Q8200 vs Q9550?

[Trann]

I'm about to build a new system and i'm wondering if the price difference between Q8200 and Q9550 is worth it?

From what I can tell the biggest difference is the 12mb cache on the latter.

I only care about performance in games, anything else is just gravy.
I will be overclocking (rather modestly (is that a word? ).

I have read some articles but none of the ones I have found comment directly on this subject, and just compare them at stock speeds, or similar, that makes it hard to decide which one is actually a better buy.

I'm guessing from the 50% price difference I'd want ~25% better performance. Is that unrealistic?

How far do these clock on average with stock cooling? (assuming a decent setup otherwise)

Thanks for any input!

 

[Mucky_Pup]

What GPU you using?

 

[MooMoo444]

If you're overclocking you would be better off getting the 9550, the 8200 has a really small multi so you won't be able to clock it much without going into high fsb's.. which usually means a lot of heat and a lot of voltage.

 

[McstylisT]

I would not go with the Q8200. When i originally read your post i thought you mentioned E8200.

The Q9550 is a much far superior CPU all-round. It obviously depends on your budget too.

Both CPU's will be upto the task you request , but in a comparison the Q9550 strolls away.

 

[easyrider]

Whats wrong with you 6600 @ 3.5ghz?

 

[Trann]

That sig is outdated, sorry. I currently only have a laptop.

I'll be using ATI 4870 1gb GPU most likely.

 

[lettuce]

What about the E8600?, can get to 4.0GHZ without to much troble apparently, and if your using just for games, only a few (can think of 2, Supreme Commander & Far Cry 2) support 4 cores and use them to the CPU's advantage anyway, and its around 30 quid cheaper

 

[gurusan]

pretty much all E8xxx chips can get to 4ghz without much trouble

 

[JeremyW]

Whats wrong with you 6600 @ 3.5ghz?

The other advantage of the Q6600 on these cold winter nights is it heats your room for you as well burning up all those watts!!

 

[Mucky_Pup]

Does the Q9550 have thermal paste on already, am about to install mine soon, and not sure if i need it.

 

[jak731]

no core 2 cpu i've used ever had thermalpaste pre-applied on it, you cpu cooler might have

 

[Mucky_Pup]

Was a pretty silly question, am just a bit edgy putting it all together at the minute, lol, but my Noctua came with some and I have a tube of MX-2 aswell.