Convince me to buy a Q9550

[ThunderRd]

Someone I know is selling a Q9550 for what appears to be a good price. I currently run a Q6600; that's a 2.4g chip, 3.5G daily 450x8 1:1.

Q9550 has a larger cache, higher clock speed at 2.83g, and a higher bus speed at 1333; but in the real world what do these things mean to me-is it a worthwhile upgrade or will I be disappointed when comparing it to my Q6600, which is a vicious overclocker?

Convince me. Price is $240.

[Gizmo]

I would be afraid that you would hit your FSB limit before you hit the clock limit of the CPU, because it's already running at 1333.

[PorPorMe]

Our last one was $40 right? That worked out great. Must mean that the Gods of venture capital mean for all of our dealings to be $40. I mean that sounds like what they mean to me. So we do the same but in reverse!
OH I just love how this is goin to work!
You send Daniel the 40 for my 2yrs and it's a pkg deal with me getting your old Q6600 and the $40 from the Q9550 goes to Daniel Which leaves the price of it at an even $200! You had better grab that while you still can!
I'll PM you my addy! OH do I love this Plan! LOL
Comvinced yet?

[ThunderRd]

Originally Posted by Gizmo

I would be afraid that you would hit your FSB limit before you hit the clock limit of the CPU, because it's already running at 1333.

I'm not sure what the multi is...have to research that later.

EDIT: OK I see. It has a 8.5 multi, 1/2 multi higher than Q9450. With DDR3 and 470FSB I could do 4G with that thing. I think it would be possible on the Maximus Extreme. Maybe.

I reckon it would be a better folder than the Q6600, too.

I may be answering my own question here but if you have an opinion, chime in.

[ccperf721p]

I moved from a Q6600 into my Q9450 and still have a Q6600 rig running. Clock for Clock the Q9450 outperforms the Q6600 by 5%. While they are better overclockers for the most part, it's hard to get it out of them with the boards available

I've been through a few motherboards in my quest for high quad FSB, best I have managed is 465 stable, 475 bench. Most boards started to have problems around 450.

I don't think you would see much improvement from your current set up with the Q9550.

I would try to steer you in the direction of Nehalem and X58, even if it meant holding off for a little while.

[ThunderRd]

@cc: I can't say I disagree, although the 8,5 multi is a small advantage over your chip - if only at the 450FSB I run now, it would yield 3.825 vs the 3.5 I now run. Thats a 9% improvement; I've had this board in the 460's as well, and although it wasn't fully stable I didn't really expend much effort to make it so. If I could get it stable at just 460 that's 3.9.

Maybe I'll see if he'll budge on the price a bit-then it may be worth it just for the sport. If I can get it cheaply enough, I might do it just as a folding box. I'm in no hurry to upgrade anything and wasn't looking until he mentioned it to me, so no big deal either way.

Cheers for the input.

[Gizmo]

Originally Posted by ThunderRd

EDIT: OK I see. It has a 8.5 multi, 1/2 multi higher than Q9450.

I'm sorry, for some reason I was thinking the 9450 had a 1066 bus. That's what I get for posting at 1 a.m......

[ThunderRd]

AFAIK only the Q6600 is 1066 bus. Others are 1333.

[robbie]

Are you guys doing anything about northbridge cooling on these unstable boards?

I remember back in the day when we would hit a wall with FSB overclocks, we would pull the northbridge cooler and and reinstall it with some good AS. Sure enough... we would be able to hit even higher overclocks.
$.02
HTH

[ThunderRd]

NB on this board is natively watercooled. No problem there.