Q9400 and Gigabyte GA-965P-DS4

[JoyPadJedi]

Hi has anyone got a setup that includes the DS4 mainboard and a Q9400?

Gigabyte website says the CPU is supported in BIOS F12, but not 'officially' supported.

Anyone have any experience with these two components?

I'm looking for an intermediate upgrade without changing MB/RAM and the Q9400 seems a good way to go.

Ta

 

[pastymuncher]

It's only the rev 3.3 board that has the unofficial suport for the 45nm quads. The rev 2.0 and 1.0 do not support it at all. Basically it's a beta bios and you may be lacking some overclocking features.

Personally i think the best way forward for you would be a second hand Q6600 G0 stepping for £75-85. The Q9400 is ridiculously priced as it occupies the price point that used to be for the faster Q9550 that also has double the cache of the Q9400.

 

[raikesi]

q6600 +1

with so much new tech just round the corner its silly money to pay for something which is already 'old'

 

[JoyPadJedi]

Yeah mine's the rev 3.3, but I see your point. Do you think the jump from an E to a Q 6600 would be noticable?

You mentioned a 9550, also unofficially supported on my board. Worth looking at?

Searching used CPUs now - thanks for advice so far.

 

[raikesi]

to see a difference between a q6600 and an e6600 really depends on what you use your pc for. multi threaded apps and games will really speed up.

 

[pastymuncher]

I would'nt look at any 45nm quad with your board and the prices they command now are just ridiculous anyway. A new Q9550 will set you back well over £200 these days and £150+ for a second hand one.

The Q6600 is basically a pair of E6600's on one die and both overclock to similar speed's. As to noticing the difference, as raikesi states, it will depend entirely on whether the software or games you use can take advantage of those extra cores.

Is your E6600 overclocked at all? Most will go to at least 3.2-3.4Ghz and i had one that did 3.8Ghz. If running at stock then a overclock will give you a decent boost and will have cost nothing apart from a half decent cooler if you don't already have one.

 

[JoyPadJedi]

Primarily games. I had the E overclocked for a while until this summer just gone, when i could not bear the heat in my room, plus issues with my old GFX card warranted returning to stock, so it went back to stock and has stayed since.

I will likely eventually OC the Q but my initial impressions will be from stock E to stock Q. Current cooling is the Noctua HS+F (forget model number), which is really good.

Currently looking at a Q6600 SLACR and will know hopefully by end of tomorrow.