Looking for opinions on CPU

[xj0hnx]

I am building a new rig at the moment, so far I have...

BFG 680i LT SLI motherboard
2x2GB OCZ DDR2 PC6400
Antec 650w TruPower Trio
1 150BG WD Raptor (will probably add a Seagate 500GB 7200.11)
BFG 8800GT OC (possibly getting another for SLI if I get a bigger montior)
Antec 900 case

So, I was dead set on getting a Q6600 to round it out, but my local CompUSA sold out of the ones on sale, and not too hype about the $275 new price tag. I was thinking about the E6550, E6600 or E6750. I probably will not be overclocking, but maybe.

Anyway, any opinions about whether I should stick to my guns on the Q6600, or settle for one of the Duo Cores, and if so, which one?

 

[blipblop]

Hi, if you can swing it, stick with the Q6600. I just finished building my brother's computer with an E6750. Wasn't planning to o/c, but just decided to do a little o/c up to 2.9GHZ haha... I think you should be fine. It's $100 dollars cheaper as well.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I have the E6600 and Q6600 in the earlier stepping releases.

with the G0 stepping, if I only had a choice between the same two models, I'd pick the quad.

Now suppose I couldn't or wouldn't get the quad. If I could only get the E6750 or the other C2D's you mentioned, I'd go for the E6750. But ask me which C2D I'd rather have over that choice, and I'd pick the E6850.

You might be able to OC the E6750 farther, starting from 2.66 Ghz (?). On the other hand, your over-clock range for the E6850 begins with a starting point of 3.0 Ghz, even if you can't push it as far in added Mhz.

 

[MarcVenice]

e6750, crank it up to 3.0ghz, it's dead easy, then you'll be fine for games for quite a while ... and if you don't want to overclock, and the cpu becomes to slow in a year or so, then you might decide to just overclock it anyways

 

[ScrewFace]

I bought the Q6600 and a friend of mine has one overclocked to 3.55GHz from its stock 2.4Ghz. The Q6600 is more future-prood having 4 cores and all.:beer:

 

[graysky]

Agreed, get the Q6600 and make sure it's a G0 stepping before you buy it. You should be able to do 9x333 with no problems assuming low vcore chip and a good cooler (ultra-120 ex comes to mind).

 

[j0j081]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
e6750, crank it up to 3.0ghz, it's dead easy, then you'll be fine for games for quite a while ... and if you don't want to overclock, and the cpu becomes to slow in a year or so, then you might decide to just overclock it anyways

unless something dramatically changes in the way games run the e6750 will probably be good for at least two years I would say especially with ocing.

 

[xj0hnx]

Thanks for the comments so far. The future proofing remarks are what has kept me gravitating towards the Q6600. Bar some financial disaster I believe I will stay the course.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: xj0hnx
Thanks for the comments so far. The future proofing remarks are what has kept me gravitating towards the Q6600. Bar some financial disaster I believe I will stay the course.

Go with the e6550 - save $100. Pretty easy OC up to 50%.

e6750 for a tick higher multi an an extra $20

Unless you have specific applications which will run parallel threads - basicly a handful of encoding apps - the quad gives you little if anything over dual core.

More cores are not necessarily better nor do they provide any level of future-proofing.

 

[BakaTsuchiro]

got a E6750 and got it to 3.4ghz w/o a problem

 

[Navig8tor]

I have a 6420 that screams. If you go with a 6750 or 6850 then you get the faster fsb without having to do any oc'ing. The quad core sounds so tempting, I understand the decision that you have in front of you. Get the core 2 build your machine and if its not enough just sell the processor and grab a quad.