guys think?

I'm not sure exactly how to go about overclocking this Q6600. I've got the G0 stepping so I shouldn't have any problems there. I guess I'll start reading the OC Guide.

Yes, definitely try OCing it. It's free performance (you might even be able to surpass the performance of a stock Q9650), and as long as you're careful and don't go crazy with voltages, you won't damage your hardware. Make sure you pay close attention to your temps, especially if you're using the stock cooler. You'll be able to OC with the stock cooler, but probably not nearly as much as you would with better cooling.

 

[Styxus]

There are people out there running Q9650 on Abit IP35 Pro. It seems they requested a beta bios 18 from Abit, which allows Q9650 to run on our mb. Risky but appealing. I am upgrading from dual core 6600 so even a Q9550 will be good. I'm not a big fan of overclocking, your 4890 should give much better results framewise than a oc cpu.