Which CPU? A Intel Core 2 Q9400 or Q9550

Upgrading from a Intel Core 2 Duo E6600. As far as I can tell the Q9550 has 12 MB L2 Cache compared to a 6 MB L2 Cache on the Q9400. Does this make a big difference? I do plan on overclocking this up to about 3.0 Ghz.

Q9400 is $225

Q9550 is $282

Upgrading from a Intel Core 2 Duo E6600. As far as I can tell the Q9550 has 12 MB L2 Cache compared to a 6 MB L2 Cache on the Q9400. Does this make a big difference? I do plan on overclocking this up to about 3.0 Ghz.

Q9400 is $225

Q9550 is $282

Gooeykat

Upgrading from a Intel Core 2 Duo E6600. As far as I can tell the Q9550 has 12 MB L2 Cache compared to a 6 MB L2 Cache on the Q9400. Does this make a big difference? I do plan on overclocking this up to about 3.0 Ghz.

Q9400 is $225

Q9550 is $282

Gooeykat

Might as well go to the Q9550. I actually went from an E6600 to an E8500 and experienced massive gains after OCing ^_^

If you're a newegg buyer, the prices are now $220 and $270, respectively.

Go with the E8600, massive OC headroom and 2 cores are better than 4 cores because most software doesn't support 4 yet.

Go with the E8600, massive OC headroom and 2 cores are better than 4 cores because most software doesn't support 4 yet.

cpdowling

the q9550 is basically the quadcore version of the e8x00 series.

its significantly better than the e8x00 series even in ones that arent quad optimized