Damn, NICE!

Not really! I got the Q9450 with twice the CACHE ( 12 MB ) for $230 just a couple of weeks ago.

I'm very happy for you.
Lucky for us you didn't say where you got it or if thaat deal is still available.

Q9450 is listed as $203 here: http://www.eworldsale.com/core-2-quad-q9450-12m-1333-box_6122_21987.html

Of course, it is out of stock, and the site does not look reputable.

Or he may have bought it used off of ebay:
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=200263730396&category0=


Off-topic: I've gotten a ton of spam from Fry's, now that they bought Outpost.com. I generate a new address every time I need one online, and the address I used to buy something from outpost.com is now hit weekly with spam from Fry's.

I got it from FRY'S on their weekly Specials with MOBO. And no its NOT available anymore.

nice price.

Anyone have a side by side bench comparing a 2.66 QUAD next to a 3.0 DUAL?

#4, maybe there's some way to opt-out of the spam? I've shopped at Frys for years including recently and don't get regular spam from them.

#2, there's not much difference in this and doubled cache on yours, the $25 difference in price seems about right. Actually yours with more cache can tend to limit overclocking some and actually be same or lower performing as a result.

#7, that'd be kinda pointless, a benchmark of those two has everything to do with the applications benched, versus the ones you actually use (including your random multitasking environment and the app versions - very important when considering multithreaded optimizations).

#7 if you just want the faster chip for general purpose uses versus cost, get the dual core and overclock it with the included heatsink,except this one being OEM may not even come with a heatsink(?), overclocking the quad to the same average performance level will tend to require a more expensive heatsink.

Then again it still depends on your uses, and if you're often finding yourself encoding video or similar linear processes in the background while otherwise using the system, quad core seems the clear way to go. If building for long term use (more than a couple years) the quad seems the best choice.