Did I just make a BIG mistake buying a Q9650?

[BroadbandGamer]

The other day I ordered a Q9650 from Newegg to replace my Q6600. I should get it tomorrow. Anyway, I purchased it without doing any research. I was completely unaware of the Intel Core i7.

So now I'm thinking I should have purchased an i7 920 with a new motherboard and DDR3 memory. I can still return the Q9650 but it's going to coast me about $60.

What do you guys think? Did I make a big mistake buying the Q9650? Should I return it and buy an i7 920?

Also, I've got a brand new 4890 sitting here.

 

[soccerballtux]

If you're overclocking it it's no big deal in my opinion. I've been eying the 9550 myself for a while. Personally, were I to upgrade to Quad, I'd probably sell my board + CPU and get a cheap AM2+ board and a Ph2 955. Unlocked multi means less stress on the board-- that's something our IP35's have a problem with-- can't go higher than ~450Mhz bus with a quad.

 

[ElBurro]

This depends on what your doing with your system. The I7 is a monster at video editing but not much of a big deal if your main objective with your system is gaming. I would keep the 9650. It's a nice upgrade over the 6600 and you don't have to upgrade everything else.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Sell your Q9650 to me... cheap!

Problem solved.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Sell your Q9650 to me... cheap!

Problem solved.

Ditto to that! :thumbsup: :beer:

The "economic" decision asks whether you already had the LGA775 motherboard and DDR2 RAM to begin with. If that were the case, I'd say stick with it. If that weren't the case, I'd be almost indifferent, but I'd wait to see how Intel improves its line of CPUs for the new socket-design.

I'm fond of the idea that locates the memory-controller on the processor-package; I'm not fond of the thermals or TDP specs. And I'd have to ask, facing possible blasts of criticism, "Why can't there be improvement if AMD's thermals were very 'green' when they'd put the memory-controller on the CPU all along?"

Save your money -- it's the long comet-tail of the B*** Economy. [Have to be careful about posting "dirty words," folks.]

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

At one time I had two brand new processors sitting around;

Q9650 - this is my second and is still NIB

i7920

I'm glad I sold my i7 All I could think about is having to buy a new mobo and ram. The ram that I wanted was and is still way f*cking expensive. My Q9650 (in sig) runs great!

 

[lopri]

You call NewEgg before your package arrive and tell them you made a mistake. They will probably tell you to refuse the package, and you get money back. (might take some time)

 

[Acanthus]

Youre fine with a 9650, although thats not a huge upgrade over a Q6600.

Edit: If youre overclocking.

 

[Styxus]

Gamer I need your help. I also have a Abit IP35 Pro and I need to upgrade my cpu. Abit support does not list the Q9650 as a compatible cpu. It goes only up to Q9550 with bios 17. Is Q9650 working? Do you see any problems? I appreciate your help.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
At one time I had two brand new processors sitting around;

Q9650 - this is my second and is still NIB

i7920

I'm glad I sold my i7 All I could think about is having to buy a new mobo and ram. The ram that I wanted was and is still way f*cking expensive. My Q9650 (in sig) runs great!

$46 for 6gb is expensive?

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...p?ProductCode=10009617

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: WaitingForNehalem

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
At one time I had two brand new processors sitting around;

Q9650 - this is my second and is still NIB

i7920

I'm glad I sold my i7 All I could think about is having to buy a new mobo and ram. The ram that I wanted was and is still way f*cking expensive. My Q9650 (in sig) runs great!

$46 for 6gb is expensive?

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...p?ProductCode=10009617

Thats good ram!

I'd like to get some 1600 cl7 er something like 1800 at cl7...

 

[ElBurro]

Originally posted by: Styxus
Gamer I need your help. I also have a Abit IP35 Pro and I need to upgrade my cpu. Abit support does not list the Q9650 as a compatible cpu. It goes only up to Q9550 with bios 17. Is Q9650 working? Do you see any problems? I appreciate your help.

That must be a mistake. I can't see why they would only support up the the 9550 but wouldn't go one step up.

 

[BroadbandGamer]

Originally posted by: Styxus
Gamer I need your help. I also have a Abit IP35 Pro and I need to upgrade my cpu. Abit support does not list the Q9650 as a compatible cpu. It goes only up to Q9550 with bios 17. Is Q9650 working? Do you see any problems? I appreciate your help.

I haven't got the CPU in yet. I don't see why it wouldn't work. I'll probably install it tomorrow. I still haven't decided if I'm going to keep it or send it back and go with the i7. I'm leaning towards keeping it.

 

[BroadbandGamer]

Originally posted by: Styxus
Gamer I need your help. I also have a Abit IP35 Pro and I need to upgrade my cpu. Abit support does not list the Q9650 as a compatible cpu. It goes only up to Q9550 with bios 17. Is Q9650 working? Do you see any problems? I appreciate your help.

Looks like some people are having problems with the IP35 Pro and the Q9650.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/f....php?t=147163&page=287

 

[taltamir]

REFUSE DELIVERY if you can... if you do that it is returned to the seller at no charge, who then cancels the order, again, with no charge.

If you can't CALL newegg and tell them of your problem, ask if they will let you do return it with no restocking fee if you go ahead and buy the i7 and its mobo and ram from them. My friend convinced microcenter to do so. it makes sense for them.

Alternatively, as people said you can sell it NEW IN BOX on ebay for ALMOST the full price. may 10 or 20$ less.

 

[BroadbandGamer]

Originally posted by: taltamir
REFUSE DELIVERY if you can... if you do that it is returned to the seller at no charge, who then cancels the order, again, with no charge.

If you can't CALL newegg and tell them of your problem, ask if they will let you do return it with no restocking fee if you go ahead and buy the i7 and its mobo and ram from them. My friend convinced microcenter to do so. it makes sense for them.

Alternatively, as people said you can sell it NEW IN BOX on ebay for ALMOST the full price. may 10 or 20$ less.

Thanks for the help.

I'm going to send it back. Put the 4890 in my current system and see how much of a performance boost I get. If I need more power, I'll go with an i7. I don't want to screw with getting the Q9650 to work in my mobo.

 

[FalseChristian]

I wish I had your 'problem'. I've been dreaming about a Q9650 for weeks now as an upgrade from my E8400.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: FalseChristian
I wish I had your 'problem'. I've been dreaming about a Q9650 for weeks now as an upgrade from my E8400.

not worth it, a Q9550 costs the SAME as an i7 920 for the CPU... sure the i7 requires you to buy a new and expensive mobo and ram, but the whole deal is sour, and completely defeats the purpose of "drop in replacement" (which is, extra performance at a low cost).

intel is just ripping off its loyal customers. but than again, nothing to do about it since nobody else can compete with their product. (the i7 i mean, the p2 competes with the c2q)

 

[badnewcastle]

Anandtech's front page makes the Q9650 look good against i7.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I just can't see how a Q9650 wouldn't work if a Q9550 WOULD work. Guessing -- I'm confident that -- if there IS a problem -- it is resolved with a BIOS fix.

I expected the Intel chipsets to thoroughly anticipate even those "same-socket" cores that were released after the chipsets. Consider my ASUS 680i board. While it was crippled in being compatible with Q9x50 C2Q's, it only required BIOS revision to make it work well with E8x00 cores.

Then again, I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

This is an interesting thread, though.

 

[n7]

That link from XS basically show a bunch of people not only successfully running Q9650s, but OCed nicely too.

Stock Q9650 is on par with the stock i7 920...faster in some gamers, slower in others.

Considering you already have a board you can use with the Q9650, i'm not sure i'd say it's a better deal to switch entirely to i7. Sure, faster on average, but with the loss you'll take from selling your s775 board/cpu(s)/RAM to buy i7, well, i guess it depends what you are wanting to spend...

Even just 9x425 (3825 MHz) is a something that will handle games for a long time without issues.

 

[Dadofamunky]

For a final slap-in upgrade in my system, the Q9650 is it. Hope to do it in a few months.

If I were in the OP's position and I knew it wouldn't work with the Abit mobo and I had to replace the board anyway, why then I'd go i7.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I'm loving my Q9650

see sig

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: taltamir

Originally posted by: FalseChristian
I wish I had your 'problem'. I've been dreaming about a Q9650 for weeks now as an upgrade from my E8400.

not worth it, a Q9550 costs the SAME as an i7 920 for the CPU... sure the i7 requires you to buy a new and expensive mobo and ram, but the whole deal is sour, and completely defeats the purpose of "drop in replacement" (which is, extra performance at a low cost).

intel is just ripping off its loyal customers. but than again, nothing to do about it since nobody else can compete with their product. (the i7 i mean, the p2 competes with the c2q)

There's not much Intel can do except change socket.
Maybe they could reduce prices of Core 2 Quads, but that would be shooting themselves in the foot given the current (already pretty inexpensive) prices.
The "mistake" or reason that it seems like Intel are ripping people off is because the i7 920 is so cheap.
If the 920 was say $400 you wouldn't complain about it vs the Q9550, so by pricing it fairly low there's a perceived unfairness.

 

[sgrinavi]

What are you doing with it? Gaming? Personally I did not see a HUGE performance difference going from my q6600 at 3.6 to my Q9550 at 3.8 . What I did see was a HUGE reduction in heat and voltage.

Again, I have not seen a huge difference in games with my I7 @ 3.8 , Where it shines is in my 3dMAX work - I can render more complex scenes faster than I ever dreamed.