[Q]When is the next Intel CPU price drop due?

[Bottle]

I'm thinking of buying a Q9650 some time soon, as my last CPU before updating to an i7.

Anyone want to hazard a guess when this CPU might be coming down another notch in price? I'd hat to buy one in a couple of months time only to find out it is cheaper a month later because of some pre-scheduled price changes I was unaware of.

 

[Jono8]

well i hope no time soon as i just bought one!

though I did manage to get it for £225!

 

[D D Danneh]

Don't bother with a Q9650, get a Q9550 instead. £80 cheaper and can be overclocked virtually the same.

 

[PaulyD]

Seen a lot of people with P45 boards (esp the UD3P) get 4.5ghz on safe volts with a Q9650, haven't seen many Q9550's do that tbh

 

[Jono8]

Don't bother with a Q9650, get a Q9550 instead. £80 cheaper and can be overclocked virtually the same.

thsi is true tbh. the only reason i got the q9650 was because i got it for £225 and quite fancied the 9x multi. 9x multi wouldnt be worth an £80 difference tho.

 

[D D Danneh]

Seen a lot of people with P45 boards (esp the UD3P) get 4.5ghz on safe volts with a Q9650, haven't seen many Q9550's do that tbh

Probably because those people are on water cooling, so they buy the best chips so they can get the very best clocks out of it. For the sake of maybe 100 or 200 MHz, surely £80 spent elsewhere would be more beneficial? Unless you have cash to throw around. Or, heck, put that £80 towards your i7 build.

 

[Shikyo]

Don't bother with a Q9650, get a Q9550 instead. £80 cheaper and can be overclocked virtually the same.

That.

You can even get the clocks of a QX9770 and more without having to mess around with any kind of voltages.

 

[PaulyD]

Probably because those people are on water cooling, so they buy the best chips so they can get the very best clocks out of it. For the sake of maybe 100 or 200 MHz, surely £80 spent elsewhere would be more beneficial? Unless you have cash to throw around. Or, heck, put that £80 towards your i7 build.

Nope, people on air, even back in the day a bloke called Napalm on XS was getting 4.7ghz+ on air,nowadays, the UD3P is proven as a Q9650 clocker without water

I had my Q9650 @ 1.392v for 4.41ghz and didn't wanna go higher, i still haven't seen many Q9550 do that consistently

 

[Shikyo]

Q9550 = £212
Q9650 = £288

Q9550 -> set FSB@353 -> Q9650, exit bios and go buy yourself 76 quid in beers!

Job done.

Edit: (Or go buy the best air cooler out there if you intend to overclock more, or even a better set of ram, or whatever else other than spending 76 quid for 200MHz more)

 

[Ronaldo]

got miy [email protected] pretty happy

 

[Bottle]

Thanks All,

I knew there was a reason I should ask here before buying. You've convinced me that a Q9550 is the way to go. I OC my Q6600 using the ASUS OC utility, so I should be able to OC this to at least 3GHz by what people are saying. Yes, the £80 can then remain in my bank and wait for the evenual i7 upgrade. Just waiting for Rise of Flight and ArmA2 to be released next month to justify the upgrade.