Introduction
If you’ve been a reader of Mods-n-Clocks over the past year or so then you’ll know already that I was a great fan of the budget Intel E2100 series of CPUs and went out and bought a pair of E2160s. They overclocked 80%+ on air cooling and would run everything I could throw at them with relative ease.
If you’ve been a reader of Mods-n-Clocks over the past year or so then you’ll know already that I was a great fan of the budget Intel E2100 series of CPUs and went out and bought a pair of E2160s. They overclocked 80%+ on air cooling and would run everything I could throw at them with relative ease.
However as time has moved on, a year in PCs is a long time after all, it has become apparent that having a quad core processor brings with it many benefits. One of these benefits for example is being able to play GTA:4 in all its glory!
The introduction of the i7 and now i5 series of CPUs has also pushed down the cost of the Q9550 and similar Q9000 series processors. What once cost several hundred pounds can now be bought for around £165. If you still want to pay over the odds there are places offering the old higher prices though. Maplin are selling the Q9550 for £339.99 for example.
Specifications
The Q9550 is a Socket 775 CPU based on the 45nm manufacturing process. It has a default clock speed of 2.83GHz derived from a front side bus speed of 1333MHz (333×4) and a multiplier of 8.5. Level 2 cache on the Q9550 comes in at a massive 12MB.
The most recent revision of the chip is the E0 and this is the one to look out for if you intend on overclocking the chip. There’s a previous revision which is C1 and it’s likely to hit slightly lower maximums when overclocking.
The Q9550 is a Socket 775 CPU based on the 45nm manufacturing process. It has a default clock speed of 2.83GHz derived from a front side bus speed of 1333MHz (333×4) and a multiplier of 8.5. Level 2 cache on the Q9550 comes in at a massive 12MB.
The most recent revision of the chip is the E0 and this is the one to look out for if you intend on overclocking the chip. There’s a previous revision which is C1 and it’s likely to hit slightly lower maximums when overclocking.
For your benefit, the codes engraved on the chip that refer to the revision are SLB8V for the E0 and SLAWQ for the C1. I should imagine that all the CPUs out in the stores are now E0 revision but be aware if buying second hand that a C1 is a little less valuable. Of course if everyone else is thinking this way too then you might find a C1 revision bargain and it is still a decent Quad Core CPU.
Packaging and Contents
Well what can I say really in this section? It’s all standard Intel box and packaging. In the retail box you get a stock Intel cooler with pre-applied thermal interface media, the processor itself and a variety of leaflets and booklets detailing specs and warranty terms and conditions.
As with all AMD and Intel CPUs this Q9550 is packaged so that it can be seen from outside of the packaging without having to break the seal. This is to help prevent the sale of counterfeit CPUs but it also helps in tracking down the right revision number when buying a brand new CPU. The store should be able to check the details on the CPU for you before you commit to buying.
Well what can I say really in this section? It’s all standard Intel box and packaging. In the retail box you get a stock Intel cooler with pre-applied thermal interface media, the processor itself and a variety of leaflets and booklets detailing specs and warranty terms and conditions.
As with all AMD and Intel CPUs this Q9550 is packaged so that it can be seen from outside of the packaging without having to break the seal. This is to help prevent the sale of counterfeit CPUs but it also helps in tracking down the right revision number when buying a brand new CPU. The store should be able to check the details on the CPU for you before you commit to buying.
Installation
Installing the Q9550 is pretty much like installing any 775 socket CPU. One thing that is important to remember is to reset your BIOS settings back to default before installing. For example the 1.5V that you had coursing through your 65nm E2160 to overclock it to 3.3GHz might not go down too well with your new 45nm Q9550. It’s also worth checking while you still have your old CPU in place that your motherboard BIOS version fully supports the new CPU, if not then a BIOS flash will usually sort it out.
Installing the Q9550 is pretty much like installing any 775 socket CPU. One thing that is important to remember is to reset your BIOS settings back to default before installing. For example the 1.5V that you had coursing through your 65nm E2160 to overclock it to 3.3GHz might not go down too well with your new 45nm Q9550. It’s also worth checking while you still have your old CPU in place that your motherboard BIOS version fully supports the new CPU, if not then a BIOS flash will usually sort it out.
As with all Intel 775 CPUs the pins are in the motherboard socket and not the CPU so there’s little chance of bending any pins. Just make sure to position the CPU in the correct orientation, there’s a marked corner for this purpose. Refer to your motherboard manual for more details.
Once the CPU is physically in place you’ll need to either fit the stock cooler or apply some thermal paste and a 3rd party cooler. I already have an Akasa Evo 120 cooler, so that is the one that I have fitted. This might soon change however as you’ll find out further into this review.
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