E6850 vs. Q6600

[derchris]

I know there is a C2D vs. C2Q thread, but I have some more specific questions

My current Sustem is a Pentium-D 830 3 GHz, Asus Strike Extreme, 4x512 Corsair XMS2, Geforce 7950 GT 256MB.

I would like to go for an upgrade, and there are 2 CPUs which I would go for.

1. C2D - E6850
2. C2Q - Q6600 G0

Which CPU is the best out of this 2.
Can one be overclocked to outperform the other?

Then I also would go for a Memory upgrade:

2Gb Mushkin DDR2 XP2-6400

Any comments on this?

I also want to get a new motherboard, but I don't know which one.
Asus is a good brand, but after some time with my Striker Extreme I was a little disappointed, and now I don't know if I should go for another Asus MB.

And maybe a Geforce 8800 GTS, but I'm not sure

Would use it mainly for some casual FPS Gaming, Photoshop, Video-Editiing, Web/Mail

Any help much appreciated

Regards,
Christian

[Cyb]

Hi,
Sorry to hijack the thread but i'll be interested in advice on this too as I am probably in the same position as you.

Only play Wow, and some times photoshop and video editing, beyond just general use.

The Duo looks right for me as the quad is more for hardcore gamers?

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

[BrianS]

Quad isn't really for "hardcore gamers" since at the moment only about 2 games use all 4 cores. (although that is likely to change soon)

Depending on how much video editing you do, go for the quad. For Video editing and animation I just upgraded to the Q6600 from a E6600 and it's made everything much quicker.

[Cyb]

Depending on how much video editing you do, go for the quad. For Video editing and animation I just upgraded to the Q6600 from a E6600 and it's made everything much quicker.

Ah for me at least it's once in a blue moon that I do video editing of home movies and the like, nothing grand scale.

I'm sure either will be faster than my current AMD athlon 64 3200 setup

[DanceswithUnix]

Cyb, when playing World of Warcraft I noticed no difference going from single core 3000+ to dual core 3800+, both play a stellar game. Graphics card is more important, where you need a 7600GS minimum for a smooth game.

So I would say it comes down to how much you video editing you do, as to whether BrianS's advice applies to you. If you are not so bothered, then the duo should be cheaper to build around thanks to lower PSU & cooling requirements.

[Pup]

When I bought my system about a month ago I had a similar decision. You will find as I did that most people will point you to the Quad core. I ended up going for the e6850 simply because my main priority was game performance (if winrar or divx encoding was a little slower it didnt matter as much to me), and most benchmarks showed that the e6850 outperformed the q6600 in current games by (i think) around 20%.

This is down to the fact that most current games dont take advantage of 4 cores. Crysis supposedly will, although I have not yet seen any benchmark comparisons, and I guess in time more and more games will.

My decision was based on that fact that I wanted the best performance now, and I decided I would upgrade to a 45nm Quad cpu in the future if enough games supported it.

[DanceswithUnix]

Ah for me at least it's once in a blue moon that I do video editing of home movies and the like, nothing grand scale.

I'm sure either will be faster than my current AMD athlon 64 3200 setup

Have you overclocked your 3200? What graphics card do you have?

The 3200 is really still not that bad by current standards.

[Fabula]

Both CPU's are good. The quad is slower now, but may be faster in the future as more games/apps take advantage of the increased cores. Both are darn fast though.

As for the ram, you've already got 2gig in 4 sticks, so why change?

[Cyb]

Never have overclocked mine tbh, i'm jsut using the fan that came with the cpu and not sure about overclocking, the Gigabyte software does allow you to overclock but wiht onyl 1 fan in my PC (the CPU fan) dont really want to fry it.

Its being used with a PNY 7300GS card with 256MB ram (PCIE I think)

[Cyb]

Cyb, when playing World of Warcraft I noticed no difference going from single core 3000+ to dual core 3800+, both play a stellar game. Graphics card is more important, where you need a 7600GS minimum for a smooth game.

So I would say it comes down to how much you video editing you do, as to whether BrianS's advice applies to you. If you are not so bothered, then the duo should be cheaper to build around thanks to lower PSU & cooling requirements.

It sounds more and more like the Duo is for me, but now im wondering abotu overclocking!

[DanceswithUnix]

It sounds more and more like the Duo is for me, but now im wondering abotu overclocking!

Might be time to start a new thread then on Warcraft optimisation if that is your aim. This is starting to deviate quite a lot from the original poster's question (which I can't really add much to, except I'm sure either CPU will be a delight after a P4).

[godsdog]

Multi-Core Confrontation: Core 2 Quad Q6600 vs. Core 2 Duo E6850

[s_kinton]

If you're intent on overclocking, then I would def go for the Q6600. Its got alot more power in reserve and will be used more and more in the future.

[EarlGrey]

To future proof, get the quad. Though either will be more than enough for you The 6850 will be faster for most of todays apps, but there are already some cases where the q6600 wins and these are only going to get more frequent.

Stick with the motherboard, there's not much to be gained in changing it unless you are after a specific feature. In games, the 8800GTS will make more difference than any other change!

[Cyb]

Might be time to start a new thread then on Warcraft optimisation if that is your aim. This is starting to deviate quite a lot from the original poster's question (which I can't really add much to, except I'm sure either CPU will be a delight after a P4).

My apologies to the OP, tis going off topic!

[spade99]

Both of these processors are far beyond the requirements for current software so you wont notice much difference between the 2. If anything try to think about what you plan to be doing with the computer next year to help make your decision.