Originally posted by: KenAF
Great deal if you need a CPU today.
The 2.5GHz Q9300 ($266) and 2.66GHz Q9450 ($316) quads based on the new and improved Penryn core are now just over four weeks away.
The 2.4GHz Q6600 is discontinued in a month, so I would expect further drops in the near future.
Not singling you out, just easier to show since you laid out the models and pricing but a few things to keep in mind:
- There may be chipset compatibility with the new 45nm Penryns; NV has already stated the 650i/680i chipsets will not support Penryn (although some mobo makers might be able to get their boards to work with BIOS updates).
As someone else mentioned, the Q6600 may still be the better OC'er. The 45nm Penryns will run cooler and use less power, possibly allowing for higher OCs but the higher default FSB speeds will just end up eating into your FSB/OC'ing overhead if your current mobo even supports it.
The Q6600 may not drop much in price before it becomes impossible to find or goes EOL. Based on Penryn pricing it should have no problems remaining at its current price between the Q9300 and Q9450. This would be a similar situation to the E6300/E6400 vs. E6320/E6420 where the old/new parts sat side by side in pricing until the older parts moved out of the channel.
What you'll get with a Penryn is 12MB combined L2 instead of 8MB, lower power consumption and lower heat, possibly higher max OC due to the die shrink if your mobo supports high FSB speeds and Penryn, and SSE5 support (which is still relatively unsupported in apps).
In summary, getting a Q6600 now isn't a horrible idea and is probably still your best bet in terms of upgrade paths for a 650i/680i chipset. Price on these will probably not drop much, if at all and the window to buy will be short if the price does drop. Not totally sure about P35/X38, although Intel is cranking out new chipsets daily in advance of Penryn