Q6600 > Q9450... worth the upgrade???

[pizap]

I currently have a Q6600 on Asus P5k Deluxe MOBO. I have to say i have been pretty happy with the chip thus far. I originally got the Asus board so that i could upgrade to a 45NM chip in the future. Is the future now? Should I pull the trigger on a q9450 or wait for another round of core 2 quads... or will the next release be the Nehalem in Nov?

Thanks for the advice. i like more speed

 

[BustedSony]

Wait for the next round of price cuts. Because the 9450 has a default 1333 fsb you have to overclock the P5K MORE to surpass the Q6600's performance. A friend had to switch from a Q6600 to 9450 and could see no difference.

 

[pizap]

Any Idea about the next round of Price Cuts. Might not even be worth it if i don't see a performance boost. Also read just now about a possible manditory bios update for the p5k to get it to work with thew CPUs

 

[Guest]

no...

the next round of price cuts won't matter... its not worth the upgrade period....

the new nehalem cpus use a different socket... lga 1366 I think... and its on the x58 platform... the only noticeable difference you'll get from the q6600 s a nehalem quad core at 3 + ghz.... other wise its pointless to upgrade

 

[pizap]

Anybody know of a benchmark that directly compares q6600 to q9450, with and without Overclocking?

Thanks in advance...

 

[cyberjock]

I've been tossing the idea around myself. I'm trying to decide on a new CPU now or wait for Nahelem. Someone swapped their processor between the 2 and posted their results at:

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/t297297.html

Some ways it is faster, sometimes alot faster. Sometimes a little bit slower. Overall, I'm probably gonna end up spending the money on the new CPU since I got the money to spend on whatever I want. But the logical choice would be to wait for Nahelem in my opinion.

 

[righteous]

There is no reason to go to a 9450 period. Skip the thought.

What is wrong with the q6600 you have? is it broken?
I know it has no problem running anything there is out there.
a 9450 is a waste.

wait for the next gen to become cost effective and do that.
You'll be more than fine until then, even with a core2duo.

 

[cal8949]

why dont you just treat yourself to a 4870 or even 2 4850's if your board supports it

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

If you want some more free performance do a little bit of OCing.

I wouldn't upgrade if I was in your position, but I tend to hang onto hardware for a while.

 

[aznguy0028]

i upgraded from a Q6600 to a Q9450, just cause my friend needed a processor so i sold my old Q6600 to him, but otherwise, i wouldn't spend an extra 320$+ on it. Just OC your Q6600 to 3.0ghz+ and you're good

i agree with cal8949, treat yourself to a 4870 instead.

 

[halcyon]

Don't move to the Q9450 from the Q6600. Its an almost lateral move. I'd say if you have less than 8GB of RAM now, put a little bit of money their and move to a 64bit OS if you're not already there. That'll give you more of an all around performance boost than paying for the Q9450.

 

[amdfangirl]

hmm... it would depend what apps you were using... even so, the Q6600 would perform almost clock for clock... Nelhalem is another socket, sorry...

Plus new stuff is really expensive... hold on until the Q9450 is in bargain bins...

 

[halcyon]

Well...my logic is this. In my experience Ubunto 64 and Vista 64 are quite fast. Vista 64 with 8GB of RAM being noticably faster (subjectively, yes) than Vista 32 recognizing 3.2GB of RAM.

For the small cost of getting to 8GB from even 2GB I think it'd be a better investment than trying to find that supposed 10-12% performance increase some speak of when comparing the Q9450 over the Q6600. If you're gonna use Vista might as well go to 64bit.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

Don't move to the Q9450 from the Q6600. Its an almost lateral move. I'd say if you have less than 8GB of RAM now, put a little bit of money their and move to a 64bit OS if you're not already there. That'll give you more of an all around performance boost than paying for the Q9450.

I really don't think there are many situation for even us pro-sumers where we would want 8 gigs of RAM.

I have three gigs and I wouldn't mind going to four, but I don't have a need beyond 4 gigs.

 

[th_username]

you stick with q6600

 

[cal8949]

why dont you just treat yourself to a 4870 or even 2 4850's if your board supports it

treat yourself

 

[pizap]

I think i will hold off on the q9450. The only way it would be worth while is if i could get an extra 20% or so. Thank you for all the advice. I may go for the 4870 x 2 treat however!

 

[warcry]

I have a q9450, so my natural instinct is to go OMGOMG GET ONE!!11
But honestly, i woundent make the move. that would be like going from the 8800gtx to the 9800gtx.
Simply not enough of a performance increase to justify the cost, wait for a huge price drop or the next gen.

 

[halcyon]

I really don't think there are many situation for even us pro-sumers where we would want 8 gigs of RAM.

I have three gigs and I wouldn't mind going to four, but I don't have a need beyond 4 gigs.

TC, if you even get into 64bit Windows computing (and witness the liquid-quick performance) or use virtualization (i.e., running Ubunto or XP inside of a Vista64 host) your viewpoint on using 8GB of RAM may change. ...but that's for another thread.

 

[pizap]

I actually upgraded from 4 to 8 gb ram and did notice a difference. Especially when running 6+ apps at once. No slow down. Another weird side effect si that Readyboost no longer worked. I used to use a 4GB thumb drive for Readyboost, but after i maxed out the ram, it no longer functioned. I guess that could be another thread post as well.

 

[ignamax]

Per earlier info here or somewhere, the Q9550 will drop to $350ish in about 2 weeks, and the 9450 will be dropped.

 

[pizap]

q9450 will be dropped? I wonder if you will be able to scoop one up on the cheap when they quit making them. Any link to an article about the future price drops?

 

[Grimmy]

I'd agree. It would be a waste of money...

However, if you could sell your Q6600, and break even, then that would be another thing.

 

[Vertigon]

Why not just OC the Q6600 to 3 or 3.2 Ghz? Alot of people on average gear get to 3Ghz with that chip and on a P5K board, you should have NO problems. Wait till Nehalem pops it's little head out and then keep and eye out for a QX chip, no we're talking.

 

[pizap]

I have mine clocked at ~2.9 on a Zalman Cooler. Have not tried to push it beyond that. Perhaps the q9450 is a mute point.