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E8600 or Q9650 for a gamer

bakes0310

bakes0310

bakes0310

Soldato
Joined
22 Oct 2004
Posts
13,673
As title really, i want to order this before jan 1st, but im finding it hard to make a choice between the two.
Basically all my machine is used for is gaming and web browsing. So which cpu is the best for gaming, also if it makes a difference i dont overclock so the cpu will always be at stock speeds.
 
Depends on what games you play and if they utilise 4 cores, but personally i wouldn't be looking at anything other than a quad now. If this is an upgrade i'd go for the q9550 on offer at the moment. The q9650 isn't really worth the extra cash.
 
Nocky24 said:
Depends on what games you play and if they utilise 4 cores. If this is an upgrade i'd go for the q9550 on offer at the moment. The q9650 isn't really worth the extra cash.
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I currently have e6850 so a q6550 would be a bit of step down wouldnt it?

Also money difference doesnt bother me, ill take better performance any day even if its only 5-10% in certain games.
 
bakes0310 said:
I currently have e6850 so a q6550 would be a bit of step down wouldnt it?

Also money difference doesnt bother me, ill take better performance any day even if its only 5-10% in certain games.
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Honestly the q9550 compared to the q9650 at stock- absolutely no difference really mate just a few mhz. If you want something better i'd be looking at i7.
 
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Nocky24 said:
Honestly the q9550 compared to the q9650 at stock- absolutely no difference really mate just a few mhz. If you want something better i'd be looking at i7.
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Just a cpu upgrade thanks:)
200mhz difference aint much i suppose, but im planning on keeping this cpu and of course the rest of my setup for as long as possible...hopefully until jan 2011 when ill do a major upgrade. So until then i think even 200mhz extra would help:)
 
bakes0310 said:
Just a cpu upgrade thanks:)
200mhz difference aint much i suppose, but im planning on keeping this cpu and of course the rest of my setup for as long as possible...hopefully until jan 2011 when ill do a major upgrade. So until then i think even 200mhz extra would help:)
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Lol just get the q9550 and overclock the extra mhz upto 3GHz and its exactly the same chip as the q9650- you can do that with just the stock cooler. Or you could save the £85 you got from getting a q9550, get a good cooler, overclock to 4GHz and even have enough left for a night out to get hammered at the end of the week. You know it makes sense :)
 
Hi

Though I tend to agree in principle with what's been said about the Q9550 over the Q9650 (especially if going to overclock). But if money is not a problem and you don't OC (as you say), then just pick up the cheapest Q9650 that you can find, this is the route that I went. I can't see you wanting for processing power over the next year really. Obviously depends on what you use your PC for. Mines just gaming and general use (browsing, word processing etc.) and I can't see me struggling much if any over the next year. And this sounds pretty similar to your usage.

Come 12 months time, there should be a lot more choice CPU / mobo wise and hopefully solid state drives will have come down a bit as well (whoops... digress a bit here).

Enjoy.
 
Any EO stepping q9550 should clock to 3.6ghz ono on stock volts, theyre a fantastic cpu, great clockers and very cool running, had 3.8ghz from one on just over stock vcore, load temps barely went any higher than mid 50's running IBT.
 
OMG so many choices :p
So it seems my choices are:

1) buy Q9650

2) buy Q9550 difference is apparently small

3) buy Q9550 and get a good cooler and clock the hell out of it
 
Buy an e8500 even cheaper, clock it to 4.0 GHz or over.
If you want Quad core, sell up and buy i5.

That's what I am running and I don't have a problem with any games at 1680 x 1050.
 
bakes0310 said:
just had a look on the bios looked through some screens and im thinking this is beyond me, its very confusing.
What is systool does it do it for you or make it easier, is it safe?
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Most of the settings in there you wont need. Just read up on it, take your time and then you'll have the knowledge (or at least an insight) on how to get the best out of your hardware in future.
 
Great boards with 45nm quads, had a p5q deluxe with a q9550, theyre very user fiendly boards for overclocking due to a pretty easy understood bios.
 
Get the Q9550 - a good cooler - and clock it to 3.8-4gig... and your set for the immediate future and probably a good bit beyond that too.

I wouldn't bother going i5/i7 unless you need it for specific features i.e. SLI on intel or 8 thread support as clock for clock in overall tasks they aren't that big a leap from the high end Q9X50 and even the Q9400 compares well clock for clock. Its a massive amount of upheaval and extra cost for around 9% overall performance gain - so unless your doing one of the few tasks where the i5/i7 excels its just not worth it.
 
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