Quasi Budget Upgrade....

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Phantum

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jul 25, 2001
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The choices are: 1) Q6600 2) Q9400 3) Q9550 4)Q9650

Now, I do alot of encoding and some gaming. I currently have an E4600 @ 2.65GHz so the two extra cores would be a great addition. Here's the catch: I want 3GHz or above and I want it stable and cool. I've selected the Zalman CNPS9700NT as my cooler. So I guess my question is, which chip would be the best route to go for a cheap quad core and an oc of 3GHz?
 
Phantum said:
The choices are: 1) Q6600 2) Q9400 3) Q9550 4)Q9650

Now, I do alot of encoding and some gaming. I currently have an E4600 @ 2.65GHz so the two extra cores would be a great addition. Here's the catch: I want 3GHz or above and I want it stable and cool. I've selected the Zalman CNPS9700NT as my cooler. So I guess my question is, which chip would be the best route to go for a cheap quad core and an oc of 3GHz?
Click to expand...

Unless you already have that Zalman HSF, ditch it. This Xigmatek HSF cools siginifcantly better than the Zalman HSF yet is much cheaper:
$40 - Xigmatek Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm HSF

The Q9650 is a poor choice since it's $50 more than the Q9550 but only provides an extra 170Mhz. No way is that 170Mhz increase in speed worth $50.

The Q9400 is faster than the Q6600 by about 7% while the Q9550 is faster than the Q9400 by about 5 to 6% IIRC.

The cheapest out of all of them is Q6600 and it can easily hit 3Ghz. However the Q9400, also capable of hitting 3Ghz, will use about 30W less power than the Q6600 at full load at stock speeds but about 40 to 70W less once you start overclocking pretty high. So the Q9400 would be your best bet in terms of a cheap quad-core CPU capable of hitting 3Ghz and less power usage.
 
Want to buy my Q6600 ? Look at the For Sale/Trade section :D
 
Thanks D.B. but after a little more research I'm thinking I'm gonna go with Zalman and the Q6600 (it's an OEM so it's $20 cheaper AND it's a revision G0).
 
I'd suggest the Q9550 for $233 from Dell (coupon 5NSKFK1HL?CRDN), if your budget can allow for it.
 
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