quad core help

[xevious]

I am in the process of getting a new c2q for my asus p5b deluxe. This computer is used for everything; documents, audio editing, gaming, folding, 3 open firefox with 20 tabs each, 3 chrome with 20 tabs each, etc.

I can get a q9400 r0 stepping for $130
A q9450 for $150
or a q9550 for $175

I will overclock to approx 3.5 if i can.

Which is the best deal?

[Sowser]

You're pretty much just looking at binning with those three processors. I'd say with only a $35 differance between the lowest binned chip and the highest you might as well go with the q9550 so that you can gaurantee stability and longjevity at your overclock goal. On a side note I kicked ass at playing Xevious!

[XstollieX]

I would eliminate the q9400 as it only has a l2 cache of 6mb and the 9450 and 9550 both have 12mb l2 cache. The 9550 starts at 2.83 and the 9450 starts at 2.66. I would probably go with the 9550 if it were me, though both would be a good choice.

[xevious]

haha yea it was an awesome game. i spend my middle school life playing it.

what do you mean binning? as i see it, the qxx50 s have 12mb cache as opposed to 6mb on the 9400. but the 9400 apparently replaced the 9450. and the r0 stepping on it has good overclocking. so i guess my choices are q9400 vs q9550. and its a $40 difference between the 2 chips (Price adjustment from seller on the 9400)

[xevious]

I would eliminate the q9400 as it only has a l2 cache of 6mb and the 9450 and 9550 both have 12mb l2 cache. The 9550 starts at 2.83 and the 9450 starts at 2.66. I would probably go with the 9550 if it were me, though both would be a good choice.

i dont care too much about the starting clocks, i plan on oc'ing whichever i choose. isnt the q9400 better than the 9450? or did they discontinue the 9450 because of price issues?

[XstollieX]

Here is a review that was done on the q9400. The 9550 beat out the 9400 on all the benchmarks. Also if you run into a fsb wall on your board the 9550 has a 8.5 multi and the 9400 has a 8x multi.

[Sowser]

Binning is the process companies use when sorting different quality chips. For instance the core i720, 740, and 765 all are created using the same process, then after initial testing they sort the chips into different "bins" based on how they tested. The higher quality chips become 765s, which they know can run reliably at higher clock speeds, the mid range chips become 740s, and the lower end chips become 720s. You're better off as an overclocker on a budget buying lower end chips that were made during the end of a production run because the manufacturer has likely gotten better and better at making that particular type of chip. So say when they first started making the icores they were getting 50% 720s, 30% 740s, and 20% 765s. Towards the end of producing those chips the manufacturer will have seen what worked, and gotten a lot of the bugs out of the system so now they're producing 10% 720s, 30% 740s, and 60% 765s. They're still going to be selling many more 720s than 740s or 765s so the manufacturer will take a chip that would have been binned as a 740 or a 765, slap a 720 label on it, and sells it at the lower cost!

[xevious]

OK thanks, that was helpful. I think i will go for the 9550 since it is new out of the store, just on a discount. less wear means more life for me, i suppose.