yet another which cpu thread. I know how you all love these 
...(oh joy!)
ok, current cpu is an old skool 3400+ clawhammer (754) on a nf3 250 chipset
basically i'm goin back to uni after summer to finish my final year (on placement at the min) and I've got my final year project to do.
I'm on a comp sci + games tech course and last year did tonnes of 3D studio max, hammer editor, HL2, photoshop etc on my current system and to be quite honest, it struggled quite badly with even the slightest complex models. to the point where everything would freeze for a bit when it changed to the next MP3 in my playlist lol
This year i'll be doing more of the same plus a lot more on top as i'm planning on making a game or something games oriented for my project
Then to throw a spanner into the works, this new PC's gonna be part of a HTPC so needs to be as close to passive as possible and capable of playing hd-dvd's smoothly at 720p (1080p would be nice for the future though)
So the question. what cpu, bearing in mind i'll be running it at stock only! i've pretty much narrowed it down to 3, the e6320, e6600 and xeon x3210. the e6320 i know can run passive providing i have airflow in the case. the e6600 is a maybe, or at least a slow moving fan but i dont know for the x3210. I'd imagine the 2 extra cores make it get a bit toasty
I've read all the reviews and seen the benchmarks etc on how quad core gives crazy boosts in 3DS compared to the same clocked dual core etc but still a bit undecided
can anyone offer a few opinions?
...(oh joy!)ok, current cpu is an old skool 3400+ clawhammer (754) on a nf3 250 chipset
basically i'm goin back to uni after summer to finish my final year (on placement at the min) and I've got my final year project to do.
I'm on a comp sci + games tech course and last year did tonnes of 3D studio max, hammer editor, HL2, photoshop etc on my current system and to be quite honest, it struggled quite badly with even the slightest complex models. to the point where everything would freeze for a bit when it changed to the next MP3 in my playlist lol
This year i'll be doing more of the same plus a lot more on top as i'm planning on making a game or something games oriented for my project
Then to throw a spanner into the works, this new PC's gonna be part of a HTPC so needs to be as close to passive as possible and capable of playing hd-dvd's smoothly at 720p (1080p would be nice for the future though)
So the question. what cpu, bearing in mind i'll be running it at stock only! i've pretty much narrowed it down to 3, the e6320, e6600 and xeon x3210. the e6320 i know can run passive providing i have airflow in the case. the e6600 is a maybe, or at least a slow moving fan but i dont know for the x3210. I'd imagine the 2 extra cores make it get a bit toasty
I've read all the reviews and seen the benchmarks etc on how quad core gives crazy boosts in 3DS compared to the same clocked dual core etc but still a bit undecided
can anyone offer a few opinions?