Customer Reviews

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 Processor 2.66 GHz 1333 MHz 6 MB LGA775 EM64T CPU (BX80580Q9400)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I spent several days researching the differences between all the current Intel processors before finally deciding on this one. The problem is that most of them are very close in price so it's difficult to make a decision on price alone. I found that when you consider all the factors like number of cores, mhz, cache and price, this is the best option. It is fast enough for the most demanding multimedia and games and has all the energy saving features so you won't waste energy while doing something like typing word documents. If you are building strictly for gaming then you should probably spend the extra $30 on the Q9550 even though this one will do quite well if paired with a high end graphics card. On the other hand, if you are building as a office type computer for email and word processing etc, you should probably save the $20 and go with the E8400. This one is the perfect middle ground for great performance at a great price!

This is a real amazing processing unit, it is optimized to create edit or playing back HD multimedia content, it has a real low operating temperature even if you are demanding all of the power it can give, i have a intel extreme motherboard with 6 Gb of Ddr3 1333 mhz a 500 Gb hard disk, and a 256Mb pci express video card, i use it for editing every kind of digital content, i use the power of the cpu at 90% all the time, i dont power off the computer at any time, i really think it is a great option to bild a powerford pc at a great price, so i recomend this nice piece of hardware is a real must have.

I had a dual core in my PC and had some speed problems when rendering video and large images. I picked this CPU because it's designed for video and graphics work, and it delivers. Faster FSB, bigger cache and quad CPU's. Easy to install, and it includes a heat sink (with fan.) The heat sink has thermo-grease already applied. Great deal for a nice CPU.

Attention avid gamers and digital editing fans: this processor has the goods. It is one of the the best value quad-core processors in the Core 2 family as it supports the full Core2 instruction set, has a nice, fast 1333Mhz FSB, overclocks easily, handles complex computations and multi-tasks with ease. This CPU, teamed up with a solid graphics card such as the Raedon 5000 series and a motherboard such as the Gigabyte GA-EP45 series, is a solid value play. I use this setup in a media server and it rarely sees higher than 25% CPU utilization with anything I throw at it.

And that's the rub. Users who aren't hard-core gamers, into heavy photo editing or doing lots of media transcoding (and that's most of us, folks) are actually better served with a less expensive 64-bit CPU, such as the Pentium E6500, which is less than half the price, consumes less energy, runs at a very respectable 2.93Ghz and still scores a very repectable 6.4 on the Windows 7 processor test. (I use an E6500 with a Raedon HD 5570 in a home theatre PC and the results are fantastic.)

My final advice to anyone considering this processor (or the newer Core i5 or Core i7) is this: make sure your application can take advantage of all the features the processor has, or you're just wasting your money. To take full advantage of this class of processor, your application should be multi-threaded (ideally supporting hyper-threading technology); if you're doing media transcoding, your application should ideally include support the SSE4 instruction set. Finally, if you're on Windows 7 you will see a solid benefit from running the 64 bit version.

I can't believe how much better this is than my E7500 @ 2.93mhz. Even when I had it OC'd to 3.4 it couldn't hold a candle to this puppy. Don't be thrown by the slightly lowered speed (2.66mhz), this thing screams. Paired with a OCZ Vendetta 2 cooler, and my temps are 26C idle and 37C under load (load being Mass Effect 2 or Dragon Age at max settings). I haven't OC'd it yet because I'm so impressed with it's stock power, but I'm sure I'll start playing with it in a week or so.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66 Mhz
OCZ Vendetta 2 cooler
Asus P5Q PRO TURBO Mobo
6G Corsair Dominator 1066 Mhz
Corsair HX850 PSU
Palit GSX260 Sonic 216 GPU
Seagate Barracuda 1TB X 2
Windows 7 64bit

I build a new desktop computer every four or five years, and leading up to my Winter-Spring '10 build, I was hot for the Quad Core. I knew there was a fairly limited number of programs that could use all four cores, and that even those programs rarely did. But still, I wanted Quad! Sorry to say the satisfaction of having four cores might be its biggest advantage, for me anyway. I had shopped this Intel Core 2 Quad Processor 2.66 GHz 1333 MHz 6 MB LGA775 EM64T CPU Q9400BOX against the Intel E8500 Core 2 Duo, and despite the Duo's much faster clock speed and $30 savings, I went Quad. Don't misunderstand, somebody using more advanced programs will certainly benefit from the extra cores, it's just I don't use even one of the programs on the list.

The darn thing is lightning fast, though ... nothing lags anymore. Which is nice.

Couple negatives: This retail box version includes the Intel fan/heat-sink, which sucks. It has flimsy plastic mounting feet, and one broke on me. Saw elsewhere online I was not the only one. I had to spend $25 to replace that. And the newer architecture of the LGA775 Socket was awkward, for m anyway. Instead of the dozens of gold points extending out from the chip to be fitted into the socket - something I'd grown accustomed to for twenty years - the 775 chip is smooth, with flat gold dots, and the socket itself has connectors extending up from the base. has connectors at chip having a few dozen multi chip is frustrating connectors was very awkward. If you're updating

I dropped my rating to 3 stars because of the fan problem, but had this review been of the OEM chip only, it would have been 5 stars. Because again, this CPU is lightning fast, and nothing lags anymore. Which is nice indeed.

This was the perfect upgrade for my Pentium. I can run Crysis really smooth on High level. Granted it's not an i5 or i7 processor, but the ease of use, and upgrade in speed for my computer is great.
I can run Power Point, Word, and web browser (multiples) without very much lag. I'm a casual gamer, but this processor lets me play with ease, and graphics aren't slow.

This Quad core processor has powered my desktop PC for over a year and I've used it for everything from surfing to gaming, video editing and even 3D rendering. This processor has always given a solid performance, boasting a 7.2 out of 7.9 score in Windows 7 Experience Index.

For gaming I have seen impressive frame rates for Empire Total War, Fallout 3, Portal and TOCA, all at 1920 x 1080. For 3D graphics and digital imaging this is easily the fastest CPU I've owned and with the new 64 bit iterations of graphics software coming out, things will really speed up.

I tend to have lots of windows open, running Skype, messenger, many browsers, playing music and other assorted tasks and I've never experienced slowdown. I use it to run both a 1080p monitor while playing movies on my 720p TV at the same time. I don't see myself changing processor within the next two years.

Unless you're a hardcore gamer who needs real power, you may find buying this will save you some cash over the latest iteration of chips. I highly recommend it if you can get a good price.

My setup...

Windows 7
Q9400 Intel Core 2 Quad Processor
6GB DDR2 Ram
NVIDIA 9800GT 512mb
Antec Earthwatts 650W PSU
DVD RW
1x WD Caviar Blue 640GB HDD
1x Hitachi 1TB HDD
1x External Iomega 500GB HDD