IIRC the shared cache on the Q9's can improve performance when running parallel programs which would rather load double/triple/duad copies on a Q6... seems you have looked at the OC'ing already so I won't get into that.


also I'd say that the 9's are probably going to be one of the last major updates for the LGA775 anyway, so if you're looking to stay with your board/memory it probably wouldn't hurt to just upgrade it as the i7 route is expensive. More and more programs are also making use of SSE4, so thats a plus if you're into any programs that can/possibly will make use of those extensions in the future