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Is a Q6600 to Q9650 a worthwhile upgrade for games?

Pottsey

Pottsey

Pottsey

Soldato
Joined
29 May 2006
Posts
5,382
I just realised my Q6600 is over 2 years old and still going strong. I don't really need a full system revamp and a new motherboard, 8gig of ram and CPU adds up to a fair amount of cash. I figured if I can just get a bit more performance out this PC I can hold off a full system upgrade another year or two.

Anyone know any good reviews comparing the two chips? The only one I found was at http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3492&p=18 which seems to show a noticeable improvement with a Q9650 over a Q6600. But I don't like buying CPU's based on one single review.

The way I see it I can get a decent cooler and try and overclock the Q6600 or I can try and get a Q9650 relatively cheap and run it at stock or overclock.

My other cheaper option for a bit more life is going from a Q6600 Kentsfield to a Q9400 Yorkfield.
 
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Pottsey said:
The way I see it I can get a decent cooler and try and overclock the Q6600
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This gets my vote, pick up a cooler which is also compatible with 1156 and 1366 socket boards so you can use it with your next setup too. The Q6600 is a good overclocker, you're getting nowhere near it's potential running it at stock.
 
overclock your q6600. A q9650 will be an improvement but if you want to overclock it will really depend on your motherboard. P45 is pretty much the only chipset capable of really pushing 45nm quads at higher speeds.
 
Depends a bit... I upgraded from a Q6600 @ 3.6gig to a Q9550 @ 3.825 (my dad wanted a quad core so it was an excuse to top up my current PC).

Windows boots noticeably quicker, a few applications are a little quicker but other than that not a huge difference overall. Single card gaming performance is mostly the same with the odd % here and there increase... however multiGPU gaming is another story with gains anywhere upto 40% - not sure if thats due to the wider bus or what as theres only a few MHz difference to the core clock and a bit of extra cache - but getting some real solid gains out of the 2nd card.
 
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Should take a look around the members market plenty of tuniq towers and thermalright ultra extremes go for around £20 not going to get a better cooler for that price really.
 
I wouldn't bother. I would keep the money towards a full upgrade later on. I was tempted with a Q9550 when I had an E8500 but it was just too expensive. It's going to be faster but you won't get your moneys worth.
 
Id definitely get a new cooler and clock the q6600, a while back i switched from a q6600 at 3.8ghz to a q9550, bit of a crazy upgrade tbh, but id always wanted to try a 45nm quad, only benefits were cooler running and windows felt a wee bit snappier.
 
Yea get a good cooler which is compatible with 775/1156/1366 a very worthwhile investment.Can transfer the cooler to next socket when you upgrade.
 
mame said:
I wouldn't bother. I would keep the money towards a full upgrade later on. I was tempted with a Q9550 when I had an E8500 but it was just too expensive. It's going to be faster but you won't get your moneys worth.
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why not ? he gets a nice boost on his q6600 and is able to use the cooler on an upgraded socket.
 
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