Why are C2Q CPUs still so expensive?

[Quattro Pete]

Q9550/Q9650 CPUs still cost $300+, despite being fairly old technology by today's standards. Is it just Intel's way of trying to push people toward Core i5/i7? If the old C2Q sells at a high price, great. If not, someone will probably buy an i5/i7 system instead. Either way, Intel makes their money.

The reason I'm asking is that I have a 3-year old C2D (E8200) system, and was thinking I can get some performance boost by upgrading the CPU to Q9550/9650, but it seems rather cost prohibitive. Might as well spend a little more and get a brand new machine...

 

[Lead Shoes]

Because Intell doesn't drop priced below $100...Ever..

just upgrading to tech that is over 3 years old is not going to do much, might as well save 200 more and get a whole new computer

If I was you, I'd go for a new sandy bridge I5 quad core and a new mobo and get 8gb of ram for 90 dollars and chalk it up as a day.. might as well do it once and do it right for 500 dollars....

 

[Colt45ws]

Check ebay. I buy used CPUs regularly.

 

[Rand]

once a computer part starts getting outdated the prices actually go up.

why ddr2 memory costs more than ddr3 now also.

would be much better off getting a new motherboard memory and processor.

 

[MrHorspwer]

If I'm not mistaken, all LGA 775 CPUs have reaced EOL. At that point, a retailers remaining stock is theirs and the Intel pricing is out the window. When a retailer knows that no more parts will be built and what they have in stock is the last they'll get, prices start going up.

Newegg is notorious for jacking up prices as stock dwindles for a particular item. This is in comparison to Micro Center, who seems to keep their prices more reasonable when a part is EOL'd.

Even eBay prices are outrageous. Used Q9550s are selling for a bit less than what they were new (~$220 IIRC). BIN prices on new parts are nearly as high as Newegg in many instances.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: MrHorspwer
prices start going up.


It's not that the prices have started going up. They just never came down in the first place. They've been this high as far as I can remember.

 

[MrHorspwer]

Hmmmmm... I thought I remember Q9550 being between $220 and $250 after 1366 was introduced, just as LGA 1156 was being rolled out.

I'm probably wrong though. If that is the case, ~$220 for a used eBay unit may be a good deal.

 

[pzev]

If you want a quadcore Socket 775 CPU...your hands are tied, you either pay the price or spend more upgrading to a new motherboard. That kind of upgrade will most likely entail a memory upgrade as well.
The performance of most C2D chips is still very relevant in today's market. So people aren't in a big hurry to upgrade their 775 systems. What most dual core owners wanted to do was simply pick up a cheap quad...this led to a rather nice demand for used 775 quadcores, preferably the 45nm varients. The Q9450, Q9550, and Q9650 still sell quickly on the used market. They overclock like crazy, and can offer a nice performance boost to someone with an older system. Which means they still have considerable value on the open market...hence the high prices.

Honestly, until Sandy Bridge released a few months ago, there wasn't really a compelling reason for someone with a high end 775 system to upgrade...not unless you had a specific need for a blazing CPU (encoding, rendering, etc).


And the last nail in the coffin was the recession. people didn't have the money to drop into a completely new rig, so they wanted to get as much life out of their parts as possible by doing what upgrades they could. This kept the demand high for those 45nm 775 quadcores. [censored], even used graphics card prices are still pretty high. Though there are other variables in that market...perhaps the biggest being the stall in gaming graphics advancements due to most games being nothing but console ports. They need to replace the Xbox 360 lol...I want nicer graphics!

 

[Quattro Pete]

Thanks guys!

I do a bit of transcoding now and then, so that's why I thought a quad core with loads of cache would help, but I don't do enough of it to justify the high price of Q9550/Q9650.

I'll just keep using what I have for another two years and then maybe buy a new rig.

 

[NJC]

Pete, I also found high prices for processors when shopping a few months ago - here's my thread from Feb 2011: Lower end processor prices.

 

[pzev]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Thanks guys!

I do a bit of transcoding now and then, so that's why I thought a quad core with loads of cache would help, but I don't do enough of it to justify the high price of Q9550/Q9650.

I'll just keep using what I have for another two years and then maybe buy a new rig.



If you are open to it, check out just about any large technology forum. They usually have classified sections, and there Q9550's and the like sell for cheap. By cheap I mean lower prices then anywhere else...I've seen them recently for as low as $150, but they sell fast at those prices.

If you are going to use your current machine for the next two years, then it would probably be worth it to pick up a faster quadcore.

 

[1 FMF]

i upgraded less than a year ago to a lga1366 i7-930 from a dell 8400 pentium 4. That was after about a year of procrastinating, figuring the longer i wait the cheaper the lga775 stuff would be. The lga775 prices never dropped, and when i did the math it was better in every sense to spend about $50 more in total to get a lga1366 mobo and i7 cpu and ddr3 ram. DDR3 prices have dropped tremendously, so fwiw i would forgo a C2Q and keep your eye on prices for lga 1155 and the lga2011 when it comes out.