upgrading to e6850 or q6600

[mocracker]

Hey guys,


I am upgrading my computer and I need to choose a cpu, I can go for a E6850 core 2 duo 3.0GHz or core 2 quad Q6600 2.40GHz

I am not a hardcore gamer. I play counter strike from time to time with some gta san andreas... I do video encoding once a month and I code in c++. Also I am running 2 virtual machines... (linux os's) what is the better deal, and should I get good ram or use old junk..

I am new to harware overclocking and probably wont get experienced soon.

thanks

[Wizzard1]

Ifyou do encoding, and compiling, the Q6600 will be faster, I think.

The fewer cores, the better they are at pushing FPS.
The more cores, better at parellel processing.

[spongiforme]

Quad-core is probably more future-proof, but it will presumably dissipate more heat than the double core, which may be annoying (slower machine for most applications but more noise, heat, etc.)

[mocracker]

Ok so if I will be looking for ultimate multi tasking, quad but if im looking for old games with no support for multicores then dual core but if i plan on buying new games then quad, also i would have to purchase a mega cooling station .



so if im looking for fps go for e6850
and if im not going to play games and am going to be video processing and compiling q6600

[spongiforme]

Another possibility is to buy a cheap core 2 using a 800 MHz FSB and to overclock it... also, if you are in the business of selecting a motherboard, try to choose one that will support the upcoming 45 nm CPUs... it seems that the added instructions will help video compression tremendously.

As for compilation, you have to compile a heck of a volume of code to really benefit from a quad core 2

[mocracker]

ok but if lets say i dont want to overclock at all, i could get the quad core and a 45nm cpu compatible motherboard..... or i could get the same motherboard and a dual core cpu... do you have any good resources i can learn to overclock... also im not planning on installing a water cooling device, do you think its nececary>

[spongiforme]

Avoid watercooling unless you use a quad core CPU, half a dozen disk drives and a monster video card such as a 8800 GTX. Else...



You may find advice and tests on sites such as:

http://www.anandtech.com/
http://www.extremetech.com/
http://www.xbitlabs.com/
http://arstechnica.com/index.ars

but these sites will encourage you to spend way more than necessary

[Guest]

ok, so when it comes down to every day surfing the web and the usual photoshop-ing go with quad?