Which way to go after E6550

[PeanutButter]

So my gf's little sister wants a new computer or at least revamp their existing one, and I may as well swoop in to offer some of my parts in a bundle for really cheap depending what goes in there. For sure there's gonna be my CPU and graphics card in there (see sig) so I was wondering which to pick up after I left my 6550 go (I feel like I got lucky with the overclock for the chip).

Anyways, the routes available to me at the moment are the E8400 or the Q6600 since they are pretty much in the same price range and really popular.

Would the new 45nm cpus be compatible with my ancient P5B Deluxe (still a beast from my findings comparisons)?

Which would give me a better "umph" coming from the 6550?

Thanks in advance! :thumbsup:

 

[Raider1284]

If you multitask, the q6600. If you solely game, as in full screen, dont bother me I'm gaming, then the higher clocked 8400 is your better bet. Most games dont use more then 2 cores so the one with the higher clock speed will be faster in games. If you like doing virus scans, while encoding, while playing a web game, while listening to music then the quad core will feel alot faster.

[EDIT] If you really want to take advantage you have her buy new parts for her new machine and then put them into yours and give yours to her. She most likely will not know any better and be happy with the newer faster machine, and you will be happy since yours is also newer and faster, and didn't cost you anything

 

[Gillbot]

E8400/E3110 imho. I went to the E3110 (same as E8400) then to the Q6600. I should have stopped at the E8400. Everyone argues you need the cores for games and blah blah but IMHO, how often to you really need 4 cores? Are you gaming 24/7 or is your computer idle most of the time. Plus, I still think my 4GHz oc'ed E3110 was MUCH faster than my 3.4GHz Q6600.

 

[PeanutButter]

Originally posted by: Raider1284
[EDIT] If you really want to take advantage you have her buy new parts for her new machine and then put them into yours and give yours to her. She most likely will not know any better and be happy with the newer faster machine, and you will be happy since yours is also newer and faster, and didn't cost you anything

This could be the ultimate con

Originally posted by: Gillbot
E8400/E3110 imho. I went to the E3110 (same as E8400) then to the Q6600. I should have stopped at the E8400. Everyone argues you need the cores for games and blah blah but IMHO, how often to you really need 4 cores? Are you gaming 24/7 or is your computer idle most of the time. Plus, I still think my 4GHz oc'ed E3110 was MUCH faster than my 3.4GHz Q6600.

I'm thinking I playing about 70% of the time I'm on the computer and the rest is miscellaneous from some sort of a media center, folding, sometimes Solidworks or Photoshop, lots of web browsing and such. I do agree that 4 cores doesn't do much for games since almost all of them and other programs nowadays only utilize 2 cores, I was just thinking about future adjustments just in case.

 

[Gillbot]

Many games now utilize 2+ cores but from my experience switching to the Q66, I wish I hadn't as the raw speed of the 2 core E3110 yielded me better ALL AROUND performance gains. If you are in a spot where you'd benefit from the extra 2 cores on the Q66, by all means go for it.

 

[fritzfield]

Originally posted by: Raider1284


[EDIT] If you really want to take advantage you have her buy new parts for her new machine and then put them into yours and give yours to her. She most likely will not know any better and be happy with the newer faster machine, and you will be happy since yours is also newer and faster, and didn't cost you anything

"Oh, how do you sl-e-e-e-e-p, nights?" John Lennon ca. 1973

 

[jellyrole]

If you think you can maintain a 3.5GHz clock speed all the time on a Q6600, I would personally do that.

 

[iBPJohn]

Unless she game,s giving her the 8800GTS would be somewhat of a waste. You should find a really cheap card 8400gs or 3450.

I'd also think you'd be happier with the dual core since you'll be doing gaming mostly.

 

[PeanutButter]

jellyrole: My P5B can hold my E6550 at 3.5ghz at 1.3v with a 7x500, so that's pushing it quite enough already; I don't think 3.5ghz on the Q6600 with 9x would be that complicated...or would it?

iBPJohn: I didn't realize I put up my 8800gts on the "for sure" list, I was kinda reluctant on passing it down to her since all they use the computer for is movies, internet, homework, etc. If I can't find (or does someone want to help me? ) a decent LGA775 motherboard with decent onboard graphics to replace their ancient one, then I will see where my card's fate lies.

Thanks for the input guys/gals! I'm also waiting on my friend's input who went in the Core2Duo to Q6600 boat a while back and utilizes his computer just about the same way I do.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: PeanutButter
iBPJohn: I didn't realize I put up my 8800gts on the "for sure" list, I was kinda reluctant on passing it down to her since all they use the computer for is movies, internet, homework, etc. If I can't find (or does someone want to help me? ) a decent LGA775 motherboard with decent onboard graphics to replace their ancient one, then I will see where my card's fate lies.

There aren't any good Intel IGP's. Just buy one of the ~$35 cards that iBPJohn recommended. They're more than enough for the uses you describe, and both even do HD video acceleration. BTW, welcome to anandtech, iBPJohn.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: PeanutButter
jellyrole: My P5B can hold my E6550 at 3.5ghz at 1.3v with a 7x500, so that's pushing it quite enough already; I don't think 3.5ghz on the Q6600 with 9x would be that complicated...or would it?

iBPJohn: I didn't realize I put up my 8800gts on the "for sure" list, I was kinda reluctant on passing it down to her since all they use the computer for is movies, internet, homework, etc. If I can't find (or does someone want to help me? ) a decent LGA775 motherboard with decent onboard graphics to replace their ancient one, then I will see where my card's fate lies.

Thanks for the input guys/gals! I'm also waiting on my friend's input who went in the Core2Duo to Q6600 boat a while back and utilizes his computer just about the same way I do.

Yes it will be. I went from a E6550 @ 3.5GHz to a E3110 at 4+GHz then I tried the Q6600 and i'm having a hard time getting above 3.2GHz.