Q6600 or Q9450

[The Hitman]

Im doing a small upgrade from an e6600 and a tacky asrock 4coredual vista board.
Iv'e pick out me mb and ram ect but i need to know which cpu to go for.This upgrade is to last me for the next few yrs as money will be tight . I do a lot of online gameing and a lot of encodeing as well. Thought please Gents and Ladies if any out there

 

[-iceblade^]

if you OC, then i think the Q6600...

note that i read a bad review on the OC abilities of the Q9300, and haven't read any of the Q9450

will you OC

 

[Boah]

You don't specify a budget, but if money is tight then I don't think you can beat the Q6600 OEM for value for money (for quad CPUs). You will be unlucky to have a CPU that won't overclock well no matter which of them you pick (but it's always possible).

 

[The Hitman]

E6600 dual core 2.4Gnz
Asrock 4CoreDual Vista MB
750 Gig SpinPoint F1 Sata 2 hd
2 Gig Samsung ddr 2 667mhz
2 old ide drives not worth mentioning about
2 x BenQ 1640 writers
1x Plextor sata
1x external Liteon 20x
Ati 3870
Thermaltake 850watt PSU
Crappy 19 inch AMW Monitor max res 1280x1024

New Spec System upgrade with some of my old parts

Asus P5KC Combo Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard

2x 750 Gig SpinPoint F1 Sata 2 hd
2 x BenQ 1640 writers
1x Plextor sata
1x external Liteon 20x
Ati 3870
Thermaltake 850watt PSU
4 Gig 800mhz memory . Not sure which sort to get
24inch monitor for watching films and playing the odd game

Which cpu
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.66GHz 12MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - Retail

This is what I entend to do .As for overclocking I'm not too sure at the moment

 

[-iceblade^]

again, budget?

 

[The Hitman]

Sorry as for budget £100mb £100hd £160-£260cpu £260monitor £80 memory

 

[Boah]

Sorry as for budget £100mb £100hd £160-£260cpu £260monitor £80 memory

Your CPU budget covers both the Q6600 and the Q9450, so from a non-overclocking perspective it comes down to a question of whether you think £94 more for the newer CPU is worth it. I recently decided that for me it wasn't, but I had also already decided that I would be overclocking, and the Q6600 with it's higher multiplier (9x) is probably a bit easier to get up to higher speeds than the Q9450 with its 8x multiplier. On the other hand the 45nm Q9450 should run cooler than the 65nm Q6600.

I don't think you can beat the Q6600 OEM for value for money (for quad CPUs)

One thing I forgot here is that for the OEM version you need to add the cost of an after-market cooler (heatsink + fan), as it won't include one like the retail version does.

 

[Durzel]

Would anyone recommend one over the other for a Shuttle HTPC system? I doubt I would be overclocking significantly due to the constraints of the case (Shuttle cooling system, etc) but is there a world of difference in idle/load temperatures between Q6600 and Q9450 at the same speeds?

 

[Yozzer]

I bought a Q6600 yesterday after contemplaing and reading this forum, (Retail SLACR GO), and used my heatsink off the now old E6600, which I doubt would fit in your case.
Currently my idle temps are 28 to 30c, (amazing), and up to 46C under heavy load. I was able to reduce my core voltage down to 1.2v in the bios, 1.165v shown in CPUZ, running at 3240ghz, which I find amazing. I would therefore recommend the Q6600 as it is cheaper, and if you get one like mine, can undervolt it but still get a pretty fair overclock.

Edit Now up to 3.3ghz still at 1.2v in the bios temps up to max 49C after 40 minutes prime. I am well pleased.