http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/c [...] q9300.html

Summary:
- 7% faster than Q6600
- Overclockable to ~3.5GHz, then hits FSB wall.

Considering it's the same price as the Q6600, you can't really complain about the stock performance, although the 7.5x multiplier means you will probably never reach the full overclocking potential of the chip. A lower FSB / higher multi would have been nicer, it's probably capable of 4GHz if not for the FSB wall.

That said, even at 3.5GHz it's still slightly faster than a Q6600 @ 3.6GHz, with lower power consumption too, so it's not a bad chip overall, it just could've been better...

Nice find.

So the Q6600 still has some life in it........maybe "Evil Intel" (quote: thunderman xD )will simply bump the price down slightly (or not at all) instead of discontinuing it..........

Don't forget that it's early on so OCing will probably improve. Also, prices will drop in a while too. As long as you're in the same generation of CPU you'd pay more for a higher multiplier anyway which is what you're really paying for comparatively.

One thing we should also notice is that the e8500 is great for the price, so for gamers dual cores are still probably the best for the price.

I doubt it, unless future revisions allow for a higher FSB...

righto, plus they might have had one that just doesn't as OC quite so well.

The CPU is likely going to be more limited by Motherboards than the Chip itself.

They used a very nice X38 board.
Don't expect similar results from lower grade boards.

Rumor has it the Q6600 will be going down about $40 in Tray price in April. That should make it that much nicer.

The Q9300 will be real sweet for those more concerned with noise/heat.