Best Core 2 Quad for Overclocking

[Dick Sternum]

I'm rebuilding my girlfriends PC this week into her shiny new case using the following components:

Case: Silverstone FT02R-WRI
Motherboard: Asus P5Q Deluxe
Cooler: Tuniq Tower 120
RAM: 8Gb Corsair Dominator 8500 RAM
PSU: Corsair HX650
Graphics: Saphire HD5850

I'd like to overclock this and have the following Core 2 Quad CPUs available (as you do):

QX6700
Q6600
Q9450

The question is, which one of the above will give me the most head room for the overclock. The QX6700 is currently installed in the board (and is therefore the easy choice!), is currently running at 3.2GHz but runs hot. Would the Q9450 or the Q6600 be a better choice?

 

[MooMoo444]

Q9450, easily.

The lower multi wont hold you back with a great board like the P5Q to be honest, you also have RAM up to the job of higher FSBs.

 

[joeyjojo]

The Q9xx is a much superior chip, largely as it's on 45nm lithography, which results in a thermal envelope of 95W (compared to 130W).

 

[Dick Sternum]

Cool, thanks for the replies. That's what I was thinking, just wanted to get a second opinion

 

[PaulyD]

Yep deffo the Q9xxx series, the QX and Q6600 will need more volts and still won't clock as far.

 

[WingZero30]

Guys I am running E6600 atm. If I were to upgrade to a core2quad, I should also choose a Q9xxx cpu? How do the Q9xxx series compare against E6600 heat and electrical consumption wise?