45nm Penryns are finally becoming easier to get, and are pushing the older Kentsfield chips out of favour with home builders.  Clock for clock they are out performing the older chips, and the power consumption is in a completely different class.  The Hardware Zone tested a Q9550 and a Q9450, unfortunately they haven’t yet received a Q9300 yet.  Intel will be holding on to the performance crown for a while longer.

“After a long wait, DIY enthusiasts finally get a wider spread of 45nm processors. Case in point today is the performance review of the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 and Q9450 processors that will eventually retire the current Kentsfield quad-core processors. So read on to see how the newcomers fare.”

Here are some more Processor articles from around the web:

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