E8600 > Q9650?

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Wolfdale75

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
133
Hi Guys,

I have a limited budget and don't want to replace my CPU, RAM and motherboard. I want to stick to socket 775.

But I can replace my dual core with a quad core. I have been reading that the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 (3.00GHz, 12M Cache, 1333MHz FSB) is the best CPU for the socket 775 price/performance wise and the best upgrade you can make for that socket. I could also overclock it, probably to 3.6GHz.

Do you think replacing my E8600 (dual core, 3.33GHz, 6MB cache, 1333 FSB) with this Q9650 quad core will make an appreciable difference, especially in games? I can pick up this CPU on ebay for about $160.

I am particularly interested in improving my system performance for the upcoming Rome II: Total War, as I know my CPU will be the bottleneck.

Thanks for your thoughts!
 
Are you in the US?
Look at a Q9550 instead - better price.

Also consider a used i5 750 w/mobo and ram.
 
Depends on the game, but there are more modern games that will saturate a dual core and quite a few old ones too.
I wouldnt be without a decent quad core now.

The move from a quad 4.2GHz socket 775 CPU to a stock (initially) Sandybridge 2500K was quite marked, a big jump in minimum fps and a good jump in max fps for a lot of games.
So its not just down to the speed, the 775 architecture is aging too.

As mentioned above, you will better off with a second hand i5.
If not, get the highest clocking 775 and blow some fans at your motherboards chipset.
 
Save your money for a proper upgrade.

Or find a cheap X58 CPU+Mobo+(possibly ram) combo. $200 over a year ago got my friend an i7-950 and a Asus P6X58D-E board from this forum.

Yes the Q9650 would help out with gaming, but for the money you'd be paying it's just not worth what little of an increase in performance you'd be getting. Those chips are really only worth $50ish imo... but they definitely don't go for that low.
 
colinstu said:
Save your money for a proper upgrade.

Or find a cheap X58 CPU+Mobo+(possibly ram) combo. $200 over a year ago got my friend an i7-950 and a Asus P6X58D-E board from this forum.

Yes the Q9650 would help out with gaming, but for the money you'd be paying it's just not worth what little of an increase in performance you'd be getting. Those chips are really only worth $50ish imo... but they definitely don't go for that low.
Click to expand...


I'd have to agree. Unless you could get a steal of a deal on a Core2Quad ($100 or less). I'm currently using a Q9550 since 2009 and it holds up very well even today. It wasn't until about a year ago I started struggling and needed a 1Ghz OC and that's really just keeping the upgrade bug away while I can wait for a proper upgrade. Going from Dual Core to Quad in just about any scenario is going to be huge and a noticeable improvement though.

The 775 platform was great, still is, but it's really starting to show its age. The Nehalem platform was a huge upgrade, and surprisingly Sandy Bridge one-upped it, followed by the 5-10% gains per IB and HSW you're starting to look at some serious bottlenecks these days depending on what you're doing/playing.

If you had to stick it out then the Q9550 and just about the whole C2Q series are great and really overclockable. For a 5 year old processor, I wouldn't plunk down $150+ unless I really couldn't save up for something better this year or next. I'd just start buying one part at a time that way money isn't burning a hole in your pocket and you're making upgrades slowly but surely.
 
I had a Q9650 @ 4.4Ghz, and that's what I upgraded from 2 years ago when I setup my 2500K rig.

At the time I was still using 2x 4870x2 (4 GPUs), and kept them for another 6 months. Even using the same videocards, Sandy Bridge was much faster:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1635786

If you have the option of going to something faster than a Core2Quad, do it.
 
It would certainly make a difference, especially in games that can use more than 2 cores, but $160 is a lot to spend on a platform that's been dead for quite some time already. I would save that money and save a little more for something better.

This is actually a good time to build if you don't mind buying used. There are lots of Sandy Bridge i5's for sale as well as Z77 boards for pretty cheap and even though Sandy is 2 generations old now, it's hardly slower than a brand new Haswell setup and will cost a whole lot less.
 
Wolfdale75 said:
Hi Guys,

I have a limited budget and don't want to replace my CPU, RAM and motherboard. I want to stick to socket 775.

But I can replace my dual core with a quad core. I have been reading that the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 (3.00GHz, 12M Cache, 1333MHz FSB) is the best CPU for the socket 775 price/performance wise and the best upgrade you can make for that socket. I could also overclock it, probably to 3.6GHz.

Do you think replacing my E8600 (dual core, 3.33GHz, 6MB cache, 1333 FSB) with this Q9650 quad core will make an appreciable difference, especially in games? I can pick up this CPU on ebay for about $160.

I am particularly interested in improving my system performance for the upcoming Rome II: Total War, as I know my CPU will be the bottleneck.

Thanks for your thoughts!
Click to expand...

I bought a Xeon X3330 (Q9400) some time ago for $85 shipped on Ebay ($60 here....shipped!). A much better bang for the buck. X3360 for $82 shipped, 56 available

IMHO you are better off gettan an FX-6300 + board for the same price.....obviously you'll need DDR3...

If you have a microcenter near you, you should grab the FX-6300 bundle with free board. Just add ram!

http://www.microcenter.com/site/products/amd_bundles.aspx
 
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Happily moved from a 4.2ghz Q9650 to a 5.0ghz 2500k the day they were released. Only regret is not getting a 2600k that day. Way faster, but it sort of falls under "a much newer, higher clocked CPU is much faster? no shit!"

But to answer your question...if you can put out less than 50 bucks..yeah the q9650 is a worthwhile upgrade from an e8600. At 160...you could spend another hundred and get way newer, faster stuff, and you could sell the old stuff to offset cost.
 
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