Last 775 upgrade till Sandy Bridge enthusiast class...

[Michaeljcox24]

Being as I bought my board and ram in the Summer, I don't want to sell them at a massive loss to get an I7 950. So, I would very much like to upgrade my CPU until the enthusiast Sandybridge chips come out and prices settle in the Autumn.

I have my eye on two chips, either the Q9550 or the QX9650. The latter is £40 more than the other.

Which one would provide better value for money and would it be worth just going for the QX because it can do 4GHZ

 

[cmndr_andi]

TBH, both of those chips are highly overpriced and not much of a step up from your Q6600 (which at 3.4GHz is a fast chip).

Instead I would suggest waiting little over a month for the arrival of mainstream sandy bridge and go for that if you want a meaningful upgrade. Is there anything that you can't do with an s1155 K series chip/board that a s2011 can do and is crucial for your uses?

However, if you do want to spend some money on an upgrade now - you might want to consider a new PSU.

 

[JonJ678]

Iirc the QX9650 overclocked worse than the Q9650 as it belongs to an earlier stepping. The q9550 exists in both steppings, so it a bit more of a gamble. It also has a x8.5 multiplier which some boards don't like. I didn't like it either, as it made tidy multiple-of-ten numbers difficult to achieve.

I wouldn't change to either from a q6600.

 

[pastymuncher]

I would'nt do it. The preformance gain for the price paid would not be worth it. As i have advised previously, if you want to upgrade something get rid of that crappy psu and buy a quality one.

 

[Redmint]

While the Q9X50 chips may be overpriced, the argument I always give is that they'll still be overpriced in 12-18 months when you decide to resell. That obviously means although you'll be paying a lot now, the money lost in terms of depreciation should be pretty small. I'd suggest going for an E0 Q9550 or Q9650, should be slightly cheaper than the extreme edition and both will clock nicely.

 

[koooowweeee]

i went from a q6600 to a q9550 theres not a lot in them really. but if you are going to do it anyway get the cheaper one. most can do 4ghz anyway

 

[Michaeljcox24]

I would'nt do it. The preformance gain for the price paid would not be worth it. As i have advised previously, if you want to upgrade something get rid of that crappy psu and buy a quality one.

Point taken about the PSU, but I wouldnt want to upgrade that until I had a need for it, like in the future whe upgrading to an SLI 470 setup.

 

[TrojanWhore]

It's upto you as in the end, its your kit, but I know I'd rather replace a 'perfectly good' PSU now, than wait till it starts spitting lightning then have to buy another PSU just to find out whether the rest of my computer is fried! may sound over sensationalist but thats pretty much what happened to me a month or 2 back, and I will NEVER be buying a cheap PSU again! that week of not knowing was agony!

 

[Bodom]

I would stick with what you have for now and wait afew more months, the
q6600 is still a really good CPU