Performance difference 65nm vs 45nm quad core

It's something like 7% clock for clock. However the low end lineup on the 45nm is:

Q9300 - 2.5 GHz, 6 MB L2 Cache
Q9450 - 2.66 GHz, 12 MB L2 Cache

Q6600 - 2.4 GHz, 8 MB L2 Cache

So, if you aren't OCing the Q9300 should beat it and be cheaper. The Q9450 will be slightly more expensive and require a better board for OCing (8x versus 9x).

Unless you want to run your board at 500 MHz FSB 24/7!

Agreed. That was my point.

So.. here is some rampant speculation.

45nm = 7% more Clock for Clock.
Going from 1 MB Cache to 2 MB Cache = 5% more Clock for Clock.

So.. here goes some crazy math that is probably WAY off!

A 100% increase in Cache gets you 5% clock for clock. So moving from 8 MB cache to 12 MB cache would yeild a 50% increase or theoretical 2.5% increase.

Dropping from 8 MB to 6 MB would be a theoretical 1.25% Drop.

So..

2.5 GHz Q9300 = 2.64 GHz Q6600 (at 333 MHz FSB the Q6600 would be at 3.0 GHz)
2.66 GHz Q9450 = 2.98 GHz Q6600 (at 333 MHz FSB the Q6600 would be at 3.0 GHz)

So.. on to FSB multipliers.

400 MHz FSB!

3000 MHz Q9300 = 3.17 GHz Q6600 (3.6 GHz at 400 MHz FSB)
3200 MHz Q9450 = 3.5 GHz Q6600 (3.6 GHz at 400 MHz FSB)


The Q6600 will be hotter and require more cooling and more voltage at all levels. The question is how high do you have to run the Q9450 to beat the Q6600.

Then I was wrong and it's an even better reason to keep using G0 Q6600s.

And as a sign that I'm not very good doing maths when I've had beer, my housemate just pointed out I got it right.... Ignore that post

So in conclusion, just get the Q6600 and overclock it to heaven.

Yea..

For 24/7 OCs I would say the Q6600 would be better since you can hit 3.6 GHz on Air without a problem. You'd need 450 MHz FSB on that for the Q9450... At the same time you'd be pushing the board pretty hard. If you were doing water you'd have the Q6600 at 4 GHz.

It's all a trade off.

The Q6600 is an excellent choice. As previously stated they can be greatly overclocked. They also will probably do whatever you need one to do even at stock speeds. The new CPUs I believe will provide even better preformance. To what degree we shall see and they might even have a better price v preformance ratio. If you jump now do so knowing you'll have a fine CPU and if you do don't sweat it if the upcoming CPUs are a bit better. We can't chase the tech dragon because we'll never catch it. A middle road would be to wait (and we hate to wait) to see how the new chips review and preform; compare price and make your most reasoned decision. As a side note: by waiting it is likely that some of the rest of your parts might be a bit cheaper.

What are we debating? We agree!

For WC setups and stuff like that I think the Q6600 is a better choice to push it further.

The Q9450 is great for non-extreme OCers with 3.2 GHz. I think the sweet spot will be 3.2 GHz with 1600 MT/s FSB.

But again.. At the same FSB the Q6600 will always win. The Q9450 will be a great chip. Even the Q9300 will.

I am planning on getting another 2-3 Q6600s to find a 1.212 VID or so.

Are you from Germany?

Lol.. I knew they called it a Water Closet in Germany, don't know much about Hawaii, I'm on the East Coast.

When dealing with CPU's doing billions of calculations per second, and how performance/power need/heat production varies with OCing, yes, I will split hairs over 1.8%

Which would be precisely the reason I chose equally clocked chips with the same FSB - otherwise it's not a fair test.

Also, if you check, I said this... "(assuming q6600 and qx6850 clocks are comparable)" to help cover for that exact problem.

Find me a benchmark showing that 1% you claim and I'll agree with it

Can I go to bed now without having my reasonably valid calculations + assumptions mocked in my sleep?

Not to end the big debate here or anything but I'm not that big on overclocking. The most overclocking I've done is

in nTune and it didn't support my cpu at the time.

What, in OCing?

That's exactly what I meant. I would venture to say that most people on Toms have SOME experience with OCing.

If you were OCing a Q6600 from 266x9 to 333x9 it would be on par with a stock Q9450 and be cheaper. You could also get it now rather than waiting.

For 3 GHz on a Q9450 needs a 375 MHz FSB...

Go to the OC section of this website and read up on C2D and C2Q OCing. If you have any questions we have a great community here that will be willing to help you.

Edit: My Q6600 sits at 3.6 GHz daily. I've had it up to 3.89 for Benches on air.

What time do you get in SuperPI 1million at that speed?

I didn't SuperPi, I was 3DMark06ing.

My best SuperPi1M was 14.09 with DDR2-1200 and 3.6 GHz. And no I did no Windows Tweaks or anything. It was just a straight up install like normal.

They won't know, unless you told them. ^^

And yes you will see a difference in 2.6Ghz and 3.0Ghz. I did, at least in supcom.

Let's see what I've done to my stuff that STILL works.

I've frozen my computer atleast 30-40 times while OCing my GPU. Trying to find the max I can possibly finish 3DMark06 at. Nothing happened, everything is still good.

I've crashed I can't tell you how many times from memory problems during OCing it.

I've crashed my computer a tons of times OCing my CPU and getting auto reboots.

I ran my P4 @ 3.2 GHz with no thermal grease for 4 months and it shut down 3-4 times a day. I was just too lazy to open it up and put more on. It's still chuggin strong.

Edit: I've run my Q6600 at over 1.6v on Air. It's still fine.

I've got 2 words for you...

STOP BRAGGING.

Lol, how is it bragging talking about the stuff I've done to my stuff and crash my computer multiple times?

I'll build my next computer but I just can't at the moment. I just moved

and It'll take me at least 3 months until I have enough free time to build

my own system. But back to the topic, I guess I'll just wait like 2

months.

That's a good idea, and by then you can build it yourself!

And sorry for hijacking your thread with Evil, we do that alot. He and I need to just exchange Steam IDs or AIM.

Oh crap I forgot, I was gonna get an nvidia 9800 gx2 when it comes out

in Febuary-March so I guess I have no option but to wait.

Anyway thanks for all the info. I'll come back to the fourms when I get

my new system and if I decide to overclock it.