Posted 11/27/08 at 10:29:08 AM by Paul Lilly

For a long while, Intel's Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor remained a popular choice in the DIY community. The 2.4GHz chip, helped in part by an aggressive round of price-cuts, brought quad-core computing to the mainstream. It became even more popular when Intel released the G0 stepping, which ushered in lower temps and higher overclocking potential.

But there's no looking in the rear-view mirror for Intel, and with the chip maker's Core i7 stepping into the limelight, it's come time to retire the aging 65nm Q6600. Citing un-named sources at PC vendors, DigiTimes reports that Intel plans to phase out the vintage quad-core chip in Q1 2009 by issuing a product discontinuance notice.

The Q6600's impending end-of-life could come as good news to those in need of a quad-core upgrade while remaining fiscally responsible. In all likelihood, vendors will again cut the Q6600's price as they look to clear out inventory before the end of the year. Stocking stuffer, perhaps?

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intel, cpu, processor, core 2 quad, quad-core, build a pc, Q6600

Posted 07/21/08 at 01:51:18 PM by Paul Lilly

Good news for system builders and upgraders alike: Intel has cut processor prices (PDF) by as much as 31 percent. And these aren't price cuts on chips that nobody cares about either, but they include some overclocking favorites in both dual and quad-core trim:

• Q6600, $224 to $193 (14% drop)
• E8500, $266 to $183 (31% drop)
• E8400, $183 to $164 (11% drop)
• E7200, $188 to $113 (15% drop)

A handful of Xeon processors have also been marked down, but the real treat here is for overclockers. All four desktop processors have become extremely popular chips in the overclocking community due to their reputation for ramping up in clockspeed with minimal effort, and save for the E8500, each one could have been considered a bargain before the price cut. Now the price-to-performance ratio looks even better, enough so that those holding out for Nehalem may be tempted to pull the trigger now rather than wait. But on which one? Here's a refresher if you've been out of the loop for awhile:

• Q6600 (2.4GHz, 8MB, 1066MHz, x9 multiplier)
• E8500 (3.16GHz, 6MB, 1333MHz, x9.5 multiplier)
• E8400 (3.0GHz, 6MB, 1333MHz, x9 multiplier)
• E7200 (2.53GHz, 3MB, 1066MHz, x9.5 multiplier)

Prices represent 1,000 unit trays, so expect to pay a little bit more at your favorite vendor. Still, who can complain, and at these price points the question of the day is, build now or wait?

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intel, cpu, processor, hardware, quad-core, dual-core, Q6600, build a rig, proc, e8500, e8400, e7200

Posted 07/02/08 at 08:44:25 AM by Chris Moody

AMD’s Phenom line gets some new additions with three new CPUs. The Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition which is now AMD’s fastest quad-core CPU at 2.6GHz is joined by the Phenom X4 9350e at 2.0 Ghz and the X4 9150e at 1.8 Ghz.

A few of the specs for these processors:

L1 Cache Sizes: 64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core (512KB total L1 per processor)
L2 Cache Sizes: 512KB of L2 data cache per core (2MB total L2 per processor)
L3 Cache Size: 2MB (shared)
Memory Controller Frequency: Up to 1.6GHz - 2.0GHz with Dual Dynamic Power Management

Interested in hearing how some intitial overclocking went on the 9950BE? Make the Jump for details!

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amd, intel, cpu, processor, hardware, Phenom, DDR3, quadcore, build a pc, 9950BE, Q6600, Deneb, Shanghai