FYI if your looking at getting a Q9550 from Newegg

[preyash]

Micorcenter is the shit, 9550 for 169.99 and core I5 for 160. lol

 

[Mav451]

Yeah I thought about it, but P35 isn't the best mobo to OC Yorkfields. I figured after selling my DFI P35 board/e8400/RAM, I'd only be spending, max, a net increase of $30-40 (over getting a Q9550 on its own). So it made sense to go to an i5 rather than gamble on GTL tuning nonsense that is required with the Yorkfields. I'm at 3.5Ghz at stock voltage, so I figure 3.6-3.8Ghz won't be out of question with no or little vcore bump. This makes a heckuva lot more sense than gambling that my P35 will work well with a Yorkfield.

Also with the G.Skill deal, I would have only spent $370 (instead of $390) on i5/mobo/ram. Selling off my old stuff, just as a ball park, I'm spending well under $200 for my upgrade.

 

[Zucker2k]

It's more than just the MB. He has a "Golden" Q9550. Very lucky. Not all Q9550s will run that fast at those voltages. I can run a 4.4GHZ but I have to pump my Q9550 up to 1.5+ volts core and with all that voltage comes heat and instability.

I do think the P45+Q9550 is currently the best bang for buck in performance.

Yay, I have a "golden chip." I didn't consider my chip that good, since I've seen better, but thanks, it makes me proud.

First post here, by the way.