Stock E6850 or Something else OCed?

[lessonz]

Okay, I can spend up to $2000 for the complete machine (case and in), but the less the better. I'm a newbie, but not a n00b.

I don't really do any encoding/ripping/modeling, and so I'm leaning towards one of the Duos over the Quads (but I'd still be interested in opposing opinions). My most intensive use will definitely be gaming. I'm leaning towards the Armor Full Tower case, and I hear it has really good airflow (plus ambient is kept at 70F year round). I'd much rather not do water cooling as that would put a big dent in my budget.

What processor makes the most sense for me? Does air cooling mean I should stick to a stock CPU? What are the chances of getting a CPU that just doesn't overclock well?

I'd also appreciate any advice on other components for my build, but I realize I'm on the CPUs and Overclocking board.

I'm leaning towards Vista, so there may be some driver problems there. I would appreciate any insight here.

Any thoughts/input/advice appreciated. Thanks.

 

[swtethan]

Games are going multiple core, alan wake, crysis, supreme commander, even the Source engine will have a multiple core support. Quad core will be a greater benefit to you in the future, you cannot add more cores to a 6850 @ 3.0ghz, but you can up the speed on a Q6600 @ 2.4ghz


Even with Dual core optimized games, I'd rather have my other two cores handling my windows background stuff on a quad leaving me two whole cores for the game.

 

[Curious142]

How much "windows background stuff" are you running? And how much "windows background stuff" makes it worthwhile to use a quad instead of a dual? Just curious.

CB

 

[swtethan]

Stuff like anti virus, instant messaging, nothing BIG, but every little thing counts. If a game can use both of your cores 100%.... then where are your background services going to go?

 

[Curious142]

So I guess the moral of the story is that you can't have too many cores. Too bad since I just received my new e6850 yesterday. I could have had a q6600.

CB

 

[lessonz]

Okay, but what about the cooling issue? I hear the Q6600 runs hot, well I heard all of the quads do.

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: Curious142
So I guess the moral of the story is that you can't have too many cores.

CB

You can't take the quads to 4ghz either, which you should certainly be able to do with your e6850 and some nice memory (on air).

 

[btdvox]

Serisouly E6850 is a better buy than the Q6600 for gaming at this point, Look at SupCom bench (these are the same from most reviewers too) The e6850 beats it in almost every account ive seen it
http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rlid=152920

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: lessonz
Okay, I can spend up to $2000 for the complete machine (case and in), but the less the better. I'm a newbie, but not a n00b.

I don't really do any encoding/ripping/modeling, and so I'm leaning towards one of the Duos over the Quads (but I'd still be interested in opposing opinions). My most intensive use will definitely be gaming. I'm leaning towards the Armor Full Tower case, and I hear it has really good airflow (plus ambient is kept at 70F year round). I'd much rather not do water cooling as that would put a big dent in my budget.

What processor makes the most sense for me? Does air cooling mean I should stick to a stock CPU? What are the chances of getting a CPU that just doesn't overclock well?

I'd also appreciate any advice on other components for my build, but I realize I'm on the CPUs and Overclocking board.

I'm leaning towards Vista, so there may be some driver problems there. I would appreciate any insight here.

Any thoughts/input/advice appreciated. Thanks.

Get a tuniq tower or thermalright ultra 120 xtreme cpu cooler and you'll be able to overclock anything you get quite a bit with nice temps. I would spend $200 on an e6750 now and then plan a drop-in quad core upgrade next year when penryns get reasonable. They might get really reasonable really fast if amd can make a few more phenoms that'll do 3.0 ghz, too. I'd steer clear of the dq6 mobo since gigabyte has announced that they'll stop making it when the x38 comes out. Of course, many high-end p35 mobos will probably disappear at that time, too, so there are no guarantees. Realistically it would be hard to go wrong with a $200 p35 mobo. 8800 gtx is under 500 at newegg right now, but you might look at a crossfire setup since all the high end p35's support it (sort of). ATI is supposed to have some new gpu's out in early sept and x38 is also supposed to be out then, can you wait that long or do you need to build this now?

 

[lessonz]

Well, I'm not interested in x38 because of the DDR3. It's going to cost a good bit more to get the same performance as some of the DDR2 out there.

 

[Tboy012]

i have my e6850 with a mild oc of 3.6 with 1.375 vcore on bios right now, havent had a chance to mess it with more yet

temps on load was around 40 with a w/c setting on low

sort of sucks i cant use any programs to tell what my vcore on windows

both cpu-z and coretemp reports 1.275

 

[Hauk]

Originally posted by: lessonz
Well, I'm not interested in x38 because of the DDR3. It's going to cost a good bit more to get the same performance as some of the DDR2 out there.

Sounds like you've researched enough to answer your build questions without the need to generate another dual/quad core debate.

Bryan gave the best advice if you're not interested in x38. Get one of the two coolers he mentioned, a P35, and the cpu of your choice. Dual or quad, the board and cooling will be adequate...

 

[bryanW1995]

just to further confuse the issue, gigabyte is going to make an x35 ddr2 board.