Hi Guys,
Time to build another box and it's been a year or two...
I have a Gigabyte X38-DS4 board and am looking for an Intel Quad for it. It supports the Q6600/6700 and the new 8 and 9 series quads.
I don't want to overclock it, but I DO need hardware virtualisation, so that rules out the 8 series I believe.
Looking at scan's prices, I see the Q6700 OEM for £142 and the Q9400 at £185.
Given identical clock speeds, higher fsb on the Q9400 vs more cache on the Q6700, I'm guessing there's not a lot in it for performance so it looks like the Q6700 has it on price (not worth an extra £40 for the Q9400). Anyone know of any better priced alternatives?
As to cooling, at stock speeds, I have an Intel stock cooler (unused from a Q6600) or last time I was buying, the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro was the recommended budget cooler of choice (although the price seems to have gone up a little). Is this still the best budget option, should I stick with the Intel stock cooler, or are there other preferable options now?
Thanks for any advice.