TR Forums

Hi guys, im thinking of selling my Q6600 and buying a Q9650. Any one had experiance with this upgrade? Is it worth it? My Q6600 is running at 3.3Ghz at the moment. Was thinking for getting the Q9650 and running it at 4ghz +. does the extra L2 cache make a big difference?

I don't really think it'd be a cost-effective upgrade unless you're doing something that'll very specifically benefit from extra cache, at all, and even then you'd be better off upgrading the whole platform rather than just switching to a slightly faster quad.

Would consider waiting for the new year and see what Intel's CPU refresh brings, were it me .

Penryn vs Penryn the extra cache makes a difference equivalent to about 5% clockspeed, depending upon whether a given test or application benefits from cache, so I'd guess it would be more of a difference between a Conroe and a Penryn. If you can do the upgrade (buy and sell) for a net small amount, go for it, but I don't know how cheaply you can get the Q9650. However unless you are specifically CPU limited or can only afford a CPU upgrade and *must* have it I don't know that it would be worth it. If you don't have an SSD that would be a more worthy all-around upgrade imo that you can keep using for a while.

Yeah i was thinking about that also, really do fancy a ssd. Do u think i`ll have enough room for warcraft (28Gb), windows 7 premium, and all other everyday programs like antivirus, skype, ms office etc.. on this 80GB ssd http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... =HD-004-IN. I cant afford a new I7 chip ram and mobo at the moment so im looking for a decent hardware upgrade to keep the hardware bug at bay.

FWIW, I'm running WoW + Win7 + "everyday" programs on a 60gb SSD, so yeah, 80GB should be plenty I'd reckon. Also if you're looking at spending £160 on an 80GB Intel SSD, maybe look at http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160732 - 120gb OCZ Vertex for the same price. That'd definitely leave enough room .

Ive read bad things about the OCZ SSD`s, seems there is 50% of bad reviews on every site, but double the capacity sounds tempting

Q6600 is Kentsfield, but the argument is still the same. It is not worth it. Not to mention there is no guarantee to get to 4GHz.

Don't throw more money at an obsolete socket. If you really need to upgrade now, move up to Socket-AM3, LGA1156 or LGA1366. If you can wait (as I believe that you should), then hold onto your money and let it grow until you're ready for Sandy Bridge.

I'd have to agree with the folks above. You're not gaining that much performance for what you're spending and then you're going to "toss out" your Q6600.

From my experience, the i7 is just about twice as fast as Penryn, clock for clock. That's in compute intensive 3D rendering.

I would echo the sentiments above regarding SSDs. It makes your computing experience "snappy" like one would think a modern computer system should be.

If you can buy the Q9650 for dirt cheap (<$25) off craigslist or somewhere, go for it. Otherwise, wait a bit and do a major upgrade.

sid1089 wrote:

If you can buy the Q9650 for dirt cheap (<$25) off craigslist or somewhere, go for it.

$330! If they were only $25, I might upgrade my Q9300.

What about stepping down to a Q9550?

The Q9550 goes for a very simular price second hand. Will probabaly just forget the idea now and just get a SSD to keep my busy till i can afford a I7 rig

I have been running on Q6600 for a while now. Of course you probly know that it supplies most of your processes, yet it seems to not be a great CPU for gaming. I might even do your same upgrade. Either that or go with a new i7. If and when you do upgrade, lemme know if there are some significant changes and if you reccomend the upgrade.

Can you hold out and save your pennies until mid-January?

jubbster wrote:

Hi guys, im thinking of selling my Q6600 and buying a Q9650. Any one had experiance with this upgrade? Is it worth it? My Q6600 is running at 3.3Ghz at the moment. Was thinking for getting the Q9650 and running it at 4ghz +. does the extra L2 cache make a big difference?

Unless you want the new instructions introduced with Penryn, there is no reason to upgrade. It would likely be better for your system performance if you upgraded to a SSD or a better GPU. What programs do you run on your system?

With Intel about to release a new line of products I'd save your money and put it towards new CPU/MB/memory setup.

I went from a OC'ed Q6600 to an OC'ed i7 920 and doubled my CPU performance.

I have not heard a single bad thing about current gen OCZ SSDs and I use one myself
are you talking about first gen products? most first gen SSD products had bad controllers
if you have a link of something recent please post it