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Q9450 vs. Q9550

rounddodger

rounddodger

rounddodger

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Joined
15 Jun 2007
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Liverpool
Just deciding on the final upgrade for my aging rig and see these two as the best options. A few questions.

Spec-wise they look similar with 12MB cache etc only diff is stock clock speed it seems, does the Q9550 have an extra multiplier? Any other major differences?

I have an old motherboard which clocks my E6600 to 3.4 comfortably, will I have problems overclocking one of the afformentioned quads in this mobo?

What stepping is best to look for and what volts would I need to perhaps reach 3.6-4.0Ghz?

Finally I will need a new cooler, what would people recommend these days?

Thanks
 
My q9450 took 1.377v to reach 3.6ghz, Though my board is more dependant on the N/B voltage. You should be able to get a q9450 to 3.6ghz on your board with less voltage.

The q9450 also runs cooler than your e6600. Thats what i was running last. So your old cooler might be up to the job if it kept your e6600 happy at 3.4ghz.
 
I couldn't see any real difference between them at the time i bought bar the price which was a lot higher on the 550 so i went with the 450 and have been very happy ever since. As you can see mine is only clocked to 3.4 but it has done that on 1.25 and is completely rock solid nothing stresses it.
 
The only difference is the multiplier as the Q9550 has a 8.5x one compared to the 8x one of the Q9450. This will help with overclocking if your board does'nt like higher fsb's.

Your board, like most 965p boards, only has beta support for 45nm quads. I am not sure if this will hinder overclocking at all.

I hope you are not planning on buying either of these brand new as the prices are ridiculous now and even second hand you are looking at £150+ for a Q9550. If buying brand new then you would be better off saving a little more and doing a complete build.
 
RizlaKing said:
I couldn't see any real difference between them at the time i bought bar the price which was a lot higher on the 550 so i went with the 450 and have been very happy ever since. As you can see mine is only clocked to 3.4 but it has done that on 1.25 and is completely rock solid nothing stresses it.
Click to expand...

3.4GHZ @ 1.25V... I wish, I need about that for stock. 790's are a pain. They like all or nothing.

rounddodger i didnt realise your board has the 965p chipset. I was thinking it was a p35. You might be better of looking for a q6600.
 
If you're keeping that motherboard then a Q6600 G0 is the best/latest CPU you should use in it. Q9x50's really need a P45 chipset to get the most out of them. Q6600 are good with P35 but should be OK with the 965.
 
Q9550 @ 3.8ghz on a Asus P5K-e Wifi board here (P35). only need 1.275 volts and runs very cool. 55°C on load.

Can't seem to hit 4Ghz yet with my limited OC knowledge, but maybe that is down to my motherboard hitting it's limits. Can get to 465 fsb fine but as soon as i do 471fsb it wont boot into windows.
 
[Frankenstein]More volts [\Frankenstein] :D

1) Up the North Bridge Voltage slightly
2) Up the CPU voltage slightly
3) Cross fingers
4) Repeat if necessary :p

p.s. I think you have a duff chip, just hand it over now and save yourself the pain ;)
 
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I can only manage to get 3.4ghz out of mine on a P43 motherboards, volts don't seem to matter as I hit the limit at about 1.2v. My previous E5200 managed 4ghz with the same components. I'll have a P45 board shortly so I'll see if I can push it higher with that.
 
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