Stay with Q6600 or buy Q9550?

The question is, giving your computing tasks would you get any tangible benefit from it?

Do you game? What GPU do you have? What res is your display? We need more info to gudie your choice.

My first off-the-cuff inclination is to say No. But without more data that's pure conjecture.

CPU Q6600@3.0ghz
Motherboard P35 Gigabyte DS3R
Memory 4x1gb Super Talent DDR2
Graphics Card 8800gt w/ DuOrb
Hard Drive 40gb Kingston SSD/ 500gb HD
Sound Card Sound Blaster Xtreme Music
Power Supply 850w OCZ Modular
Case C5
CPU cooling Ultra 120 Extreme
GPU cooling DuOrb
Monitor Samsung 20in 1680x1050

I plan on upgrading my graphics card when fermi comes out also.

Do you go to Penn State?

I did. Graduated in June '08.

Unless you really push that CPU hard, I'd have to say no.

But again it depends on the programs you run/ games you play. It's not like you're trying to jump sockets so it may be worth it just to get a fresh CPU in there.

You have no guarantee that you will be able to reach 4 GHz with Q9550. Assuming that you can sell the Q6600, only you can decide if the possibility of reaching 4 GHz is worth the $70 or $80.

Would going from 3ghz to 3.8ghz benefit my system when I buy a new card?

I voted for keeping the Q6600, but based on this statement, I'm guessing money may not be an issue for you, in which case why not get the Q9550.

The Q9550 is a better chip, but not enough to justify the cost unless you really don't care. You're getting a lot out of your current CPU as-is.

I have a Q6600 right now, its running at stock speed currently. But i guess the real question is, is money an issue for you? Im a poor college student and as much as i would like to have a Q9550S, it really would not make any sense. One thing i have stood up for before, and will push again is, "Dont put money in an outdated platform". This is what has pushed me to stick with the times.

At this point, the Q6600 is like 4 years old, the Q9xxx series is like 2 years old. The difference between the 2 is not going to be huge. So unless you have money burning a hole in your pocket. I say no.

Save your money for beer, girls, food, or some other upgrade that will last longer than that CPU. If i was going to buy any hardware right now it would be an i5 platform. Because as much as i would like a Q9550S, with some DDR3 and a P45/X45 chipset, it wont make my computer any faster (or not very much faster).

Back in the day, i had my Athlon X2 3800 on a MSI nvidia NF4 SLI motherboard. It was not what i wanted but its what i had the money for at the time. I had always dreamed of getting an Opty 165 and the Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe. One day i had the money and made the switch over, and it really was not that much faster. I could have saved my money for a Conroe platform when they first came out.

I realize this is probably more information than your looking for but, if you want it and you have the money go for it. Nothing we say is going to change that. I mean who doesnt want 12MB of L2 Cache. But your not going to see HUGE changes.