Help Me Pick a CPU

[dmw16]

I bought an Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 for my Hackintosh, but I sold some crap from my closet so now I have extra funds if I want to go with a faster chip.

I will likely be dual booting the machine Vista for gaming and OSX for Matlab, web surfing, photo editing, etc.

The rest of the core components will be an XFX 8600GT XXX and 4GB of DDR2-800.

With a $200 budget, should I get a faster chip? Should I overclock the one I have? Will OCZ DDR2-800 cut it for overclocking? Or is my video card going to be my bottleneck and deserving of my fund infusion?

 

[RussianSensation]

For gaming 8600GT is ummm....

You should buy a 4850. And you can overclock the processor too

 

[DSF]

I agree about the 8600GT. It won't matter what processor you have because you'll be limited by the GPU in a lot of games. I'd get a faster graphics card and overclock the CPU. You should be able to get to at least 2.8GHz without a problem as long as your motherboard and RAM don't choke on 400MHz FSB. With 4MB cache that's plenty fast for any game right now.

 

[dmw16]

My video card selection is limited by what is supported by OSX. So it looks like my best option out there is a 9800GTX+.

Is that worth it over the 8600GT XXX?

As for memory, I have OCZ DDR800, so I should be able to go to 400Mhz front side without trouble. I also got a Zalman heatsink so hopefully that will help with cooling.

 

[scruffypup]

Depends on the "gaming" you are intending and budget. If you are doing any heavy gaming with newer titles,.... at the very least go to an 8800GT instead,... they are around $120 after rebates now and sometimes a tad lower, with much better performance than the 8600GT series,... though I agree with the 4850/4870 series if that will work for you, as they can be had for great price/performance ratios

 

[nyker96]

if you only wish to change cpu and also do some regular applications, then just get e8600. decent price. Although if you doing video encoding I'd consider a quad. as for gaming, like the gents before, the best bang for buck is 4850 as of now.

 

[z1ggy]

Yeah.. keep your cpu and OC it.. then sell the 8600 for w/e you can.. and then use that plus that money you have saved and get better gpu. Just keep is cool inside the case.

 

[DSF]

I strongly disagree with getting an E8600 as your processor. The price/performance is extremely bad compared to an E7200, E8400 or E8500.

 

[dmw16]

Thanks for all the input. Sounds like the best way to go is to OC the current CPU and get a video card.

I decided on the 8800GTS. I know the 4850 is the best bang for your buck, but the OSX86 installs don't support those (or the 3850/3870 very well) right now. So I went with waht seemed like the best bang for my buck on the nVidia side.

 

[Trax416]

If you like gaming, pick up a 4850.

Best money you will have spent on your machine, and it will increase the performance of your rig.

Even go got an 8800GT 512mb if you can find it on sale. NCIX had a suprise sale and I picked up a XFX 8800GT 512mb Alpha Dog edition for only $59 Canadian. Worked well with a budget build I am making for someone.

Take your time and look around.

Also to note, non reference model 4850's will be hitting the market soon, so you could wait a month or so and pick one up.

 

[dmw16]

I picked up an 8800GTS for $129. The 4850 is a no-go because it is not supported by OSX86.

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: dmw16
I picked up an 8800GTS for $129. The 4850 is a no-go because it is not supported by OSX86.

I can't believe how many times you've had to repeat that in this thread. You may as well not bother, because it's clear no one's reading it.

 

[dmw16]

Originally posted by: DSF

Originally posted by: dmw16
I picked up an 8800GTS for $129. The 4850 is a no-go because it is not supported by OSX86.

I can't believe how many times you've had to repeat that in this thread. You may as well not bother, because it's clear no one's reading it.

Maybe I should get a 4850?

 

[videogames101]

Originally posted by: DSF
I strongly disagree with getting an E8600 as your processor. The price/performance is extremely bad compared to an E7200, E8400 or E8500.

have you seen the OCs on that chip? :Q