Q6600 or wait for Q9450

[Black104]

shopping for a new build -
I do 3d animation - XSI, 3dsmax, and zbrush.
I don't plan on over-clocking the cpu.
I need a good stable setup for my work.
My question is should I buy a Q6600 or wait for the Q9450's to hit?
Is their that much of a speed increase in the Q9450 over the Q6600's?

This is the build im looking at minus the CPU -

*Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

*EVGA 768-P2-N835-AR GeForce 8800GTX Superclocked 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

*CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX ATX12V / EPS12V 750W Power Supply - Retail

*CORSAIR 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5 - Retail -- 8gigs total on board.

*GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0 LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Ultra Durable II Intel Motherboard - Retail

*ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Retail

*LIAN LI PC-B25B Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

And 64bit OS winxp pro.

Thanks!
-Black

 

[OnePingOnly]

No question,

Wait for the Q9450. It's the last hurrah of L775 and it's less than 2 weeks away. The SSE4.1 of the Penryn 45um processors will ensure a good shelf life for years.

 

[boomhower]

Originally posted by: JRussellDMD
No question,

Wait for the Q9450. It's the last hurrah of L775 and it's less than 2 weeks away. The SSE4.1 of the Penryn 45um processors will insure a good shelf life for years.

How sure are you of that date? I have heard April 28 from several places.

Anyways

If you can wait then by all means do so. It is a better cpu that should give a little longer useful life. Just be prepared to pay for it whenever it does get here. I don't think you are going to get much change from $400 for a while.

 

[Black104]

Thanks guys!

But what about performance?
i've read that the Q9450's are about 5 to 10% faster than the Q6600's.
Is that a good increase in the CPU world?

And the uncertainty of the release has me a little scared of waiting.

Thanks Again,
-Black

 

[ionoxx]

From the benchmarks i've seen, the Q9300 is 6% faster on average. So expect a little more lie 10-12% because of the higher clock and double the L2 Cache.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: boomhower

Originally posted by: JRussellDMD
No question,

Wait for the Q9450. It's the last hurrah of L775 and it's less than 2 weeks away. The SSE4.1 of the Penryn 45um processors will insure a good shelf life for years.

How sure are you of that date? I have heard April 28 from several places.

Anyways

If you can wait then by all means do so. It is a better cpu that should give a little longer useful life. Just be prepared to pay for it whenever it does get here. I don't think you are going to get much change from $400 for a while.

Yorkfield Processors to Start Selling Next Week.

 

[nanaki333]

why not oc it at all? you can get 3ghz from the q6600 and it'll be completely stable (at least based on my builds and all others i've read on here). alls you have to do is change the fsb and that's it. i say get a 6600 and just set it at 3ghz and be done with it. if you have a microcenter near you, then you shouldn't even be asking this question. you should be buying your $200 quad right now

 

[Black104]

Ok if i OC the Q6600 do you think i have enough cooling for it?
I'm getting the ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - will that be enough for 3 Ghz OC??

Thanks!
-Black

 

[nanaki333]

that should be plenty for 3ghz. my roommate downstairs is running his q6600 with that hsf and it idles mid-high 30s.

 

[Black104]

thanks nanaki333!

One last question, do you think the
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX ATX12V / EPS12V 750W Power Supply
will be enough power for a Q6600 @ 3GHz and EVGA 8800GTX Superclocked 768MB 384-bit?

Thanks!
-Black

 

[Quiksilver]

Why are you purchasing an overclocked 8800GTX exactly? You could just purchase 2x 9600GT's and put them into SLI which will outperform the 8800GTX... of course doing that would limit you to a nForce chipset. You could just get a 8800GTS 512 for cheaper and choose to be essentially on par with the GTX (until you hit high resolutions; anything higher than 1600X1200)

2x 9600GT VS 8800GTX
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/...wxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Also that PSU is overkill for either situation...

Edit:
This hard drive is cooler, quieter, and performs better than the one you have picked at the moment.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136218

Edit Happy:
This PSU is enough for either situation you choose:
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsai...loc/101/203270718.html

 

[richwenzel]

microcenter.com has a cooler master real power pro 750w for $60 AR...i would do that over the corsair for $115

 

[tallman45]

The Q9450 has more cache but not so sure the cache is better (as fast)

the Q6600 uses 8 way, the new Q9450 uses 24 way

Also, while a Q9450 may be up to 10% faster, it is also 60-75% more expensive

I'd go with a $200 Q6600 today over a $350 Q9450 in 2 weeks or more

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: tallman45
The Q9450 has more cache but not so sure the cache is better (as fast)

the Q6600 uses 8 way, the new Q9450 uses 24 way

Also, while a Q9450 may be up to 10% faster, it is also 60-75% more expensive

I'd go with a $200 Q6600 today over a $350 Q9450 in 2 weeks or more

The larger cache is a bit different than what we've seen in Conroe. While Conroe's cache is a 4MB 16-way set-associative L2, the 6MB Penryn cache is 24-way set-associative, designed to improve hit rates and keep latency manageable in an already large cache. Intel hasn't revealed whether Penryn's prefetchers have been adjusted to help populate its larger cache any better. As we saw in our original Penryn preview, Penryn's cache performance remains unchanged; latencies in our final stepping are identical to Conroe.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuch...ts/showdoc.aspx?i=3137

 

[Quiksilver]

Originally posted by: Idontcare

Originally posted by: tallman45
The Q9450 has more cache but not so sure the cache is better (as fast)

the Q6600 uses 8 way, the new Q9450 uses 24 way

Also, while a Q9450 may be up to 10% faster, it is also 60-75% more expensive

I'd go with a $200 Q6600 today over a $350 Q9450 in 2 weeks or more

The larger cache is a bit different than what we've seen in Conroe. While Conroe's cache is a 4MB 16-way set-associative L2, the 6MB Penryn cache is 24-way set-associative, designed to improve hit rates and keep latency manageable in an already large cache. Intel hasn't revealed whether Penryn's prefetchers have been adjusted to help populate its larger cache any better. As we saw in our original Penryn preview, Penryn's cache performance remains unchanged; latencies in our final stepping are identical to Conroe.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuch...ts/showdoc.aspx?i=3137

Not only is Wolfdale's L2 cache larger, but it also happens to be slightly faster than its predecessor. Intel has shaved off a single clock cycle from Wolfdale's L2 access time; we're already off to a good start.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuch...howdoc.aspx?i=3069&p=3

Considering Penryn is essentially 2x Wolfdale's how would it it not change?

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Originally posted by: Quiksilver
Why are you purchasing an overclocked 8800GTX exactly? You could just purchase 2x 9600GT's and put them into SLI which will outperform the 8800GTX... of course doing that would limit you to a nForce chipset. You could just get a 8800GTS 512 for cheaper and choose to be essentially on par with the GTX (until you hit high resolutions; anything higher than 1600X1200)

2x 9600GT VS 8800GTX
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/...wxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Also that PSU is overkill for either situation...

Edit:
This hard drive is cooler, quieter, and performs better than the one you have picked at the moment.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136218

Edit Happy:
This PSU is enough for either situation you choose:
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsai...loc/101/203270718.html

Definitely go with the above HD instead of the original. It's faster and cooler then the OP's selection.

Also agree with a good 500-600W Corsair or Seasonic PSU. No need for a 700+ watt PSU.

 

[TheJian]

I have trouble with the Vidcard and I'd wait for the Q9450 if at all possible. You'll get your money back over time from the power savings. Then when you think it's slow you can jack it up from 3ghz to 4ghz...LOL. Can't do that on the Q6600. Hopefully the model below the Q9450 will come out at the same time. It should still hit 4ghz easily and be cheap to run.

With regards to the vidcard you should just buy a 8800GT OC. Quicksilver is partially correct about the high res being lower on the 8800GT (G92 512MB) vs. the 8800GTX (G80 768MB). Check tomshardware.com and look at VGA charts. http://www23.tomshardware.com/...&model2=1057&chart=279

Battlefield 1920x1200 GT=57.2 vs GTX 57.2 TIE!
Oblivion 1920x1200 GT=30.6 GTX=28.7 Win for the GT.
Overall FPS GT=2125 vs GTX 2281 which is like 7%? (rough math)

I think it depends on the game. The GT loses most others. But I'm looking at the cost thinking SLI 8800GT's for $400 would be FAR superior to one $365 GTX (looking at newegg pricing, and you get 1GB memory ). Just check out he Oblivion score in the dual VGA charts at toms.
Oblivion 1920x1200 goes to 55.3, that's nearly double and making the GTX look like crap for $40 or so. That's called BANG FOR BUCK! They run cool and use less watts per card also because of the die shrink. because of two cards you'll still end up using more watts but bang per buck is awesome. You can see many of the benchmarks in dual GT's are cpu bound. An overlocked quad would make very good use of these two cards in SLI.

Good luck

 

[davesnake]

Personally I'd wait, the Q9450 is a much better chip.

 

[Foxery]

The question is 3 months old... I'm guessing he decided.

 

[OnePingOnly]

It's amazing how fast technology moves in 90 days. The Q9450 is already slated to be discontinued and replaced.

 

[Drsignguy]

Originally posted by: JRussellDMD
It's amazing how fast technology moves in 90 days. The Q9450 is already slated to be discontinued and replaced.

Very true! Been noticing that it is disappearing fast off the shelves so I had to get one before it wasn't on mine.

 

[known12345]

Why exactly is the Q9450 slated for discontinuation and replacement? Is Intel clearing its stocks for Nehalem?

 

[jellyrole]

Pretty sure they have some new 45NM 775 chips coming out soon.

 

[Chronoshock]

Originally posted by: known12345
Why exactly is the Q9450 slated for discontinuation and replacement? Is Intel clearing its stocks for Nehalem?

They're shifting many lines up. The q9450, for example, is being replaced by the q9550 which is essentially the same chip but with .5 higher multiplier. They're probably just getting better at making the chips so they're binning up. If you want a ~300 dollar quad, the q9550 will be the answer in around 3 weeks. All price categories will still have something to offer (with the possible exception of low end quads, I forget what they're replacing the q9300 with, might just be old q6600s), they'll just be slightly better than before.