Q6600 -> Q9550

[realscot]

Well, I made the move today at last with my friends Q9550 since he's gone sandy.
Was running my Q6600 at 3.8ghz now running the Q9550 at 4ghz, it's all I can be bothered to get out of it for now. I notice absolutely zero difference in gaming or general windows stuff. Oh well at least it was a free upgrade (selling my q6600 and giving him the cash)

 

[Rroff]

I noticed a moderate difference doing Q6600 @ 3.6 to Q9550 @ 3.825gig (now 4gig). Not so much with a single card but the difference with multi GPU is fair.

 

[realscot]

I noticed a moderate difference doing Q6600 @ 3.6 to Q9550 @ 3.825gig (now 4gig). Not so much with a single card but the difference with multi GPU is fair.

I've not looked at any scores or in game fps, i'm just saying how it feels. Even playing BF3 Beta with 3x 4870's it feels the same.

 

[andy_mk3]

You wont see much difference in general performance as it's mostly bottlenecked by the hard drive.

 

[IvanDobskey]

A nice SSD is what you want next

 

[setter]

Made the same upgrade a few years ago, 3.8ghz q6600 to a q9550 also clocked at 3.8ghz. No difference in games as i only had a single gpu. Much cooler running though.

 

[MooMoo444]

3.8ghz is quite impressive for a Q6600, most don't get close to that, this is why you dont see a difference

 

[realscot]

The q6600 would do 4ghz but wasn't Bad Company 2 stable at that. I already have an SSD so that's not holding me back!
I was also going to upgrade my graphics at some point but I think i'll wait and see what the next gen brings as I feel the current offerings aren't enough of a gain on what I already have.
I think the Q9550 will do more, i'm gonna have to spend time getting the chipset stable as i've had a few minor issues with the high FSB's.

 

[spirits247]

Wow, running at those speeds you must be pulling some serious watts and producing a lot of heat! Not sure I'd want to buy a Q6600 or Q9550 that's been run at that speed for long periods; I've found you really have to up the volts past 3.4 on a Q6600 and 3.6 on a Q9550.

I agree, the difference isn't massive between a Q9550 and Q6600 overclocked, but the Q9550 should do it with less power and heat plus show about a 10-15% performance increase at the same speed.

Also nice to max out a board with the top end CPU, so it's probably worth it. I actually sold my Q9450 and went back to a Q6600 I had in the cupboard, because the resale price was silly high and the Q6600 continues to do everything I want. Spent the money on a stag do!

Looking at a full upgrade sometime in 2012 however.

 

[setter]

My q6600 hit 68c max under p95, voltage required though was over 1.5, 1.2750 vid, the q9550 on the other hand was a very cool running chip, 55c max under p95, 1.216 vcore, 1.200 vid. Both clocked on an asus p5q deluxe with a TRUE for cooling.

 

[scooby555t]

Wow, running at those speeds you must be pulling some serious watts and producing a lot of heat! Not sure I'd want to buy a Q6600 or Q9550 that's been run at that speed for long periods; I've found you really have to up the volts past 3.4 on a Q6600 and 3.6 on a Q9550.

I agree, the difference isn't massive between a Q9550 and Q6600 overclocked, but the Q9550 should do it with less power and heat plus show about a 10-15% performance increase at the same speed.

Also nice to max out a board with the top end CPU, so it's probably worth it. I actually sold my Q9450 and went back to a Q6600 I had in the cupboard, because the resale price was silly high and the Q6600 continues to do everything I want. Spent the money on a stag do!

Looking at a full upgrade sometime in 2012 however.

both chips are under water and have been under water all there life i know this as my m8s got it now

 

[realscot]

Remember speed step has been on with both chips, so they actually still ran below stock volts and practically on stock clocks most of their life as most of the time the computers sitting downloading or browsing, or watching tv series or films off it. It's only when I game that it'll be running higher voltages, and still well within max recommended volts.

 

[spirits247]

Fair enough - just jealous you're running such high speeds and think there must be a down side! I remember being a little shocked at the power ramp past 3.4/3.6 (Q6600/Q9550) so never went higher. But I'm only air cooling.

Not everyone looks after the chips in the same way however, some also like 24/7 folding - slapping on high volts and high VTT, so 3.8/4Ghz always makes me a little nervous.