Conclusion

Looks like the low-cost quad-core processors market has changed significantly. Prices went down, new models came out. However, as we have just seen from our new article, there is hardly anything new we could advise you at this point.

One of the best choices among low-cost quad-core processors is still the old 65nm Core 2 Quad Q6600. Intel has dropped its price so significantly lately that is remains in the spotlight despite its age and relatively high power consumption. Especially since in some applications such as 3D games, for instance, it manages to perform as fast as a more expensive Core 2 Quad Q9300 thanks to large L2 cache. Its overclocking potential is also pretty encouraging. It doesn’t require a specific mainboard: you can almost always push its frequency 1.5 times up with just an efficient cooler.

In fact, the only drawback of Core 2 Quad Q6600 is its relatively high heat dissipation and power consumption, which makes it unfit for quiet and low-power systems. The new Core 2 Quad Q8200 will suit much better for them. Despite much smaller L2 cache, this CPU is pretty fast and outperforms the fastest processor of Intel’s competitor – AMD Phenom X4 9950. As a result, Phenom X4 family may be of interest only to those users who want to get a quad-core processor real cheap, but are ready to put up with low overclocking potential, low performance and high power consumption.

Unfortunately, we are not ready yet to offer our verdict to a more expensive Core 2 Quad Q9300 and Core 2 Quad Q9400. Yes, they are fast and have relatively low heat dissipation. But both of them are priced at $266 in the official price-list, while the junior Core i7-920 processor coming into retail after November 16 will be priced at $284. Therefore, we will only be able to say if Q9300 and Q9400 could be a good buy, only when we compare them to the upcoming solutions. So, we are not ready to comment on them at this point and would strongly recommend you to wait for the performance tests of upcoming solutions that should be revealed shortly.