45nm

First of all, like I said in my original reply, I am certainly not trying to talk you into the Q6600. The 45 nm certainly has its advantages. Heat, SSE4 instructions, (alledgedly) a better architecture, etc. However, I do not personally believe the Q9300 justifies the additional $100. Most ppl find a solid oc and run it all the time. I believe your board has software that will allow you to set oc'ing profiles that you can load at will to oc to different amounts. Most ppl would agree that software oc'ing does not generally work as well as making the changes in Bios, though.
 
Well I didn't know I could get a Q6600 for that great of a deal. And it sounds like it OC's easier, and I've never OC'ed anything so I need things as easy as possible.
 
Alright, so I think I'll go with the Q6600 at fry's, but I won't be buying anything for a month or so.

Another question. When people OC, do they leave it like that constantly, or just OC for when they want to run something higher? Also, how much would it shorten the life of the chip to OC it to like 3Ghz?

I OC'd my Q6600 to 3.0GHz on stock voltage which is actually undervolted because of the vdroop on my board. Was as simple as raising the FSB up to 333 and viola. It ran stable @ 1.136 load (CPU-Z). Doubt it would shorten the life much at all. You wouldn't be using it by the time it would die. My Fry's is selling Q6600's for $179.99 and the guy (he was surprisingly very knowledgeable) said that they're all G0.
 
The Q9300 has a 7.5 multiplier. This may very well limit the overclocking potential. The chip may be capable of overclocking higher than the Q6600, but you will need a board that can reach 500 fsb to get there. Also, you cang get the Q6600 w/HSF for $189 at Frys.

normally i would disagree and say that the q9300 can reach something like 3.3GHZ on nice P35 boards or better, but for the price i would actually go with the Q6600 as well.
 
normally i would disagree and say that the q9300 can reach something like 3.3GHZ on nice P35 boards or better, but for the price i would actually go with the Q6600 as well.

With the right setup and a little luck, the Q9300 will hit 3.3GHz. However, that is not an improvment over Q6600.
 
Alright, so I'm 100% on the Q6600, unless I find an awesome deal on the Q9300 somewhere.

I'll also be needing some OCing help once I get my setup :)
 
Back
Top