Q6700 or E6850? ($$$ is NOT an issue)

[Zillatech]

I was reading the article on TH about the Q6600 vs. E6750 but I'm still on the fence a little. I'm building a RIG w/ the following specs:

ABIT IP35 Pro Motherboard or ASUS P5E (X38)
SeaSonic M12 SS-700HM Power Supply
Intel Q6700 CPU w/ Zalman 9700 LED HS/F
CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
(2) Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB (NO RAID)
GeForce 8800GTS (G92 Variant) due out 12/3/2007.
Sony NEC Optiarc 18X DVD Burner (SATA)
LIAN LI PC-A16B ATX Mid Tower Case
Audigy2 or X-Fi Sound Card

Will I have any problems lowering the CPU multiplier from 10 to 9 w/ this board?

I'm hoping for a mild overclock of 9x333 (as I've never had any luck w/ Overclocking)

I know many will say just go with a Q6600 and OC it but again, I've had poor luck with Overclocking in the past and $$$ is not an issue. I don't want to wait for the Penryn's either because I'm already eyeing the "Nehalem" CPU which will require a different socket, etc.

Q6700 only comes in a G0 stepping so a 3GHz speed should be easy with my Zalman 9700 & Lian-Li case.

Also, I don't do any Video editing or decoding but I'm thinking about doing Virtual PC/VMWare for testing other OS's (Servers, Vista & the like). I mostly Game, Surf the Net & listen to music in the background while running NOD32 AV.

If $$$ were no option what would most of you go for? I know that the worst case is I get a Quad Core @ 2.66GHz which will more than accommodate any older games and also "future proof". IMO, the GPU is always the most important factor in gaming which could easily be upgraded.

What are everyone's thoughts? (Thx in advance)

 

[Brutus04]

Your luck with OC'ing is bound to change with the IP35 Pro. 3GHz seems very conservative considering what I have been reading with regards to the 35's OC capability. Not sure the 1066 memory at this point will add any performance value. You definitely do not need all that horsepower to use VMware. Get yourself a kickass monitor and have fun.

 

[bryanW1995]

if $$$ is not an issue then buy the QX9650 penryn quad core, it's already out.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
if $$$ is not an issue then buy the QX9650 penryn quad core, it's already out.

Haha, no doubt.

Originally posted by: Zillatech
Will I have any problems lowering the CPU multiplier from 10 to 9 w/ this board?

No, but you'll have hell getting either of those processors up to a 10x multiplier. The Q6600 has a 9x multi, and the E6750 has an 8x multi, and neither can go higher.

 

[RussianSensation]

Honestly from what you've said above you wont really benefit from a quad core. Since you already plan to upgrade to nehalem, someone like you shouldn't really worry about futureproofing. Given that you arent fully confident in overclocking, just get the dual core 3.0ghz 6850 and that should easily last you until Nehalem even without overclocking.

On another note, that ram is complete overkill for either processor. Something like 2 gigs OCZ Platinum Rev 2 DDR2 800 - $34 will max out the 6850, Q6600 and Q6700. With your modest goal of 9x 333 even DDR2 667 will be enough

Raptors are noisy beasts. Get the larger Samsung F1 series for the price of 2 raptors instead. That's 1 terabyte of space and top notch performance - Samsung F1 benches

 

[Zillatech]

Thanks for the input. I don't mind the $500.00 range for a CPU but $1200.00 I do mind, thats why the QX9650 is out for me. Why is the RAM so much overkill? I want to run it @ 1.5 Multiplier and $150.00 for 2 GB of ram is cheap to me. Plus having such fast ram insures the Memory won't hold me back with any overclocking.

I will either OC the E6850 to 3.2/3.3 or the Q6700 to 3.0 and I should still be able to run the ram @ 1.5 x FSB.

The raptors are fine for me, I've been running the 74GB ones for a couple years now and I really like the quickness they provide + I don't use much storage space compared to most ppl.

 

[VStrom]

wait until mid Jan and get one of the Wolfdale dual cores (E8300, E8400, etc). They will perform better than the current chips and run cooler due to the 45nm build. For you a quad core is overkill but the 2GB of RAM is not -keep it at 2GB. By the time quad cores are applicable for day to day use, Nehalem will be out and you will be upgrading anyway. I am in the same boat as you right now.

Also, I'd consider the Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 board over the Abit. Check review here:
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/581/1/

 

[jjmIII]

I have a Quad-core for no good reason at all .

I suggest you get one too !!

 

[Zillatech]

I think I have the answer that puts "Quad Core" in the winners circle. I was just testing out Unreal Tournament III (Demo) and it eats 97% of my X2 4600+ resources alone (both cores). I've looked at plenty of benchmarks now & it seems to me that for the small difference in clock speed between the E6850 & Q6700 that going "Quad" will provide an overall "Smoother" computing experience, even if I'm not taxing the system all the time.

Can any Q6600 owners chime in to verify this?

I think I'll go with the Q6700 and try the mild OC to 3GHz. I think I'll be better in the end, even over the next 12 months until "Bloomfield" comes to town.

 

[VStrom]

Here is an interesting article on quad vs duo.
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000942.html

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I could've stuck with my E6600 @ 3.3 Ghz. When the price-drop occurred on July 28, I couldn't help myself and bought the Q6600 with B3 stepping, then kicked myself because I didn't wait for the G0. The Q6600 is running at 3.2 Ghz.

From the gitgo, I wanted to build a machine that would do "everything," and that includes rendering and encoding. I haven't made any hard and fast comparisons with the E6600 setup -- which is going into another machine so that I can cautiously familiarize myself with VISTA 64.

But I'm not at all unhappy with the quad-core system. It's stable, it's fast. Where I go from here, I'm not sure. I'm hoping I can skip the G0 stepping and try a Wolfsdale or Yorkfield, when the prices seem right. My mobo compatibility with Wolfsdale is confirmed; with Yorkfield, it only seems "likely" with a BIOS revision. I'll just stay out here in the water paddling, and see what happens when the wave with the right price-amplitude hits.

No matter what I do, I always "feel the need for speed."

 

[NicePants42]

Uh, I'd just like to make a RAM recommendation:

2x2gb G.Skill DDR1000 @ Newegg...x?Item=N82E16820231145

 

[Zillatech]

Originally posted by: VStrom
Here is an interesting article on quad vs duo.
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000942.html

I looked at that article and what's interesting is the Xbit review "conclusion" was that going quad is the preferred solution. In my case it would be even more relevant because I'm only giving up a 13% difference at "stock speeds". The mild OC to 3GHz would negate that entirely so going Quad is looking even better now.

I'm really hoping someone will do a UT3 core scaling article along with Crysis, etc. or at least more articles on Dual vs. Quad. Even if you have an application taking (2) cores, that still doesn't leave you any extra CPU headroom for AV or other background applications like that w/ a dual core system.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articl...ad-q6600_12.html#sect0

 

[idiotekniQues]

Originally posted by: Zillatech

Originally posted by: VStrom
Here is an interesting article on quad vs duo.
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000942.html

I looked at that article and what's interesting is the Xbit review "conclusion" was that going quad is the preferred solution. In my case it would be even more relevant because I'm only giving up a 13% difference at "stock speeds". The mild OC to 3GHz would negate that entirely so going Quad is looking even better now.

I'm really hoping someone will do a UT3 core scaling article along with Crysis, etc. or at least more articles on Dual vs. Quad. Even if you have an application taking (2) cores, that still doesn't leave you any extra CPU headroom for AV or other background applications like that w/ a dual core system.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articl...ad-q6600_12.html#sect0

with a q6600 G0 you should hit 3.3 without a sweat.

that will upset the balance of that article in a huge way.

 

[Zillatech]

Originally posted by: NicePants42
Uh, I'd just like to make a RAM recommendation:

2x2gb G.Skill DDR1000 @ Newegg...x?Item=N82E16820231145

Thanks for the link, I might check that out. That's a really good price for that ram too. Is G.Skill quality ram like Corsair, Crucial, etc.? I've never had any experience with them.

 

[NicePants42]

I haven't had any personal experience with them either, but I wouldn't hesitate to use their RAM from what I've read on various forums. If I didn't already have extra ram just lying around, I'd be all over those sticks.

 

[thegimp03]

Not to threadcrap or anything, but G.Skill ram is very good ram. I have 2 gb of ddr500 sitting in my 939 system at home and haven't had any issues. Would buy again.

As for the quad vs dual discussion, it seems like more and more games are taking full advantage of multiple core systems and this will increase significantly in the next couple of years. I'd buy a quad core proc if I were to upgrade right now.

 

[Zillatech]

Well, I just ordered it and went with the Quad Core & the 2x2GB G.Skill Ram. I can't believe how much RAM prices have dropped the past few weeks! The RAM has a life time warrantee and it will run @ 1:1.5 ratio on 333FSB so I should be able to attain my 3GHz CPU OC without taxing the RAM or the MB too much.

I also went with the ASUS P5E (X38) Motherboard over the Abit board. That's the only part that is kinda new but so far is getting solid reviews and it supports PCI-E 2.0 & has a better layout component wise for the case I will use and for the Zalman 9700LED. I was a little worried about the Zalman bumping up against the PS Unit w/ the Abit board.

I'll post back with my experiences once I have everything built and tested.