Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Review

Testing:

The Intel Core 2 Quad 9450 processor will be put through our benchmarking suite to see what kind of performance the motherboard delivers. The OverclockersClub series of benchmarks include both system tests and gaming benchmarks to verify the performance of this product. Testing will include a direct comparison of several processors, including stock speed benchmarking. CPU clockspeed will be kept at the manufacturer specified clockspeed and multiplier for the baseline testing. All motherboard and video card settings were left at setup defaults, again to eliminate any variables. The overclocking phase of the testing will be accomplished by using all of the available settings on the motherboard to gain the maximum performance from the latest Intel Core 2 Quad 9450.

Testing Setup:

• Processor: Intel Intel Core 2 Quad 9450 333 x 8
• Motherboard: Gigabyte X48-DQ6
• Memory: Mushkin Redline XP2 8000 2 x 2 GB 5-5-5-12
• Video Card(s): Asus EN8800GT TOP
• Power Supply: Mushkin 800watt Modular Power supply
• Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 1TB SATA
• Opticals: LG DVDRW
• O/S: Windows Vista Ultimate Edition

Testing Setup AMD:

• Processor: AMD Phenom 9600 "Black Box Edition" (200x11.5)
• Motherboard: ASUS M3A32-MVP DeLuxe/WiFi-AP Motherboard
• Memory: Mushkin Redline XP2 8000 2 x 2 GB 5-5-5-12
• Video Card(s): Asus EN8800GT TOP
• Power Supply: Mushkin 800watt Modular Power supply
• Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 1TB SATA
• Opticals: LG DVDRW
• O/S: Windows Vista Ultimate Edition

Comparison Cpus:

• Intel Q6600 Core 2 Quad 333 x 8
• Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 400 x8
• AMD Phenom 9600 "Black Box Edition" 200 x 11.5

Overclocking:

Overclocked settings:

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad 9450 463 x 8 3.7GHz
• Sytem Memory:Mushkin Redline XP2 8000 2 x 2 GB 5-5-5-12

3.2GHz on 1.175 volts was a promising start for this chip. Having a VID of 1.0625v was another plus in the quest to wring some additional performance from the newest from Intel. With the promising start I was very optimistic that the 9450 would be a great clocking chip. 450 x 8 came easily with 1.30 volts on the core and a tweak to the northbridge and FSB voltages to add some stability. Booting at 475 x 8 was possible but did not offer any stability, even with up to 1.75 on the chipset and 1.425v on the CPU core. That was kind of dissapointing, but nevertheless it gave a point to work down from. Lowering the clockspeed a bit at a time, I reached stability at 463 x 8 with 1.360 volts to the core and 1.6 volts to the northbridge. Not too shabby for a day's work! The temperatures did not seem to scale with the voltage like the QX9770 and Q6600s do, but the 9450 still gets a little warm. With 1.37 volts, I saw 64C with the less than optimum heatsink I used.

Benchmarks:

• Scientific & Data:

1. Apophysis
2. WinRAR
3. SpecviewPerf 10
4. PCMark Vantage Professional
5. Sandra XII
6. ScienceMark 2.02 Final
7. Cinebench 10
8. HD Tune 2.54

• Video:

1. Crysis
2. Knights of the Sea
3. Bioshock
4. Call of Duty 4
5. World in Conflict
6. Call of Juarez
7. 3DMark 06 Professional