Upgrade? E6600 to Q9550

[The Cisco Kid]

Greetings folks!

My E6600 is starting to show it's age. I've had in OC' for years and have had to gradually bring it down a bit over the last few months. It's constantly chugging and CPU usage is way more than it should be. I had considered building a new system, but can't spend that much $ right now. The prices for the Q9550s are looking pretty good right now. Is it worth the purchase until I make my next big makeover?

Thanks for the advice.

 

[vict0r]

yes...no need for the s .. just the Q9550 will do fine!!

 

[stateofjermaine]

The prices for the Q9550s are looking pretty good right now. Is it worth the purchase until I make my next big makeover?

$300+ for a 775 quad-core? That is steep. I will have to agree with vict0r. The Q9550 makes a lot more sense, to me.

Edit: Heh, just realized that you were probably not talking about the Q9550S. Sorry about the misunderstanding. Great processor.

 

[Flash69]

What's the difference in the Q9550 and Q9550S?

 

[stateofjermaine]

What's the difference in the Q9550 and Q9550S?

I believe the Q9550S is a 65W processor, and the Q9550 is 95W. If there's anything else, I haven't heard of it, yet.

 

[The Cisco Kid]

Yeah, I saw the S for sale too, but would not pay that much for lowering my processor by 30W.

And thanks for the replies! Looks like the Q9550 is my new CPU.

 

[PC_User]

And thanks for the replies! Looks like the Q9550 is my new CPU.

Good choice, and a very decent upgrade from the E6600, especially if you OC the Q9550.

 

[drescherjm]

Yeah, I saw the S for sale too, but would not pay that much for lowering my processor by 30W.

And thanks for the replies! Looks like the Q9550 is my new CPU.

These are just Q9550 processors that can run at a lower stock voltage. Wasn't there a review somewhere that showed a normal Q9550 could be set at the same voltages and it gets the same power as the Q9550S.

 

[Zero82z]

Wasn't there a review somewhere that showed a normal Q9550 could be set at the same voltages and it gets the same power as the Q9550S.

Yes. I believe it was either at Anandtech or X-bit labs.

 

[apoppin]

I believe the Q9550S is a 65W processor, and the Q9550 is 95W. If there's anything else, I haven't heard of it, yet.

They are the pick of the die and they are certified by Intel to run at the lower TDP. "S" Series is idea for rackmount servers and worth the $100 premium to have a cooler running CPU.

However, the "S" series may be getting the best overclockers out of the q9550 series in general. Mine is Q9550S engineering sample and only does 4.0 GHz at 1.4 V which is "average" for a good overclock. i just got i7 920 and will compare performance this week.

At ANY rate, if you are going to overclock your q9550, it will give you a nice performance boost over your e6600 at 3.2 GHz. If you don't overclock, you will only have the benefit of the quad's 2 "extra" cores - which is variable, depending on what applications you run.