Quad or Dual

[staffsMike]

Yep NightShadow has the right idea. It's all about the time frame.

If you plan on upgrading ever year or so then just get a cheap dual until the quad you want is released (not that the Q9450 is going to be much better than the Q6600 imo.)

If you want your PC to last for the next 3 or 4 years then you don't want a cheap or expensive dual for that matter, you want a quad as long as you can afford it.

[EarlGrey]

If you are spending £150 or more on a processor than get the q6600. But as has been said, a sub £100 processor will likely be sufficient. And it won't be hard to drop a new quad processor in to it in a years time.

If you are building it yourself, why do you want it to last 3 years without modification? Part of the advantage of building it yourself is the ability to upgrade as and when you need to.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

you cant upgrade much on todays mobo's and core 2 because a new complete socket will come out in less then a year so if you build one now it will be obsalete in a years time and you cannot upgrade it further.

nehelam will use a complete new socket and ddr3 leaving you core2 to do a complete re build

[Blitzen]

If you are spending £150 or more on a processor than get the q6600. But as has been said, a sub £100 processor will likely be sufficient. And it won't be hard to drop a new quad processor in to it in a years time.

If you are building it yourself, why do you want it to last 3 years without modification? Part of the advantage of building it yourself is the ability to upgrade as and when you need to.

I agree...i was just comparing the two cores.

If anyone is spending £100 or more on a CPU then the Quad core (whether it be Q600 or Q9450), they are both far better value and imho, a better core than the E8*** series are ever likely to be.

In fact, secondingMikes opinion , the Q9450 by the looks of it, isnt going to offer much, if anything over the Q6600 anyway.

I got lucky and got mine from here second hand (just a couple of months old aswell and full retail). For the £125 i paid, the E8*** series cores, even if they were correctly priced at around £120ish, still wouldnt have got a look in over this.

The E6*** series cores are all but dead now with the E2*** being such good value and great overclockers.

I put a E2180 in a build for someone in December and it was fantastic. It only cost £43 aswell..........

[dangel]

I suppose the question is.. if you buy a dual core now and upgrade later - will it actually cost you less? I'd think not. So if you can afford it, go quad..