I currently have a q6600 and I'm thinking about getting a q9550 quad core intel processor. I do a heavy amount of PMDG flying and a lot of Pinnacle HD video movies that demand a lot of cpu. Is this processor cost worth the gain that I might see by switching to it rather than the q6600 that I have now? I have 4 gig of DDR3 kingston ram 14400 with a GE force 8800GT graphics card. Any ideas or comments?jack

You will certainly see a performance increase, but how much im not entirely sure. It should be quite a bit as you are jumping up a few classes of quad. Plus any graphics card above the 8800GT does very little difference in FSX performance, so your best option is definitely to upgrade your processor.

Your performance increase will be approximately 25% at stock speeds. However, if you decide to overclock (which you absolutely should) then you could see FPS increase by 50% or more depending on what clockspeed you end up at.

Wow, I can't believe people are planning to upgrade from a quad, to a higher quad. At the moment I run a P4 @ 4.2GHz with 1 gb DDR2 667 ram and a nvidia 7300se graphics card, and I'm planning on upgrading to an i7 920 and ati 5850 and 6gb ddr3 ram with plans to OC the CPU. Wow I can't wait for the result!!

Check to be certain (*ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE) that your motherboard can accept the new processor. If you end up needing a new mobo, the price/performance improvements are going to be strained significantly when remaining within the C2Q lineup. I would not recommend going from where you are now to a similar quad if you need to update the board. If you get into the realm of needing a new motherboard, you will be far better served to bounce up to the i7 technology... you'll get a two-generation improvement in processor performance, and some mild futureproofing with a new board. But, this is done at a cost of course... $... but there is much better price/performance ratios to be had in the i7 if you need a new motherboard. -Greg

For what it's worth, I have an Asus P5Q3 Motherboard with 4 gig of DDR3 ram....Will that accept the Q9550?Regards,jack

Yes. If your mobo is a socket 775 motherboard, it can take any dual or quad (E or Q series) processors. However it will not take the i5/i7 8 series or the i7 9 series

Yes. If your mobo is a socket 775 motherboard, it can take any dual or quad (E or Q series) processors.

This is not true. Chipset and VRM support is required for 45nm processors, particularly the Quads. It is best to check the mobo manufacturer's CPU support page for the mobo in question.

Wow, I can't believe people are planning to upgrade from a quad, to a higher quad. At the moment I run a P4 @ 4.2GHz with 1 gb DDR2 667 ram and a nvidia 7300se graphics card, and I'm planning on upgrading to an i7 920 and ati 5850 and 6gb ddr3 ram with plans to OC the CPU. Wow I can't wait for the result!!

Don't buy a 920 now!The 930 is coming to replace the 920 in the new year. It will be stock clock of 2.88 Ghz and priced the same as the 920 it replaces.Makes sense to wait really.........

2.80GHzThere's always something better just around the corner. Buy whatever product best suits your needs when you're ready to buy or you'll never buy anything.May as well tell all those i7 975x users they wasted their money since the 6-core 3.33GHz 980x is out in the 1st Quarter next year as well.

2.80GHzThere's always something better just around the corner. Buy whatever product best suits your needs when you're ready to buy or you'll never buy anything.May as well tell all those i7 975x users they wasted their money since the 6-core 3.33GHz 980x is out in the 1st Quarter next year as well.

In 90% of cases I would agree. This is the 10% situation.If I had the money right now for the 975x I would absoloutley wait for the 980x to come out. If you purchased a while back then obviously thats different, but when you absoloutely know that in less than 90 days you could have the next version for ~ same $ it does make sense to wait IMHO.If you have to have it now though.............

I hear you on the 975x->980x transition. Were I in that position I most certainly would wait also. My point however was that existing 975x users have not wasted their money, as your previous comment seemed to imply (to me at least).

Don't worry, I'm not getting the comp till may 2010, so by that time it will be released and I will get it.