Used Q9650 Upgrade from E8400 for $80 is it Sensible

[Ray Charles]

My System

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
Intel E8400 @ 3.0GHZ
EVGA GTX 460
Sigma Shark 635w PSU
2gb ddr2 800mhz (I also planning to go to 4gb)
1tb WD Green 32mb cache
500gb Hitachi 16mb cache
Coolermater Centurion 590
Acer 22" 1680 x 1050 monitor
Logitech x540 5.1

I am getting a used q9650 for $159 is it worth the upgrade and I can probably sell the e8400 for around $80 to $100 thus making it a $80 upgrade. Is this a good move from my readings I think a q9650 is good enough for me for the next 2 years (unless I personally want a new system) What is the best thing to do any suggestions and comment would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kovaxo]

hey
yea its A great move you will get a double cache as it 12M on Q9650 beside 6M on E8400
also Double cores
Four cores beside Two cores
recently alot for App's support Quad core so it will helps
upgrading to 4GB is also great move more bandwidth would help on Games this days
and oh yea Q9650 is easy to overclock as well , but maybe on next 2 years you will consider upgrading you video card or da whole system incase you still wanted to play 1680x1050 res
but the bottom line , upgrade to Q9650 is Great idea in current time

 

[jsc]

At that price, it is a great idea. At the regular $300+ price of a Q9650, it isn't.

 

[enzo matrix]

Well worth it. At that price, it puts it at a good deal compared to what else you can get today for that price. A 3 GHz core 2 arch processor should be on par with an AMD phenom II 955 or better. Add on the cache of this beast and it's quite a bit better. Well worth the cost even if you can't sell your current processor.

 

[Ray Charles]

OK cool, just needed to confirm it

 

[Wisecracker]

It's a nice upgrade but be sure to inquire as to how much, if any, it has been over-clocked and what voltages they were running.

*Technically* there should be a year or so remaining on the warranty --- not sure what type of claim you may have being the second owner (especially if it has brown scorch marks on it - LOL)

 

[jj463rd]

Worth a try (if the 9650 works).It's still a great gaming CPU.
Here are some benchies compared to a newer Core i7 950
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/49?vs=100

 

[Emperus]

Tom's, in the gaming processor hierarchy chart, list the Q9650 on the same tier with the core i series heavyweight's.. So yes, though the E8400 is still a great gaming CPU, the move to a Q9650 will be worth every penny.. And also, do add in another 2gigs of ram..

 

[ern88]

ya, it's a steal wish I could find a deal like that. I also have an E8400 O/C'd 3.6. But a quad would hold me over for a while.

 

[whitey_rolls]

Tom's, in the gaming processor hierarchy chart, list the Q9650 on the same tier with the core i series heavyweight's.. So yes, though the E8400 is still a great gaming CPU, the move to a Q9650 will be worth every penny.. And also, do add in another 2gigs of ram..

This post is correct, you can check CPU benchmarks and the Q9650 at stock speeds is nearly on par with the I7 860 and I5 760's ......

 

[Ray Charles]

Best answer selected by Ray Charles.

 

[Ray Charles]

I actually bought and I run fine but what can I use to test and benchmark it (I am noticing the difference in my games)

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey