Best Core 2 Quad?

[HollowRopes]

Hello, I currently have an ASUS P5KC motherboard and an Intel Core 2 Duo e6850 3.0 that I run at 3.6GHz. I doubt I'll be able to upgrade both my motherboard and CPU any time soon, so I was just curious what the best CPU would be to get for my motherboard. I'm not even really that sure of the price range of the Core 2 Quads these days especially after the new SB stuff, and I'm sure it's a much more wiser idea to just wait and get both a new motherboard and a CPU, but that could be a while, so what's the best thing that I can get I guess in the $150 to $225 price range?

 

[Castiel]

Total waste IMO to even consider a C2Q these days. Maybe upgrade to a wolfdale C2D?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-371-_-Product

Overclock to 4Ghz and be satisfied till Ivy Bridge?

 

[ShadowVVL]

C2Q are pretty expensive sadly.

I got my 9550 for $219 in 2009 but now there alot more.

 

[f4phantom2500]

what are you doing that you feel a 3.6ghz c2d is lacking? unless you're doing something that's heavily multithreaded i doubt the performance gains of a c2q would be worth the money. the cheapest 775 quad on newegg is the q8300 at $150. with this in mind, i wouldn't buy a quad unless it was a really good deal on a used one. say, maybe $100 (provided you can find a buyer for your c2d). but you have to consider that, unless the chip will overclock to ~3.6ghz, you'll be losing performance in non-highly threaded tasks when compared to the c2d. that said, i think it would be hard to find a justifiably good deal on a c2q. furthermore, remember that even if you could get a c2q that would hit 3.6ghz, you will only see these gains in highly threaded apps.

considering that sandy bridge chips can be had easily for $200, that the motherboards for them are coming back soon, and that you could reuse everything from your current 775 build, not to mention bulldozer being around the corner and ivy bridge not too far down the pipeline, i think you should just wait.

 

[tweakboy]

what are you doing that you feel a 3.6ghz c2d is lacking? unless you're doing something that's heavily multithreaded i doubt the performance gains of a c2q would be worth the money. the cheapest 775 quad on newegg is the q8300 at $150. with this in mind, i wouldn't buy a quad unless it was a really good deal on a used one. say, maybe $100 (provided you can find a buyer for your c2d). but you have to consider that, unless the chip will overclock to ~3.6ghz, you'll be losing performance in non-highly threaded tasks when compared to the c2d. that said, i think it would be hard to find a justifiably good deal on a c2q. furthermore, remember that even if you could get a c2q that would hit 3.6ghz, you will only see these gains in highly threaded apps.

considering that sandy bridge chips can be had easily for $200, that the motherboards for them are coming back soon, and that you could reuse everything from your current 775 build, not to mention bulldozer being around the corner and ivy bridge not too far down the pipeline, i think you should just wait.

I totally agree. Wait 2 months or soo and put together a nice rig with Sandy Bridge or Ivory. thx

 

[pjkenned]

Total waste IMO to even consider a C2Q these days.

Agreed. Save money, get Sandy Bridge or something better later. The old 2.4GHz Q6600 at stock speeds burns tons of power (way more overclocked) and is much slower than the new Core i5/i7 architectures. Heck if you really wanted an upgrade, a used i7 920 + X58 motherboard can be had for <$300 these days and that is still a very competitive platform since even the pre-D0 chips hit 3.6-4GHz easily and you move to 4C 8T and a newer architecture.

 

[betasub]

^ While I agree with your general point, highlighting power consumption & then recommending X58 isn't the best argument (P55 showed up X58's power inefficiencies).

 

[jihe]

Hello, I currently have an ASUS P5KC motherboard and an Intel Core 2 Duo e6850 3.0 that I run at 3.6GHz. I doubt I'll be able to upgrade both my motherboard and CPU any time soon, so I was just curious what the best CPU would be to get for my motherboard. I'm not even really that sure of the price range of the Core 2 Quads these days especially after the new SB stuff, and I'm sure it's a much more wiser idea to just wait and get both a new motherboard and a CPU, but that could be a while, so what's the best thing that I can get I guess in the $150 to $225 price range?

you can get entire amd quad + mb + ram for that price.

 

[Castiel]

you can get entire amd quad + mb + ram for that price.

Going to amd is a sidegrade.

 

[tweakboy]

The QX series has hyper threading so thats 8 logical cores with HT on.

These are still expensive.....

 

[Castiel]

The QX series has hyper threading so thats 8 logical cores with HT on.

These are still expensive.....

No C2Q had HT

 

[exar333]

If you got a steal on a Q9550 or better for <$90 then it would be OK to replace the C2D, otherwise wait and overhaul the mb/cpu/ram together.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

No C2Q had HT

Correct

http://ark.intel.com/MySearch.aspx?HyperThreading=true

However, most of them had Hardware Virtualization, which is kinda cool.

 

[bryanW1995]

If you got a steal on a Q9550 or better for <$90 then it would be OK to replace the C2D, otherwise wait and overhaul the mb/cpu/ram together.

I agree with this, don't spend over $100 on a c2Q of any kind. You most likely chance at this is to check out fs/ft/ebay, but I don't know what those are bringing there either. You could probably sell your rig as-is or even parted out and upgrade to a SB or BD rig in the next few months for a lot less than you'd think, however.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Have a look on the For-sale section of the forums, or try eBay, or Craigslist... I'm hangin on to my Q9650

 

[nenforcer]

Have a look on the For-sale section of the forums, or try eBay, or Craigslist... I'm hangin on to my Q9650

I've got an E6600 Conroe LGA775 which I've now had since April 2007 and just can't bring myself to spend the money to upgrade it.

When I look on eBay I still see Q6600's going for anywhere from $140 to $200. (used/new)

I'll buy an X58 motherboard before I overpay for an old LGA775 chip. The best bet I've seen so far is the Wolfdale E8200 which isn't much of an upgrade really.

 

[RavenSEAL]

I'm waiting for BD to come out so i can upgrade my E8500 :awe:

 

[Vette73]

I'm waiting for BD to come out so i can upgrade my E8500 :awe:

Same here. I have a E2220 overclocked to a little over 3ghz and am weaiting for BD to see what happens.
Even then I will probable wait till late 2011/early 2012 for prices to settle and bugs to be worked out.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Same here. I have a E2220 overclocked to a little over 3ghz and am weaiting for BD to see what happens.
Even then I will probable wait till late 2011/early 2012 for prices to settle and bugs to be worked out.

I might be interested to see what happens with the Thuban chips though, a Six core CPU clocked at 3.2GHz for $150 does sound nice...:hmm:

Could hit 4GHz on air...

 

[Vette73]

I might be interested to see what happens with the Thuban chips though, a Six core CPU clocked at 3.2GHz for $150 does sound nice...:hmm:

Could hit 4GHz on air...

Wait for the AM3+ socket boards, 9XX chipsets. That way you an run a cheaper AM3 CPU but also have BD upgrade path.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Wait for the AM3+ socket boards, 9XX chipsets. That way you an run a cheaper AM3 CPU but also have BD upgrade path.

Well, it's not like i have the money to upgrade, so yea

Need for BD to come out first, want to see how low those thuban chips go, then, if BD is as godly as AMD says, i will make my decision. Looking at around $400 to upgrade at this point if i sell my current rig(-video card, PSU & HDD)