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The Q6600 is definitely more "bang for buck". Many Q6600's will go beyond 3.3ghz, mine will hit 3.8 stable, however I run it at 3.3 for more sensible voltage/temps.
The Q9550 should hit 4GHz afaik, but for nearly double the price, I just don't think it's worth it.
It's also 12MB cache opposed to 6MB, any idea how that makes a difference?
Haven't found many convincing overclocking results for the Q9550 so far really.. Hmmm... Slowly starting to lean towards Q6600 again
Yeah tbh 3.1Gig has been the most I've seen out of the last 2 Q6600's
Buy second hand if one is available...
Q6600
And don't waste money on a guaranteed overclock chip.
He's right, they are a complete waste (sorry Gibbo). If you are going to get a Q6600 then just make sure you get the G0 stepping chip and overclock it to kingdom come.
As I MAY have prevented a sale there I will try make it up to OcUk by recommending this fine product:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...1&name=Akasa AK-965 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)
I have one with my Q6600 and get extremely low temps for the price.