terribly confussed

[martman]

I am wanting to start buying for a new build. I have a few questions that I cant figure the answers to.I am looking to build a good gaming machine. Also a slight overclock may be done. I dont have alot of pc tweakin experience.

C2D45nm vs C2Q 45nm vs
1. would it be better to go with the high end e8600 or the Q9650 ?
2. would a i7 920 be better than either of those 2 options?
3. if the i7 is better then is it only a stop-gap socket till the 1156 sockets are released?

OS
1. with a plan on running anywhere between 2-6GB of ram would XP 64 bit be easier and more stable than vista 64 bit?
2. how compatible are either of these 2 os's with most of todays programs and games?

Please dont flame me.. I am just very confussed and would like to spend my hard earned cash half-way wisely.

 

[palladium]

1. It really depends on what games you play - can they take advantage of quad cores? I think many people would recommend a quad nowadays since new games are now developed for 4 software threads. If you want to go for a dual, go for the E8400. Its much cheaper ( save the money for a good cooler and OC the chip - these can reach 4GHz with a good cooler) .

2. If all you do is gaming, you're better off with a C2D/C2Q setup. No games today ( not that I'm aware of anyway) can use 8 software threads, plus games tend to like the huge L2$ on C2D/C2Q chips , plus X58 mobos ( and DDR3) cost a lot more than S775/DDR2 . Of course, OCing an i7 920 is not easy on a stock cooler because these chips run very hot.

3. The 1156 are 'mainstream' Nehalem chips with dual channel memory and a PCIe interconnect ( rather than a QPI), as opposed to 1366 which are meant to be enthusiast platforms. You can read up Anand's write-up about this under CPU/chipset section.

4. I think most people here would agree with me that Vista x64 is MUCH better than XP, mainly because of better driver support. If you're going 64 bit, be sure to have at least 4GB RAM, and go Vista.

5. These 2 OSes have WOW64 which allows traditional 32 bit apps to run. However, you'd need 64 bit drivers for devices to work under these 2 OS, and additionally, all drivers must be signed under Vista x64. This means not all devices will work under 64 bit OS ( most new ones do have signed 64 bit drivers). I have Vista x64, and I use VirtualBox to run a virtual session of XP 32 bit just in case I have that odd device that do not have 64 bit drivers.

 

[Erock]

I would stick with a C2D/Q for now unless budget is not a factor. It sounds like people are very satisfied with their e8400's, which is the chip that I'd shoot for. To future proof your build I'd probably look more into a quad.

As for the os, Vista x64 has been very stable for me. I haven't run into any driver issues nor any problems running older programs/games.

 

[JMapleton]

If you're going to keep this system for more than three years, go with an i7.

 

[Tempered81]

Originally posted by: martman

C2D45nm vs C2Q 45nm vs
1. would it be better to go with the high end e8600 or the Q9650 ?
2. would a i7 920 be better than either of those 2 options?
3. if the i7 is better then is it only a stop-gap socket till the 1156 sockets are released?

1. if you have the money, and are OCing, the Q9650 is the best

2. id take a q9650 or e8600 over an i7. The e8400 is affordable/overclockable if you're budgeting.

3. current i7's are the enthusiast versions of nehalem

4. my vote is for vista 32 / xp 32

 

[Denithor]

Intel e8400 + Asus P5Q Pro combo $270 - $15MIR
G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2-800 $40
WD6401AALS Caviar Black 640GB

Add case/psu/gpu/dvdrw and you've got a gaming rig ready to go.

Vista 64 for sure.

You can add a fast C2Q in a year if games have started to feel sluggish and/or have better support for quad core processors.

Anyone telling you to spend >$500 on a Q9650 these days is either ignorant or dumb (sorry guys, that's my opinion). You can have an i7 920 and motherboard for that price and add 3GB DDR3 for a bit over the cost of 4GB DDR2, making an entry-level Nehalem rig cheaper than a high end C2Q.

 

[martman]

thank you for the replies... I'll try to take some of your advice into my final cpu decision.. Thanks again

 

[TidusZ]

Q9550 imo

 

[SunSamurai]

Vista 32 is crap. Vista 64 or XP 32 unless you want more ram and then it would be XP 64.

 

[SunSamurai]

Originally posted by: Denithor
Intel e8400 + Asus P5Q Pro combo $270 - $15MIR
G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2-800 $40
WD6401AALS Caviar Black 640GB

Add case/psu/gpu/dvdrw and you've got a gaming rig ready to go.

Vista 64 for sure.

You can add a fast C2Q in a year if games have started to feel sluggish and/or have better support for quad core processors.

Anyone telling you to spend >$500 on a Q9650 these days is either ignorant or dumb (sorry guys, that's my opinion). You can have an i7 920 and motherboard for that price and add 3GB DDR3 for a bit over the cost of 4GB DDR2, making an entry-level Nehalem rig cheaper than a high end C2Q.

?

Forget 3GB. Where are you finding 2GB DDR3 for anywhere close to 40$?

 

[JMapleton]

Originally posted by: aeternitas
Forget 3GB. Where are you finding 2GB DDR3 for anywhere close to 40$?

The G Skill deal on NewEgg. Best selling ram package on NewEgg.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Get a Core i7, you won't regret it.

 

[Denithor]

Originally posted by: JMapleton

Originally posted by: aeternitas
Forget 3GB. Where are you finding 2GB DDR3 for anywhere close to 40$?

The G Skill deal on NewEgg. Best selling ram package on NewEgg.

Exactly. And don't trash 3GB just yet, it's perfect if you plan to run XP32 on an i7 system.