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Worth changing my Q6600 for a Q9650?

Draeger said:
I think you are right. I've been weighing it up and spending even £60-£70 on a Q9650 seems silly now that I think about it, considering what you can get i7 bundles for. Been sat this afternoon Googling away on the subject and the AMD FX6300 looks like crazy value for money whilst outperforming an i7 920 at the same time (maybe not by much but the benchmarks I've looked at this afternoon suggest so). I've always had Intel chips since the aforementioned Socket A 3000XP years ago so it would be my first AMD based system for a long time. But the prices for the CPU even on its own are very tempting. Even new they can be had for @£80.
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Only because the 920 is clocked at 2.6Ghz, a full 900Mhz lower then the FX6300 ;) ;)

Clock it to 3Ghz and it'll give that little FX a bashing, And if you get a D0 stepping 920 then 4Ghz+ easy and it'll bash even a 5Ghz FX 6300.

Personally I would be getting a used x58 bundle...
 
Agree with almighty, 4ghz on a DO stepping 920 is practically a given, provided of course you have the right cooling. Quite an easy chip to overclock too, must be when even i could manage it.:D
 
@setter - would you say that the ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 is a better board than the Biostar one in the MM that idleman linked to?

I've also just realised I've forgotten to factor in and budget for a half decent HSF. Doh!! Recommendations for one that won't break the bank, either new or used?

Appreciate all the replies and help folks, I'm learning slowly about CPU's I previously had no clue about! :cool:
 
Hi there, I would very much agree with the gentleman suggesting the i7 +X58 bundle option - so much better than an overprice Q9650.

As for i7 920 vs FX 6300 - now that is a tricky one. With a decent 970 AM3+ board (which will allow you to overclock a bit) you are looking to be paying £50, plus £80 for the chip - so £130 overall. While the X58+i7 bundle will be around £100 (and you may be able to get some cut-price triple channel ram in the bargain). So in terms of performance for price, the X58 is a bit better in my mind.

However, it also means you will be using relatively old second-hand components with no warranty. Tough call.

My personal preference would be to buy a second-hand LGA 1155 CPU (i5 2500K or 3570K) for around £90-100 then buy a decent P67/Z68/Z77 motherboard either new or second hand (with warranty left). This option would probably cost you around £140-160 (plus RAM) but would give you a decent boost in CPU performance, better overclocking, some newer features and a bit of peace of mind with the motherboard warranty.

For a heatsink reccomendation I would opt for the Thermalright HR-02 macho, its an excellent performing heatsink which doesn't break the bank. If you are looking for second hand coolers, the Thermalright TRUE and Prolimatech megahalems are excellent and turn up pretty regularly.
 
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Draeger said:
@setter - would you say that the ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 is a better board than the Biostar one in the MM that idleman linked to?

I've also just realised I've forgotten to factor in and budget for a half decent HSF. Doh!! Recommendations for one that won't break the bank, either new or used?

Appreciate all the replies and help folks, I'm learning slowly about CPU's I previously had no clue about! :cool:
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The p6t dlx v2 was a pretty high end board in its day, has 6 ram slots unlike 3 on the biostar. The former gives you more room for expansion if you start out with just 6gb of ram. Cooler wise, something like a used Thermalright ultra extreme for about 20 quid will cope very well with an i7 920, (cooler i have myself on a 930). Regarding the 2500k, yes it will clock higher, but as it's an i5 cpu it lacks the hyperthreading of the i7, which can be useful in applications such as encoding. The sandy bridge i7 chips such as the 26/700k still command fairly high prices.

Idleman said:
Another 920 bundle, with a better mobo.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18591831
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Very nice bundle there, good mobo the sabretooth and its the later 6gbps sata and usb 3 board. Though id see if i could get the seller to lower the price a bit.
 
Cheers guys, been out all day so missed that Sabretooth deal. Would have chucked a bid in for it as well. Knickers!!

The other bundle is tempting but I think I'll hold out and see if one with a slightly better mobo comes up. No sense jumping in at the first thing for sale I suppose.
 
id be looking at a i5 2500k 4 that money.

q6600 is worth avout 30-40
Q9650 40-45 max

i7 920s go for about 45-50
i5 2500k go for about 90-100
 
~>Dg<~ said:
id be looking at a i5 2500k 4 that money.

q6600 is worth avout 30-40
Q9650 40-45 max

i7 920s go for about 45-50
i5 2500k go for about 90-100
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Whilst the 2500k isnt a bad chip per se, once you factor in the cost of a mobo and 8gb of ram, your closer to the £200.00 mark. Yes it will clock higher than the i7 920. But the latter will be better as an all round use cpu and cheaper to buy the whole bundle. Personally i skipped the sb i5 chips as they werent a very signifigant upgrade from the 920 i had.
 
setter said:
Whilst the 2500k isnt a bad chip per se, once you factor in the cost of a mobo and 8gb of ram, your closer to the £200.00 mark. Yes it will clock higher than the i7 920. But the latter will be better as an all round use cpu and cheaper to buy the whole bundle. Personally i skipped the sb i5 chips as they werent a very signifigant upgrade from the 920 i had.
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I would agree. Cost/performance, the 920 is the better deal. Although, over the last few months, there have been some really (crazy) cheap deals on SB/IV i5/i7, but obviously these get snapped up pretty quickly.
And as you are properly working, keeping an eye on the MM is`nt easy. If I see anything appropriate, I`ll drop you a Trust message.
 
Roger that, cheers! I try and keep an eye on the MM as much as I can on my iphone but sometimes its just not possible to check up as often as I would like to. I'm not too impatient, I can wait until the right bundle comes along. :)
 
Just been reading through this thread. Quite surprised at the prices for the Q9650.
I've got an X9650 in my XBMC machine in the living room. Is it the same as a Q9650?
 
dessimpson said:
Just been reading through this thread. Quite surprised at the prices for the Q9650.
I've got an X9650 in my XBMC machine in the living room. Is it the same as a Q9650?
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Yes, except QX9650 has older C0/C1 stepping (Q9650 is E0), unlocked multiplier but seems to run hotter than Q9650, reading from other forums.
 
Bumpy, bumpy, bumpy!!

Thread bump. :)

Just scored an i7 920 and 6Gb XMS3 in the MM HERE :D

I now need a motherboard. Want something half decent, more than likely a used example will be more cost effective and perhaps easier to source. Had a look in the 'B Grade' section here but there's nothing doing. I've started a thread in the Motherboards section HERE asking for recommendations if any of you guys feel like helping me out?

@Idleman - If you still have that 612S I'd like to offer £15 to take it off your hands. Would have posted in your thread in the MM but just had a butchers and the thread is closed. When you say the fan bracket is broken but can still be used, what do you mean, got any pics? Feel free to message me in Trust. Thanks!
 
I remember when I was continuously changing between Q6600s and Q9xxx chips. Q9650 has always been about 180% the price of a Q6600 G0.

What you have to remember is that Penryn was an excellent chip in terms of power consumption, heat and ability to hit 4ghz. The Q9550/9650 E0 chips are the best chips made for the 775 platform and so they have a premium right now.

It isn't just people moving from Q6600 G0 to the Q9650 E0 creating the demand. It is also all the dual core 775 chips and Q6600 C1 users.

The same will be the case for the 3770K which is the best 1155 chip released.

The same was true of the best netburst chips, Cedar Mill and Presler.
 
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Draeger said:
Thread bump. :)

Just scored an i7 920 and 6Gb XMS3 in the MM HERE :D

I now need a motherboard. Want something half decent, more than likely a used example will be more cost effective and perhaps easier to source. Had a look in the 'B Grade' section here but there's nothing doing. I've started a thread in the Motherboards section HERE asking for recommendations if any of you guys feel like helping me out?

@Idleman - If you still have that 612S I'd like to offer £15 to take it off your hands. Would have posted in your thread in the MM but just had a butchers and the thread is closed. When you say the fan bracket is broken but can still be used, what do you mean, got any pics? Feel free to message me in Trust. Thanks!
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Nice deal on the chip and ram. ;)

I have reopened my FS thread, can you reply in there and I'll answer any questions concerning the cooler. Just don't want to get into trouble discussing prices outside the MM. :D Cheers mate.
 
Roger that, have replied in the thread.

Typical, I source the i7 and RAM and all the X58 boards that were for sale are snapped up!
 
Draeger said:
Roger that, have replied in the thread.

Typical, I source the i7 and RAM and all the X58 boards that were for sale are snapped up!
Click to expand...

The X58 boards are like gold dust on here, there's always someone looking for one.

Have replied in my FS thread.
 
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