Worth upgrading from Q6600 to Q9550 for ~$100?

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urbanspr1nter

Junior Member
Nov 23, 2012
3
0
0
I am thinking about going for one last upgrade hurrah on my nearly 5 year old desktop. I'm looking at the Q9550 used on ebay.

For some reason my Q6600 can no longer hold an overclock more than 2.50ghz anymore. I have just attributed this to the CPU being old age.

So, I have been running at stock for quite a while now. I was thinking about getting the Q9550 and then overclocking it to about 3.2-3.3ghz or so. I was wondering if it makes sense financially to buy a Q9550 if it was around $100.
I do gaming and lots of programming... primarily web/SQL development with a virtual machine server running at the same time.

current specs:

Gigabyte P45-DS3L LGA 775
Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4 ghz w/ Arctic Freezer 7
8 GB PC6400 DDR2 800 RAM (Recent upgrade from 4gb)
120 GB Intel 330 SSD (limited to 3gb/s) (Recent upgrade from 320gb seagate)
1TB Hard drive
Asus 9800 GT (512 mb)
Antec Eco NEO 400w PSU (Recent upgrade)
Thanks in advance for any insight/advice!
 
J

JAG87

Diamond Member
Jan 3, 2006
3,921
3
76
I wouldn't. For $150 you can get a 3570K which will blow that way. Of course you need more money for motherboard and ram, but putting $100 into a LGA775 system at this point is like using a Benjamin to light a cigar. A complete waste.
 
U

urbanspr1nter

Junior Member
Nov 23, 2012
3
0
0
Thanks for your opinion guys. Just wanted a sanity check to see if my thoughts made any sense. Apparently they don't, lol!
 
gevorg

gevorg

Diamond Member
Nov 3, 2004
5,075
1
0
Q9550 is not worth the extra $100 on a 5 yr old rig

just wait for Haswell, unless you REALLY need to upgrade now
 
I

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
21,118
58
91
urbanspr1nter said:
current specs:

Gigabyte P45-DS3L LGA 775
Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4 ghz w/ Arctic Freezer 7
8 GB PC6400 DDR2 800 RAM (Recent upgrade from 4gb)
120 GB Intel 330 SSD (limited to 3gb/s) (Recent upgrade from 320gb seagate)
1TB Hard drive
Asus 9800 GT (512 mb)
Antec Eco NEO 400w PSU (Recent upgrade)
Thanks in advance for any insight/advice!
Click to expand...

ha ha, I had practically the same specs for my stock Q6600 rig except mine had a 140GB Intel G2, but everything else looks the same.

urbanspr1nter said:
I do gaming and lots of programming...
Click to expand...

Me too. So here's what I did for my upgrade, now this was a year ago though, but I went for a 2600k@5GHz, 16GB DDR3-1866, 240GB OCZ V3, and a GTX460 @900MHz and that was an upgrade that was worth the effort and money.

Don't piddle around with a Q6600 to Q9550. I upgraded my HTPC from a Q6600 to a Q9550 (I got it for free so figured why not upgrade and reduce my power usage) and the performance improvement is negligible. I wouldn't have invested the time and effort if it weren't for my curiosity. Now that I have done it I wouldn't do it again, not even for a free Q9550.

Go for a nice upgrade that makes sense, and be sure to update the v-card in the process.
 
L

LoneNinja

Senior member
Jan 5, 2009
825
0
0
Just not worth it, maybe if you still had an old dual core, but not a C2Q to C2Q.

Besides the lack of overclockability on your current system may be the motherboard and not the CPU, so you may find the Q9550 unable to overclock.
 
OBLAMA2009

OBLAMA2009

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2008
6,574
3
0
someone hear said they was sellin the 2500 for $99 at microcenter. that ought to ansa your question
 
U

urbanspr1nter

Junior Member
Nov 23, 2012
3
0
0
Idontcare said:
ha ha, I had practically the same specs for my stock Q6600 rig except mine had a 140GB Intel G2, but everything else looks the same.



Me too. So here's what I did for my upgrade, now this was a year ago though, but I went for a 2600k@5GHz, 16GB DDR3-1866, 240GB OCZ V3, and a GTX460 @900MHz and that was an upgrade that was worth the effort and money.

Don't piddle around with a Q6600 to Q9550. I upgraded my HTPC from a Q6600 to a Q9550 (I got it for free so figured why not upgrade and reduce my power usage) and the performance improvement is negligible. I wouldn't have invested the time and effort if it weren't for my curiosity. Now that I have done it I wouldn't do it again, not even for a free Q9550.

Go for a nice upgrade that makes sense, and be sure to update the v-card in the process.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this. Somehow in my head I wanted to believe that a Q9550 would be a difference.

I personally can wait a while. Perhaps I will drop $$$ on a nice Haswell set up when the time comes.
 
R

RU482

Lifer
Apr 9, 2000
12,689
3
81
urbanspr1nter said:
Thanks for this. Somehow in my head I wanted to believe that a Q9550 would be a difference.

I personally can wait a while. Perhaps I will drop $$$ on a nice Haswell set up when the time comes.
Click to expand...

that there is a solid upgrade plan
 
CZroe

CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
856
126
I'm interested in doing a similar upgrade to a tri-SLI system (2xGTX280 + 9800GT EE) and turning it into a 32bit gaming compatibility system with the Phillips AmBX system. Basically, it had better run Crysis about as well as well as a 4GB 32bit system from that era can. :)
 
G

GPz1100

Senior member
Jun 10, 2001
354
3
81
I ran a q6600 for a long time, overclocked to 3.2ghz (as high it went stable with decent temps). I then had a q9550 @ 3.8 (also stable with good temps). The board remained the same (p5k deluxe). The performance in non gaming functions was noticeable. Is that performance worth $100? I don't think so. Either keep saving, or invest that $100 and maybe a bit more in a ssd.
 
I

Insomniator

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2002
6,294
171
106
You guys did notice his 6600 is at 2.5 ghz right? Not saying that makes the 9550 for $100 worth it.. but I'd say its not crazy. A 9550 @ 3.5 would be much faster than the 6600 @ 2.5 depending on the application.

Still, the $100 is probably better spent invested into a new platform when you really need to upgrade.
 
H

Hubb1e

Senior member
Aug 25, 2011
396
0
71
I say go whole hog on an Ivy 3570K and sell that Q6600 RAM and Board on eBay. It's worth the upgrade, and I don't think Haswell will be all that great and you'll be waiting a while for board and chip prices to come down. An Ivy at 4.4ghz is easy and fast and DDR3 is dirt cheap.

Yeah, it's extra money but seriously it isn't that much. A pizza costs $20 and filling your gas tank is $50. Ivy is a serious step up and it is worth it.
 
Last edited:
cytg111

cytg111

Lifer
Mar 17, 2008
23,180
12,838
136
urbanspr1nter said:
I am thinking about going for one last upgrade hurrah on my nearly 5 year old desktop. I'm looking at the Q9550 used on ebay.

For some reason my Q6600 can no longer hold an overclock more than 2.50ghz anymore. I have just attributed this to the CPU being old age.

So, I have been running at stock for quite a while now. I was thinking about getting the Q9550 and then overclocking it to about 3.2-3.3ghz or so. I was wondering if it makes sense financially to buy a Q9550 if it was around $100.
I do gaming and lots of programming... primarily web/SQL development with a virtual machine server running at the same time.

current specs:

Gigabyte P45-DS3L LGA 775
Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4 ghz w/ Arctic Freezer 7
8 GB PC6400 DDR2 800 RAM (Recent upgrade from 4gb)
120 GB Intel 330 SSD (limited to 3gb/s) (Recent upgrade from 320gb seagate)
1TB Hard drive
Asus 9800 GT (512 mb)
Antec Eco NEO 400w PSU (Recent upgrade)
Thanks in advance for any insight/advice!
Click to expand...

I think it depends ..

1. How much is 100$ to you.
2. How much is your time worth? (time spending building new rig, installing os, apps etc)
3. What games are you running that doesnt hack it with a Q6600@2.5 where a Q9550@3.5 will?

On the other hand, going full monty on a new system will land you in uber cheap DDR3 land.. Lotsa ram = blessing when you virtualize.
 
AtenRa

AtenRa

Lifer
Feb 2, 2009
14,001
3,357
136
urbanspr1nter said:
I am thinking about going for one last upgrade hurrah on my nearly 5 year old desktop. I'm looking at the Q9550 used on ebay.

For some reason my Q6600 can no longer hold an overclock more than 2.50ghz anymore. I have just attributed this to the CPU being old age.

So, I have been running at stock for quite a while now. I was thinking about getting the Q9550 and then overclocking it to about 3.2-3.3ghz or so. I was wondering if it makes sense financially to buy a Q9550 if it was around $100.
I do gaming and lots of programming... primarily web/SQL development with a virtual machine server running at the same time.

current specs:

Gigabyte P45-DS3L LGA 775
Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4 ghz w/ Arctic Freezer 7
8 GB PC6400 DDR2 800 RAM (Recent upgrade from 4gb)
120 GB Intel 330 SSD (limited to 3gb/s) (Recent upgrade from 320gb seagate)
1TB Hard drive
Asus 9800 GT (512 mb)
Antec Eco NEO 400w PSU (Recent upgrade)
Thanks in advance for any insight/advice!
Click to expand...

I would sell the Motherboard + CPU + Memory, (i would say around $150 would be a fair price)

Then add $100 you would spend for the CPU upgrade and you end up with $250.

Since you like to OC I would go for the following

ASUS M5A97 R2.0 AM3+ = $89,99
AMD FX6300 = $139,99
Crucial Ballistix 4GB DDR-3 1600MHz (2x2GB) = $19,99

OC the FX6300 to 4GHz with default voltage and Cooler(Turbo off) and you have a very solid upgrade with a new platform (USB3, SATA-6 etc). Then you can upgrade your GPU later on.
 
J

jihe

Senior member
Nov 6, 2009
747
97
91
AtenRa said:
I would sell the Motherboard + CPU + Memory, (i would say around $150 would be a fair price)

Then add $100 you would spend for the CPU upgrade and you end up with $250.

Since you like to OC I would go for the following

ASUS M5A97 R2.0 AM3+ = $89,99
AMD FX6300 = $139,99
Crucial Ballistix 4GB DDR-3 1600MHz (2x2GB) = $19,99

OC the FX6300 to 4GHz with default voltage and Cooler(Turbo off) and you have a very solid upgrade with a new platform (USB3, SATA-6 etc). Then you can upgrade your GPU later on.
Click to expand...

Going AMD makes no sense these days. OCed chips just eat too much electricity.
 
cytg111

cytg111

Lifer
Mar 17, 2008
23,180
12,838
136
jihe said:
Going AMD makes no sense these days. OCed chips just eat too much electricity.
Click to expand...

Its a new paradigme when "we overclockers" worry so much about the 20$ added on the yearly electricity bill. We didnt really use to care ..
So what changed? Did some1 start pushing the perf/watt idea down on us from the server segment and we just ate it raw?
 
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