No oc, which would be better for long term

[imported_hopeless]

I'm looking for some info / advice between E6850 & Q6600, at Dell these are $50 different in price. The system is for my dad and there will be no ocing. It will have vista on it also.

He mainly surfs the net and plays net based games, but he does play retail games some. Which would be better for the long term, he has been using a 1.8 Ghz P4 with a Geforce 4 4600i for about 5 yrs now I think.

 

[NoelS]

hopeless,

I don't think you could lose with either one. I have a 6850 and am quite satisfied with it... as far as the q6600, lots of people say it's the future, but I don't see where the 4 cores will all be used until software is written that will take advantage. Maybe in the future...

I'd say go with the less expensive one. I'm sure your father will enjoy the rig either way.

Noel

 

[Phunk0ne]

NoelS:

Ever thought about audio/video/3D/Imaging? And already certain games do make use for more than 1 core. Sure it might not be there yet, but you will see more and more programs/games that will make use of multiple cores.
But since OP's dad is not an intensive/power user, a dualcore would be more than sufficient. Then again, with only $50,- difference, why bother saving

 

[Riverhound777]

I would say stay away from the E6850 as it has been replaced with the E8500. I would recommend the E8400 or the Q6600. Or maybe even wait for the Q6600 replacement which should be out in a few months.

 

[DSF]

For what your dad does, I would look at saving him money and not getting either. Do you have the option to go with a slightly less powerful dual-core?

 

[sutahz]

Not that your dad needs it now, nor will he in 5 yrs, but for $50 more I'd get quad core. With what he does he wont notice the difference between the 2 cpu's but 4 yrs from now, maybe 4 cores will be better then 2 faster cores... ya know?

 

[secretanchitman]

how about getting him an amd system if you want to save money? unless he really notices the speed, then amd/intel shouldnt matter.

 

[imported_hopeless]

Thanks for the info.

From the spec sheet he emailed me, these are the lowest cpus. Not sure if it matters much but the Q6600 is $50 less than the E6850.

Also is there much of a real world difference between 667MHz vs 800Mhz ram? This is also a $50 difference.

 

[NoelS]

hopeless,

Not that he'd notice with what he'll be doing. Get the Q6600 and the 667 ram.

See, you've just saved $100

Noel

 

[DSF]

If those are your options, and he expects to keep the computer 4-5 years like he did with his other one, definitely get the quad-core and the 667 RAM.

 

[imported_hopeless]

Thanks for the input everyone.

Told him to go with the Q6600 with 667Mhz ram. Also with the length of time he keeps a pc there very well could be more software that can use a quad.

The $100 that was saved there I had him put towards a better video card, the one he picked out was low side of midrange at best. I just didn't think that would last him as long as he would like.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Good choice, strange how they price them like that.

The E6850 would be a little faster in most everything except cpu intense multithreaded apps, but it wouldn't be really noticable.