Intel Quad Q9XXX series worth the extra over earlier quads?

[jaybee]

I'll keep this simple, I'm in the market for a quad core CPU for my 775 machine.

1: I'm conscious of taking advantage of the newer architecture CPUs Q9XXX aka 45nm. Am I right in thinking that the 45nm CPUs would run cooler and with less power draw (TDP) than the older tech 65nm Q6XXX CPUs?

2: Do they clock any better? Are they worth the extra?

3: Do I even need a quad? Would a good dual core be a better bet? I do absolutely everything on my PC. It does the lot all in one machine including gaming and heavy duty photo/video editing.

Cheers guys

 

[cmndr_andi]

Hi there

I have worked quite a bit with both 65nm and 45nm Core 2 Quads, so I may be able to give you a few answers:

1) Yes, the 45nm Quads run cooler than the 65nm ones in my experience. TDP is actually the thermal design power - the amount of heat a cooling system needs to dissipate. The TDP of the standard 65nm and 45nm Quads are both 95W, however I have found that that this isn't entirely accurate as similarly clocked 65nm C2Qs run hotter than their 45nm siblings.

2) They generally do clock better, especially if you use an E0 stepping Q9550 or Q9650. Also clock-for-clock the 45nm Quads are around 15% faster than the 65nm Quads.

3) You may not "need" a quad, as a dual core will be cheaper and achieve your listed goals fine. However, a Quad will give you better performance in photo/video editing and a quad in gaming allows you to play multi-core requiring games like GTA4 and ARMA2. Also, increasingly games are being designed with multi-core CPUs in mind - so these games will perform better on a Quad than on a dual core.

 

[jaybee]

Thanks for the info. Wikipedia seems to suggest that the following exist:

Q6XXX series
Q7XXX series
Q8XXX series
Q9XXX seires

I know the Q6XXX exist obviously and the Q9XXX, but I have never come accross the Q7XXX series? Were these ever sold in the UK? The Q8XXX series I have seen, but there seems to be some confusion on the net as to whether they support Intel VT tech. This is the virtualization built into the chip to allow for example Win XP Mode to work on Windows 7.

 

[sturmtruppe]

When buying a quad, make sure the clock speed, ie Ghz, is higher or equal to your current processor, otherwise older apps that are only programmed to use 1 or 2 cores will suffer and perform worse.

 

[asoxedri]

A1 - i was thinking about the same thing before i made my purchase. I ended up getting a Q6700. runs very cool. load @47 ish, idle @ 27 ish.

i thought initially that it was my cooler keeping it more cool, but then i slammed the intel one in and it only made a little difference.

A2 - they do clock nicely but you may be held back by your motherboard.

A3 - as other poster suggested.