Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 Processor Review

Final Thoughts and Conclusions

The Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 was significantly faster than the Q8200, so if you are building or updating an existing system the extra cache and clock frequency seem well worth the extra price. The Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 is a great performing mainstream quad-core part that has decent thermals and great overclocking potential. The x8 multiplier allows for great overclocking as a single BIOS setting change (increasing your FSB to 400MHz) will take the Q9400 up to 3.2GHz with no problems at all.

When it comes to pricing the Intel Q9400 sells online for $229.99 with free shipping. This is a great price for someone looking to drop in a new processor in an existing platform for additional performance. Intel price cuts have been rumored to be coming next month, but the 95W TDP Q9400 does not seem to be one of the processors getting a price reduction. It also appears that Intel is not releasing any new mainstream quad-core parts in the coming months for LGA775 platforms, so there is no need to wait in order to purchase an LGA775 processor.

With four processing cores running at 2.66GHz, a total of 6MB of shared L2 cache, a 1333MHz Front Side Bus (FSB) and the fact that the processor is built on the 45nm process are all great reasons to think about getting a Q9400. Add to that a 1.2GHz overclock that was easy to reach and you have yet another winner from Intel. If you don’t want to go with an Intel Core i7 series processor, the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9XX’s series of processors are good choices as they cost less and can still compete!

Legit Bottom Line: The Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 has been around since Q3’08, but it still has the muscle to compete with AMD Phenom II X4’s!