Which to Buy - ES Q9550, or Keep Waiting for Retail Q9550? - Better Overclocker?

[AuDioFreaK39]

I've had my Core 2 Quad Q9550 on preorder since March 8, and there are still no signs of any retail and OEM editions of this CPU coming to the US. A few have trickled into the European market, but they are incredibly overpriced. On eBay, there are several auctions for Q9550 engineering samples. Several people are claiming that they are cherry picked processors and are built exactly like OEM but with better overclocking potential? Is this claim true? Or is it merely a marketing ploy. I want to get my hands on this CPU as soon as possible - in fact, I've been waiting for it since August if you can believe that. All I want is to be able to hit 4.0GHz stable 24/7 (see rig in signature). Please let me know the advantages and disadvantages to this situation other than warranty issues. Thanks in advance.


Also, what is the advantage/disadvantage of C1 stepping over C0 stepping other than motherboard compatibility?

 

[aigomorla]

Well off bat the only things i know about C1 vs C0 is that C0's draw more power and have a higher TDP.

C0's are also exclusive to the QX line.

umm... 4ghz might be asking for too much on a Q9550 even. :T 8.5 is such a crappy multi.

you need 470fsb to hit that. And thats really asking for it.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Yeah I agree with Aigo, 4ghz probably ain't gonna happen without some exceptional measures. I'm thinking 3.6-3.8 will be a more realistic goal on air cooling for the Q9550.

I've also been considering a Q9550 and I think my highest expectation would be 450x8.5=3825, but 430x8.5=3655 would be what I was shooting for for 24/7

 

[AuDioFreaK39]

Here's a question to throw out there. At the moment there's a refurbished QX6850 going for $595 on eBay. Would it be worth getting, being 3.0GHz with an unlocked multiplier and all?

 

[OLpal]

How do you think it would stack up against A $350 Q9450 w/oc to 3.6gig easy oc if i'm think'n correctly !!
For the difference in money, unless you have some super number crunching or heavy CAD program that going to use & need the extra power !!??????

Ol'Pal Gary

i know there's no way i'm buying older technology right now !!



by the way; seeing your sig.. have you used your optical out cable to your stereo system ??? anything to it,, how's it work ??

Originally posted by: AuDioFreaK39
Here's a question to throw out there. At the moment there's a refurbished QX6850 going for $595 on eBay. Would it be worth getting, being 3.0GHz with an unlocked multiplier and all?

 

[AuDioFreaK39]

Originally posted by: OLpal
by the way; seeing your sig.. have you used your optical out cable to your stereo system ??? anything to it,, how's it work ??

To tell you the truth, I've been meaning to contact EVGA about it, because I have no idea how to connect it to my Creative X-Fi in order to output through the optical jack on my Onkyo TX-SR805. The X-Fi doesn't seem to have the right connector for the SPDIF cable provided with my 9800GX2. I'm gonna give them a call tomorrow, thanks for reminding me.

 

[jmtabak]

Regarding the ES: I've been waiting since the original images leaked from Intel for the q9550. I've seen a lot of ES's out there - Stalliontek has been selling them without saying they're ES's for a while. I read a lot of reviews of that website in particular, and from what I've read the cpus work but they're not under warranty and they were never meant to be sold in the first place.

I will continue to wait until the retail box is available... I've heard April 20th floating around as a realistic availability date.

Also, this is probably not what you're asking OLPal, but I am running a optical surround sound cable from my EVGA 790i to my surround receiver. It works flawlessly - the software is really nice. Whenever I plug in my headphones it cuts the spdif output.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: jmtabak
Regarding the ES: I've been waiting since the original images leaked from Intel for the q9550. I've seen a lot of ES's out there - Stalliontek has been selling them without saying they're ES's for a while. I read a lot of reviews of that website in particular, and from what I've read the cpus work but they're not under warranty and they were never meant to be sold in the first place.

I will continue to wait until the retail box is available... I've heard April 20th floating around as a realistic availability date.

Also, this is probably not what you're asking OLPal, but I am running a optical surround sound cable from my EVGA 790i to my surround receiver. It works flawlessly - the software is really nice. Whenever I plug in my headphones it cuts the spdif output.

welcome to AT!

 

[TankGuys]

With ES chips, as others have said, you get no warranty. However, they can also tend to OC quite well. (YMMV of course). It ultimately comes down to personal preference. I don't see many Q9550's hitting the retail channel anytime soon, so if you want one now, go with the ES.

 

[imported_boe]

I'm waiting for the q9550 as well. I contacted Intel - they claimed they were "released" in January believe it or not. I'm guessing they have a bug and Intel hasn't figured out how to fix them.

 

[TankGuys]

Originally posted by: boe
I'm waiting for the q9550 as well. I contacted Intel - they claimed they were "released" in January believe it or not. I'm guessing they have a bug and Intel hasn't figured out how to fix them.

Nah, just no reason to ramp them up yet. AMD has nothing to compete, so Intel has the market cornered. Why would you rush in, and take the expense of, retooling your plants for a new product, when your current one is still better than what the competition offers?

 

[OCGuy]

Why not just get its Xeon equiv?

http://www.instocklocator.com/index.php?id=22

 

[bryanW1995]

don't ES chips have an unlocked multiplier? that would easily solve the fsb problem...

imho if you're stuck on 4 ghz then you probably need the QX9650. If you'll settle for 3.6 or so then you'll be ok with a Q9450. The only reason to get a Q9550 is if you for some crazy reason MUST have a 3.8 ghz quad.

 

[nanaki333]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
don't ES chips have an unlocked multiplier? that would easily solve the fsb problem...

imho if you're stuck on 4 ghz then you probably need the QX9650. If you'll settle for 3.6 or so then you'll be ok with a Q9450. The only reason to get a Q9550 is if you for some crazy reason MUST have a 3.8 ghz quad.

my q9550 es doesn't have an unlocked multiplier

 

[AuDioFreaK39]

As my patience grew weary to the point of no return, I rethought the situation of Intel's dominance in the market. As a result, I just bought a NEW Retail QX9650 for $700 shipped from the AnandTech trading forums Nice guy too.

Can't wait

 

[lopri]

Originally posted by: AuDioFreaK39
Here's a question to throw out there. At the moment there's a refurbished QX6850 going for $595 on eBay. Would it be worth getting, being 3.0GHz with an unlocked multiplier and all?

What is a 'refurbished' CPU?

 

[Skraeling]

i wouldnt get a refurb ever.