what do you think is the best CPU thats been made?

Sayso · 25 Sep 2009 at 21:52

ive only had 3....a 6750, q9550 and a 920 (im new) and considering when i bought them they were all the same price the 920 wins

edit :

h thats self built systems

Rroff · 25 Sep 2009 at 23:02

Pretty much any of the core 2 line tbh are fine chips and the i7 are pretty decent...

My Q6600 and E6600 are favs just for the sheer bullet proofness of them - can throw crazy voltages at them and they don't even flinch...

I had a "30 capper" Pentium 4 (3gig HT + 800FSB D or E stepping I think) and that was pretty nice as well - unlike the earlier P4s it didn't run silly hot and lame performance - and would OC like the clappers - tho I mostly ran it unclocked for fear of "electromigration" :S

setter · 26 Sep 2009 at 01:17

Rroff, if you dont mind me asking. is your 260gtx sli cards running under the q6600 and the 750i chipset board. i was a big fan of 680i boards with sli but could never get a good oc on that board with a q6600.

OrphanBoy · 27 Sep 2009 at 14:02

Too any x86 votes here! I remember being in awe of a PowerPC 604. The 603's have had a great longevity - plus remember that PowerPC is at the heart of each of the three major consoles out today

PGdude · 27 Sep 2009 at 14:42

To be honest I think my Q6600 is hitting a sweet spot, and isn't even overclocked yet.

Indy500 · 27 Sep 2009 at 15:19

I'd have to say the socket 462 AMD Athlon Thunderbird, the 750mhz model was my workhorse for 4 years and is still running in someone else's machine 9 years later.

trackrat · 27 Sep 2009 at 15:58

My vote goes to the AMD Duron, I built a computer about 9 years ago for a friend using one of these cheap CPU's and it is still going strong.

sturmtruppe · 27 Sep 2009 at 16:20

not one particular, but my fav is the conroe. It pushed cpu tech to the new level, which is what inspired me to build my own pc.

McstylisT · 27 Sep 2009 at 18:30

I would have to undoubtedly say the I7 920 D0 stepping.

I have had a good few CPU's. From P4's to Athlons / X2's / Original Phenom 1 , Core 2 , Quad Q6600 , Q9550.

The 920 is the most impressive. I paid £200 for mine retail D0 to my door. I have stably hit 4ghz. I had most of those mentioned CPU's when they were originally released. I paid a lot more for some of the others , like the X2 4200 £260 , X2 6000 @ £270. The return bang for buck was good but not anything exceptional. The 920 @ 4ghz does offer this. There are things that restrict the CPU as programs and hardware are not as fast at this moment in time. I also was reasonably late in moving over to the 1366 platform. I do not see any need for an upgrade in the near future at all. I still have head room too.

So the I7 920 is my golden nugget.

McT

GT3 · 27 Sep 2009 at 18:43

XP1700+ DLT3C JIUHB

It cost me £30 in 2003, its had a near enough 1ghz (1433mhz>2400mhz) overclock on it for 6 1/2 years. Its still my main pc and has never let me down and I've not really needed to upgrade as I dont game/encode etc.

Rroff · 27 Sep 2009 at 19:04

setter said:
Rroff, if you dont mind me asking. is your 260gtx sli cards running under the q6600 and the 750i chipset board. i was a big fan of 680i boards with sli but could never get a good oc on that board with a q6600.

Yeah Q6600 + EVGA 750i + 2x 260GTX...

Its a bit of a mess getting it stable to full speed but its possible:

In SLI mode the board doesn't like going above 800MHz on the memory - above that results in random NV4/NVDKLM BSODs.

Normally you can't get 65nm quads above 3gig - but with a simple voltage mod 3.6-3.8 is stable is possible... tho mine can do well over that on a P45 board :S it also takes a lot more VCore than I'm happy with.

I can't really fault the setup - but I'm quite tempted to move to a P55/i5 setup for SLI really.

setter · 27 Sep 2009 at 19:51

Yep, im considering giving sli another blast with my new i7 rig, if i can find another gtx 280, preferably an xfx xt to match the one i currently have.

Neil McCauley · 27 Sep 2009 at 20:42

Loved the Barton 2500+.
Have to agree with the posters mentioning the Q6600.
Both CPU royalty.

widnesjohn · 27 Sep 2009 at 21:04

q6600 still going strong and 2 years old

Rofflay · 28 Sep 2009 at 20:18

barton 2500M £50 from 2500-3300mhz

E6300 £70 from 1800-3600mhz

awesome chips, been the backbone of my last 2 rigs.its all about value and its a pity there hasnt been more sub 100 quid chips that can duke it out with the best.

from what i remember of the time sof those old chips right now would be the same as the i5 2.6 going for around £90.

PermaBanned · 28 Sep 2009 at 20:44

Pleanty of sub £100 chips that can 'dish out the dodo'. The 720BE, 550BE, Q6600 (if you're lucky), Athlon II 620... to name but a few.

niko · 28 Sep 2009 at 20:46

loved my fx55 san diago (still got sat here unused

)
could clock the nuts off it

Emlyn_Dewar · 28 Sep 2009 at 21:30

trackrat said:
My vote goes to the AMD Duron, I built a computer about 9 years ago for a friend using one of these cheap CPU's and it is still going strong.

Pencil mod 4tw!!!

Edit: Whilst I'm still sticking with the Barton 2500+ as my answer, I feel I should at least put in a positive word for the X2 3800+ , cheap-ish dual core action, occasionally with a great headroom for overclocking, what wasn't to like? *cough*initial prices aside...

Duke · 28 Sep 2009 at 21:40

P4 2.4c - the last of the good P4s. Could overclock over 3.3GHz with no problems and very quick & cool running.

Its_Me · 28 Sep 2009 at 21:52

Pentium Pro. <- i even linked it for those that never dreamed of owning one of these, how nice am I.

This is the Great Grandaddy