Microcenter B&M - Intel Q9300 $100 after instant rebate

[TekDemon]

The rather limited amount of cache per core on these is the issue, for a lot of apps you'd be better off getting one of the E8x00 dual-cores, or possibly even the Phenom II X2 bundles they have for the same price. I picked up the $109.99 Phenom II X2 bundle with a nicer motherboard (that'll actually take 4 sticks of DDR2 unlike most of their boards) and got lucky with the unlock. You can buy a used E8400 or it's Xeon counterpart for pretty cheap too and for gaming it's definitely better than the Q9300.

 

[TekDemon]

very good price, I wonder if I should dump my E8500.

No way, you'd actually notice most things running slower. Particularly in games, the E8500 runs circles around the Q9300.

 

[pay]

Ive got an E8500 that will do 4ghz and a Q9300 that will do 3.75ghz (500 FSB!). Which should I keep?

 

[TekDemon]

Ive got an E8500 that will do 4ghz and a Q9300 that will do 3.75ghz (500 FSB!). Which should I keep?

Why don't you just run the software you actually use and see which one does stuff faster. The E8500 is gonna be faster in anything that's not multi-threaded and probably comparable in some multi-threaded but not totally core count dependent stuff. I think most games you'd see the E8500 win.
Set whatever games you play to the minimum resolution and benchmark them to see which CPU they like better. Run the apps you normally run too.

 

[elanmorin5]

Looking to upgrade from a Pentium D 830 (3.0 GHz). Is this worth it at $99 or can I get something better?

 

[Red Dawn]

Looking to upgrade from a Pentium D 830 (3.0 GHz). Is this worth it at $99 or can I get something better?

Does your Motherboard support this Chip? If so then yeah it's a worthwhile upgrade.

 

[jjmIII]

Ive got an E8500 that will do 4ghz and a Q9300 that will do 3.75ghz (500 FSB!). Which should I keep?

I wouldn't kick an extra 2 cores outta bed over a small 250mhz difference.

 

[VirtualLarry]

In for two of these today from my local MC. Going to upgrade my E2140 / GA-P35-DS3R rigs.

 

[Cstefan]

I went in when visiting home and ended up with a Phenom II x2 560BE and the $9.99 MSI mobo. Unlocked to X4 3.8ghz np. Well worth my time.

 

[ibex333]

Just picked one up yesterday. Upgraded from an e4400 @ 3ghz and so far I have this @ 3hz with stock voltage. Will try to get it up to 3.2-3.3, hopefully with 1.3v or under. Thanks!

But the question is... Do you see noticeable difference in average everyday use and gaming?

 

[emblem]

i wish this wasn't sold out at my Dallas location.
Is it possible for the site to be wrong and there actually being some in stock?

 

[Cstefan]

i wish this wasn't sold out at my Dallas location.
Is it possible for the site to be wrong and there actually being some in stock?

I'd almost dare that it's likely in stock. MC Cleveland does this frequently with the reasoning that the 'truck just came in'.

 

[Lazarus52980]

I'd almost dare that it's likely in stock. MC Cleveland does this frequently with the reasoning that the 'truck just came in'.

Any idea WHY they do that?

 

[emblem]

just called mine. They actually are out of stock.

 

[blipblop]

I might check if it is still in stock. I'm running on an E2180 haha..

 

[Throckmorton]

Now if only one of these damn C2Q chips would go on sale at an online store.

 

[emblem]

I might check if it is still in stock. I'm running on an E2180 haha..

I'm on an E2200. I need an upgrade as well.

More of these need to go on sale.

 

[makken]

I was passing by San Jose today and remembered this deal. Made a quick detour and ended up picking up the last (according to the sales guy) one of these they had in stock. So far everything is working nicely; though it seems to be running quite a bit hotter than expected.

I ran Coretemp for a while to see how much thermal headroom I had to work with for overclocking, and it doesn't look good. Its reporting idle temps of 48-50C, and load temps of 62-67C for all cores @2.5Ghz (tjmax @ 100C, ambient is somewhere in the sub 20s C). My old C2D idled in the high 30s with load temps in the 50s, so seeing this thing idle at 50 is making me very nervous. I'm using an older coolermaster hyper 101, which I'll probably try to reseat to see if it helps any.

I was hoping to get 3.0Ghz outta this thing, but with these temps, I'm hesitant to even bench it at stock

 

[cubeless]

quad is certainly hotter than dual, and that little hsf probably isn't going to give you much headroom... you ought to be able to go to 3.0 or so with no voltage increase and as long as temps stay below mid 70's you should be fine...

but to get most out of chip you need a new hsf... nothing spectacular, like a sunbeam ccf or ocz vendetta2...

 

[loganex]

I ran Coretemp for a while to see how much thermal headroom I had to work with for overclocking, and it doesn't look good. Its reporting idle temps of 48-50C, and load temps of 62-67C for all cores @2.5Ghz (tjmax @ 100C, ambient is somewhere in the sub 20s C). My old C2D idled in the high 30s with load temps in the 50s, so seeing this thing idle at 50 is making me very nervous. I'm using an older coolermaster hyper 101, which I'll probably try to reseat to see if it helps any.

If it helps at all, I've been getting those temps on my Q9300 for two years now. I OC'd to 3.5ghz and it peaked at 72 during linpack testing. I fold on it 24/7 at the hottest core usually stays around 67, low 50s at idle. I was really worried about the temps too, but I've had 0 stability issues and obviously not a short lifespan on it. (Of course when I say that it'll kick the can on me...)

 

[makken]

If it helps at all, I've been getting those temps on my Q9300 for two years now. I OC'd to 3.5ghz and it peaked at 72 during linpack testing. I fold on it 24/7 at the hottest core usually stays around 67, low 50s at idle. I was really worried about the temps too, but I've had 0 stability issues and obviously not a short lifespan on it. (Of course when I say that it'll kick the can on me...)

Well, I reseated the heatsink and didn't make much of a difference. I decided to push it to 3.0Ghz and see what happens. Its peaking at 82C (18 from TJmax) during linpack testing. However, thus far (about 2 hours in) everything looks stable. vcore is at default (1.25 i think). I'll probably give lowing the vcore a try to see if that'll help out with my temps.

 

[VirtualLarry]

My two Q9300s OCed to 3.0 (400FSB) really easy. I just up an changed the FSB from 333 to 400. One of them was OCCT stable at default voltage, the other one required a minor voltage bump (1.27v). Folding 24/7 with them, along with a GTX460 @ 820.

Temps are alright. For the first few days, the rig that didn't require a vcore increase was running at around 72C max. But when I did the OCCT a few days later, it got up to 79C, and since then, it has also reached 79C when folding, after the room warms up a bit (have to open the window to cool things off). That rig also has the side-panels off.

The other rig, that I did have to increase the vcore slightly, runs cooler, for some crazy reason.

 

[Throckmorton]

if i had a use for it, id much rather have the i3 550 for the same price. im sure it would outperform this in most cases as well

http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0350692

the fact that theyre dumping all these core 2 chips and older i's tells you just how much better the new stuff is going to be. id save my 99 and get whatever comes out a month from now

That's a dual core processor you linked to. Maybe if this was 2003 and nothing was multithreaded. :awe:

 

[magomago]

will an ecs p4p800pro-m v1.0a support this chip?

I looked it up and saw that
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite_20...ilID=574&DetailName=Feature&MenuID=52&LanID=0

the processor core (yorkfield) is not listed, however, i doubt the page has been updated in forever. I have this mobo laying around with a S775 P4 2.4Ghz in there, and would love to upgrade it to this for a lot more staying power.

Not too familiar with Intel of that era...if its still S775 can I always pop it in and go? I feel like I can't since the chip is 1333Mhz FSB and the board just lists 1066

 

[elcamino74ss]

will an ecs p4p800pro-m v1.0a support this chip?

I looked it up and saw that
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite_20...ilID=574&DetailName=Feature&MenuID=52&LanID=0

the processor core (yorkfield) is not listed, however, i doubt the page has been updated in forever. I have this mobo laying around with a S775 P4 2.4Ghz in there, and would love to upgrade it to this for a lot more staying power.

Not too familiar with Intel of that era...if its still S775 can I always pop it in and go? I feel like I can't since the chip is 1333Mhz FSB and the board just lists 1066

Doesnt look like that board is even listed to support C2D. I think the FSB will kill ya. You'll need a newer 775 chipset for a q9XXX