All round 775 CPU in an HTPC?

[sastusbulbas]

Just another curiousity of mine.

I see that many of the Q series quads will become available with 65w ratings, bringing them into line with the power draw of the dual cores. What I am wondering is, if trying to build a multi use media pc, which has to be quiet and cool, is a low power quad core of more use than a dual core?

This PC will be used for just about everything inc games, movies and music. Not to mention the possibility of the work involved storing a very large DVD collection while doing other tasks. I am planning to base this on a Gigabyte P45 board, maybe with a passive 5750 as I am now thinking this will give better performance and be capable of being just as quiet than an integrated 785G option.

Quiet cooling will probably be with a Scythe Kama angle, which gives the benefit of being able to take a 120mm fan so if the stock fan aint cool enough an Asaka Apache could be fitted or such.

I was originally torn between these, and also wondering how important the Cache size is?

E6300
E8400
Q9550 (would take some saving and it seems expensive in light of i5)

But what of the lower priced Q****s 65w series quads?

 

[Lanz]

I was under the impression most Intel Quads were still 95W, and only the `S` ones were 65W (like Q8400S, Q9400S, Q9550S etc)

If your encoding DVDs a lot or converting your recordings to DVDs, then get a Quad, as it'll save a lot of time. If you dont do such stuff, then maybe save your money and get a cheap, cooler dual.

 

[niggyg]

I'm in the process of building a machine for the same reason so I'd be interest to hear other people's opinion on it too.

 

[Th3D0n]

get a q9400

 

[niggyg]

get a q9400

Is less cache a biggy?