is it worth buying a Q6600

[slypie]

Right might be wrong on this one but is it worth buying a Q6600? Don't applications and games have to be optimised to take advantage of a quad core to get the benefit of the full power from the 4 cores? Or should I just stick with my E6600.



Cheers in advance

[p4ul]

If you already have an E6600 then it may just be worth waiting for the newer cpus that will be out soon. But if you were trying to decide if you should buy E6600 or Q6600 i would get the quad core..

Even if an application may not use multi threads, it will still run slightly better on a quad as all the background processes would be taken care of by the rest of the cores. But yes, the apps do have to be built to make use of multi threads in order to get the full added benefit of the extra cores, thats right.

Also when you invest in a pc, we all know how hardware become out of date so quickly, so its best to have 4 cores than 2 if your buying a system right now. More and more applications and games are starting to make use of the extra cores, but having said that 2 cores is plenty for the time being, so i wouldnt bother upgrading from an E6600 to something that wont give you any more than 2 extra cores. (unless you multi task lots!)

The q6600 is one of the best cpu to buy right now though, it cheap and can be overclocked to more than 3ghz very easy, with air cooling!

[jabski]

yeah stick with your e6600 for now

[Tetras]

If you have to ask if a Q6600 is worth it then chances are you don't need it

[EarlGrey]

Stick with your E6600, If you're unsure then the chances are you don't need an upgrade.

However, if you feel you must upgrade then the Q6600 is definately the route to take, and will remain so for the foreseable future

[freddie]

there is nothing wrong at all with a e6600! it's plenty fast especially if you overclock it for most things.

quad shows it's advantage in rendering and encoding or if you multitask with 5 applications. if you do a lot of that then go for it, but wait till penryn comes out though! even faster, energy efficient and cheap-ish!

[Colossous]

I agree with the others above, if you're happy with your E6600 (a mighty fine chip !) then i'd keep hold of it untill the next gen quads are out which is'nt too far away !

[Blitzen]

However, if you feel you must upgrade then the Q6600 is definately the route to take, and will remain so for the foreseable future

It really not the route to take is it.
The next gen Quads are on there way so why waste the cash on a Q6600 now when you already have an E6600?

Stick with the E6600 until just after christmas.....You will find the next gen Quads are here and old ones like the Q6600 will be even cheaper if thats the route you decide on.

[sammie377]

I have the e6600 and the Q6600 and the Q6600 is quite a improvement running windows haven't timed it but everything does seem a bit nippier.

[Blitzen]

I have the e6600 and the Q6600 and the Q6600 is quite a improvement running windows haven't timed it but everything does seem a bit nippier.

Just running windows and games you wouldnt notice the difference.

If you were doing encoding/watching a film/buring a DVD and playing a gme at the same time you would though.

[sammie377]

Just running windows and games you wouldnt notice the difference.

If you were doing encoding/watching a film/buring a DVD and playing a gme at the same time you would though.

Should have mentioned main use is encoding whilst using it for work which involves photoshop, it is a noticable difference.

[charleski]

Penryn chips will show an even greater improvement, especially with tasks such as video encoding.

[Monks]

keep the e6600 for the time being like everyone else is saying. Wait until the new chips start getting relased before even considering an upgrade imo

[mountainmachine]

You dont really mention why you feel you need to upgrade? Is there a specific task that your E6600 isnt keeping up with?

[slypie]

Cheers guys for the help much appreciated. I think I'll take the advice given and hang fire. I wanted to upgrade my RAM to 4GB and my graphics card to a 8800GTS as well but I don't think it's worth it at the moment as I'm not that impressed with Vista so it's starting to look like a more pointless waste of money if I stick with XP as it won't take advantage of DX10.

[Dreaming]

I've got an 8800gts and am a bit cheesed off at the new GT which is both faster and cheap. So I went back to stage 1, stopped trying to beat my friends 3dmark scores (beat a guy with a c2q and 8800gtx on what I have - but can't beat watercooling ), and realised that everything I throw at it runs nicely, so why waste the money?

When things start to get sluggish on my e6300 then I'll upgrade and the great thing is, by then, for £100 I'll be able to get a penyrn quad core probably. (Last upgrade before the c2d was a xp2500+ which was still running my pc brilliantly)