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To Quad Core Or Not To Quad Core

lettuce

lettuce

lettuce

Associate
Joined
15 Oct 2007
Posts
2,186
Location
Bedfordshire, UK.
Am thinking of building a new system, (come on its been almost a year) had a Q6600 in my current system (3.4Ghz) and not really noticing any benefits over having a Dual Core proccessor, so am just trying to decided weather to get a Quad core again (possibly the Q9550) or go for a dual core (Possibly the, E8600 LGA775 'Wolfdale' "Overclocking E0 Stepping" 3.33GHz). What are peoples views?, want to get around 4.0GHz on air, i know the dual core tend to have a higher stock clock speed and cheaper for more GHz, or should i look at another cpu other than the 2 i listed above :)

below is possible build:

Q9550 or E8600
Asus Maximus II Formula Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium 7.1 Sound Card
Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 650W ATX2.2 Modular SLi Compliant PSU
Antec Twelve Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case
 
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If the applications you use/will use make use of a quad then get a quad. If the applications you use don't make use of quad and instead would benefit from any extra hz get a dual.
 
Well it will mainly be for the internet and gaming, can think of 2 games that make use of a quad Supreme commander and farcry 2
 
I'd wait till i7 is out and u can pick up a decent 9550 second hand cheap. Bound to be a few people making the jump, and it can only be good news for us that are looking for some quad core goodness on a budget!
As the prices are now, it wouldnt be worth your while upgrading, £100+ for a small increase in performance overall. What about taking your Q6600 a little farther? Or are you as far as temps will allow?
 
I have had myQ6600 @3.8ghz 55c load had to give it a volt increase
so I left the volts back to default and now run it @3.5 40c max
and it deals with everything happily
I'm playing crysis and the frame rate is superb
excellent motherboard and a excellent cpu
 
I have more or less the system you are proposing as your new build.
I also have a [email protected] and an [email protected]. There is no discernable difference
in day to day tasks between the two. I use the pc for gaming too and again no difference. Frame rates etc. very close (even to my old Q6600@3825Mhz). It's all about the GPU nowadays and keeping it 'fed'.
I'm still keeping the Q9650 though and selling the E8600. Just one more thing, if the build uses Windows XP, then use the latest X-Fi Titanium Beta drivers or you will be plagued by BSOD relating to the card ;)
 
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Ill be using Vista 64, the Q9650 is around 40 quid more than the E8600 however, but i take it the E8600 is a better Overclocker? What sort of temps where you getting Bito, with both of these cpus at those speeds, and what cooling where you using?
 
Q9650 if you can keep it cooled at high clocks and you have the money. I think you should consider the E8400 vs the Q9650. Price difference there Makes it a lot harder decision.
 
Watercooled.....Running Prime 95
[email protected] 49c-55c Across all 4 cores.
[email protected] 59c on both cores.

All with the GTX280 in the loop.

Both low vid cpu's.
I have not taken the Q9650 over 1.3v yet, so not 'clocked to its max.
The E8600 is at 1.32v in cpu-z under 100% load.
 
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