What chip should i be getting, please help?!

[Yucca]

Ok i am behind on whats hot and whats not so need your help.

Im doing an upgrade from pc in sig and getting a intel setup. Now the core2duo's were very popular when they came out and everyone was raving on about them. Now i see the quads are out and the Q6600 is very popular.

So the questions...

1) Which Q6600 is everyone raving on about the energy efficiant one or the normal one? Whats the difference?

2) Whats the better chip to buy at the moment prices between £150-£200?

3) Seen as most things dont use 2 processors let alone 4 wouldnt i be better of buying a faster core 2 duo than a slower quad?

4) If i buy the Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 "LGA775 Conroe" 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail for example rather than the Q6600 wouldnt it be better and faster at most things as most things dont use dual or quad core technology and the E6850 has a faster bus and is a good few hundred mz faster, althought it has 4meg rather than 8meg cache?

Oh and i plan on using 2 gig of memory and running xp. Althought i want my setup to be future proof for vista and 4 gig of memory. Not sure on what memory im getting yet, as i have no clue but it'l be a 2 gig set, cant afford 4gig!

I do play games but not that much. I like my games to be fast and look good but this pc build is not for gaming only and i dont want to spend £x more or buy hardware especially for a particual game or 2 to run that extra 3fps!

I use my pc for office, internet, media, games, etc. But of everything. I just want it to be nippy around windows and be good for gaming and have the power to have torrents running, wmp showing a dvd and me typing on word without running like a snail.


SO anyone want to give me some advice. Please explain any advice so i know why you recommend what you do.

 

[Yucca]

Ah yea the E6750 is a good buy by the looks of things. Its basically the same as the one i mentioned but about £60 cheaper and a few hundred mhz slower.

How well and how easily do all these clocks chip. For example would i be right in saying that 99% of all of these chips can be clocked to 3ghz without much messing?

I could get the Q6600 and clock it to 3000mhz hence being as fast as the 6850 and have exta 2 cores and have 4 meg more cache. Or get the E6850 and clock it to 3000mhz same as the 6850 and save about £60. But whats the chances i can do that easily?

 

[Yucca]

Very easy to do.


With a G0 you will get a 3ghz clock on stock vcore and cooling.

This is the route to take.

Can anyone else verify this?

So i should get the Q6600, and the stock cooling is fine?

What memory (2gig) and motherboard as everyone using with these puppies?