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QX6700 or E8500

mgncdarkangel

mgncdarkangel

mgncdarkangel

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Joined
24 May 2007
Posts
43
Location
Scotland
Hi,

I am looking to upgrade my system.

Now i am going to be getting a GeForce 9800gx2, but im worried that my current core 2 duo E6600 @ 2.4GHz will bottle neck the GPU. So im wanting to upgrade the CPU as well.

Now ive looked around and i was set on a quad core, i was looking at:

Quad Core Extreme QX6700 @ 2.66GHz (around £580).

Ive recenty been on some benchmark sites and noticed the:

Core 2 Duo E8500 @ 3.16GHZ (around £190).

It is only just slower than the chip above, in fact on some applications its faster. So im undecided on which one to go for. Not to mention the fact the Core 2 Duo is a lot cheaper.

Any idea what i should go for.... this will be the last time i update my system for a lease 2 years!

I got the benchmark results from:

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html

DaRkAnG3L
 
depends on what you use your computer for, but seeing as your not going to upgrade for at least two years then the quad is a better investment. Get the q9450 when it comes in stock.
 
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You would be nuts to buy a QX6700, if you want to spend that kind of money at least get a QX9650!

You also get darn near the same performance from the Q6600 as the QX6700 which is only £150 odd and with a decent motherboard there is no need for the unlocked multi.

Not sure whether the mobo you have supports Penryn but you should check if you choose either QX9650, E8000 or Q9000 series CPUs....

The danger of buying from Tomshardware CPU charts is that you may not understand what the results actually mean, for instance they tend to use low resolutions intentionally to show differences in CPU performance when in reality there is very little in it (as most games are GPU intensive).

Like the QX6700 (well, nowhere the same extent but..) the E8500 is not really worth buying over the E8400. It is an extra £40 for only 160 Mhz, easily covered by a slight overclock. Any Core 2 CPU at 3 Ghz is not going to be a bottleneck.
 
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You and I know you will upgrade again in 6 months time if the hardware is good enough yeah?

Why are you going for a QX6700 when a Q6600 will overclock just as well if not better than it?

As has been already said, If you want a Quad core CPU wait for the Q9450
If you feel you won't make use of all 4 cores get the E8500.(wise choice would be the E8400)
 
Would I be correct in thinking that the Q9xxx series are, at stock, going to be the final "kings" of the Intel Socket 775 (given that some series beginning with "N" is due for release late 2008 and will be Socket 771)?

Or is there another 775 series due out that will (in theory) improve on the dual core 8xxx and the quad core 9xxx?
 
interestingly enough, no one has suggested this...

if you don't feel like upgrading, you could just overclock your E6600 to 3+ghz; those chips are pretty good performers. That way, you won't bottleneck the card, nor will you have to invest money for a new CPU and you can use that money to get the new GPU... that's what i'd do in your situation
 
thanks for the replies.

i hadnt looked at the 45nm quads... lol

The Q9450 @ 2.66GHz, hmmmm, i like that one a lot more!:)

One more question:

Im also running a DFI LanParty UT ICFX3200-T2R, now the down side to this is its max ram is DDR2 6400 (800MHz),will this be a problem?

I already have 4GB Corsair TwinX XMS2 DHX, DDR2 PC2-6400(800) CAS 5-5-5-18

P.S The current E6600 is overclocked to 3.0GHz, using a Zalman CPU Flower cooler. Also the signature is quite old, hense it only shows 2GB ram!

Heres the new signature, its to big to use on overclockers:

http://www.darkang3l.co.uk/images/DaRkAnG3Lsig1.jpg
 
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It might be, depends how far you want to overclock. As I said above, you also need to check it supports Penryn (45nm CPUs, Wolfdale, Yorkfield).

If all you do is game then I doubt you'll notice much difference between any of the CPUs you are considering and the E6600 @ 3 Ghz.
 
At the end of the day i have £1000 toput towards an upgrade, and all i know is im getting the geforce 9800gx2. I would like to go for the Q9450!

Can you suggest a motherboard? and possibly DDR3 ram? with that budget? (i do like gigabyte, been trying dfi recently!)

If so ill get that and a new version of Vista 64bit Ultimate. (need another copy if i change MB)

Ive got a OEM version! Been told it has to be changed if my MB changes!
 
I wouldn't really bother with DDR3 RAM atm, it's a waste of money IMO, overpriced for not that much of a performance increase

Naud
 
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mgncdarkangel said:
http://weblog.infoworld.com/gripeline/archives/2007/05/motherboard_rep.html

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2087792,00.asp

"It's important that people understand the OEM EULA when it says that your OEM Vista (XP is the same) can not be transferred to a new computer, and a new (upgraded) motherboard is also considered a new computer,"

This says it all really!
Click to expand...


I've put my OEM XP on a few computers, couple of times i've had to contact MS which took a few mins.

EDIT: ah right this is in regards to being legal not actually being able to do it.
 
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