Originally Posted by
e3NiNe
The new E8400 Core 2 duo's were released today. These run at 3GHz and have 6MB of L2 cache.
The biggest thing with the new chips is that they're featuring 45nm technology. They're more efficient, so they're cooler burning, which is less of a power draw.
I'm gawking at the
Q9450 ... an Intel Core 2 Quad, 45nm, 2.66Ghz, 12mb of L2. I found a presale for $340 (ships in late Feb, early March) and I'm really tempted.
Quad = overkill? Awesome? Thoughts?
(ps: i'm saying :fawk: to the budget when it comes to the CPU.)
i would also budget in a few bucks for an aftermarket cooler and fan. the stock cooler and fan is not very good. the stock heatsink mounting "screws" failed on me the first day. it's just an expanding plastic screw and it would not lock into place. same thing happened to the other processor so i ended up buying an after market heatsink/fan that comes with metal screws for the heatsink.