Debating over upgrading from an e8400 @ 3.6GHz to a q9300

[Krakn3Dfx]

I'm just wondering if I should do this now, since the i7 is out, 775 is probably going the way of the doe-doe over time, so I'm thinking I should grab a quad core CPU while the prices are still low. Currently I'm running my e8400 @ 3.6GHz (highest I can take it), if I can squeek out a 3GHz or more OC on the q9300, I think in the long term, it would be worthwhile to go that route.

Opinions?

 

[sliderule]

I'd wait a bit longer for a better deal. Intel chips seem to stick around the shops longer than AMD, you can still find new socket 478 mobos and cpus.

So I say wait, because what you have now is awesome, and get like a q9550 later when they're cheaper.

edit I just noticed you have the same motherboard as me, Abit ip35-e. I'm not sure if the 45nm quads will even work in that board. Anyone else like to weigh in on that with experience?

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

Originally posted by: sliderule
I'd wait a bit longer for a better deal. Intel chips seem to stick around the shops longer than AMD, you can still find new socket 478 mobos and cpus.

So I say wait, because what you have now is awesome, and get like a q9550 later when they're cheaper.

edit I just noticed you have the same motherboard as me, Abit ip35-e. I'm not sure if the 45nm quads will even work in that board. Anyone else like to weigh in on that with experience?

According to Abit's site, works fine, so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[sliderule]

Which site are you checking Krakn3Dfx? I can't get abit.com/tw to load. Also heard Abit went out of business this month.

I built my system last year with a ip35-e and a e4500 as a place holder for a cheap quad later on. If your right and we can use 45nm quads that'll be a relief, its just I've been reading complaints online with people having trouble with e8500, e8600 duos, and the 45nm quads. Anyone here actually have a ip35-e working with a 45nm quad?

 

[VirtualLarry]

IP35-E BIOS 18 (last official BIOS) does not support E0-stepping 45nm chips.

 

[taltamir]

wait a bit.

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
IP35-E BIOS 18 (last official BIOS) does not support E0-stepping 45nm chips.

I've been running an E0-stepping e8400 on the board for the better part of a year. Do you have some reference for this information?

Also, this guy is running a Xeon X3320, which is pretty much a q9300, on an IP35-E.

I went ahead and picked one up, I've been working more with Adobe Premiere lately for DVD creation, and I think the quad core would make a world of difference for the encoding part of the application.

 

[sliderule]

cool, tell us how it works out 🙂

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

Originally posted by: sliderule
cool, tell us how it works out 🙂

Got it installed, automatically set the FSB to 400 to get a pretty close to even 3GHz, booted right into Windows, haven't messed with the voltage yet, played a little Left4Dead, which obviously isn't going to tax it too much. I'll do some stress testing tonight while I'm in bed and see if it's stable, seems promising so far tho. At least it works on the board, which is a pretty important factor 🙂.

 

[sliderule]

excellent 🙂

 

[nyker96]

i'd personally get a quad with more cache like the q95xx line, but for what you doing maybe cache doesn't matter. let us know how your upgrade turn out.

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

After 3 hours of running 2 instances of Orthos, 1 for each set of cores, bumped it up to 3.3GHz with no voltage bump and ran it overnight with the same, no problems.

Think I'll probably stop at 3.3 for now, everything runs great, temps are a little higher than I think they should be, but nowhere near the danger zone. Weird thing I did notice was that the 2nd set of cores run warmer than the first set, and I've always heard the opposite should be true. Could be this ABit board just not detecting the temps correctly, I'm not going to dwell on it too much tho.