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Q6600?

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by redZoneOS, Feb 21, 2008.

  1. redZoneOS

    redZoneOS Regular member

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    first, what would be better to purchase, the 45nm E8400, or the 65nm Q6600? Right now micro center has a sale on the quad core so the prices are almost identical (189.99/199.99 for either processor)... Seems kind of obvious to pick the Quad core, but this question is related to the following.

    Second, assuming the concensus is to go quad core, is it worth it to buy the Q6600 now for the 199.99 or wait a month for the mainstream 45nm Quad cores and pay the extra 70 or so dollars? In this case, would it be better to buy the 45nm E8400 or the upcoming 45nm Quad cores that will likely be about 80 or 90 dollars more??

    System will be used for gaming, basic media encoding (e.g. avi to DVD, etc)...

    please answer without taking overclocking into consideration, as I'm not sure if my friend will be willing to.

    Thanks
     
  2. Waymon3X6

    Waymon3X6 Regular member

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    If you do video editing, then the Quad Core is the way to go. However, the E8400 is pretty good, and pulls off benches close to the Q6600 but with apps that are threaded to use all cores, the Q6600 would have an advantage.

    BTW, you could get the Q6600 for about $170 on newegg.com
     
  3. krj15489

    krj15489 Active member

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    I think you meant the q6600 is 275 on newegg.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...50001157+40000343+1050727216&name=Core+2+Quad

    but anyway, i would get the e8400 if you want to play games. most games are not optimized for a quad core. and it can overclock to 4+ghz. but if you do stuff like video editing then i would get a quad. but it would probably be a good idea to wait because the new ones come out in a month and will be able to clock higher at a lower temp.
     
  4. redZoneOS

    redZoneOS Regular member

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    newegg doesn't have very good prices on processors (compared to MicroCenter)... The Q6600 around 40% more expensive on newegg. (The sale for micro center is in store only, but there's one 10 minutes from my house!)

    anyway, so I guess what you guys are essentially saying is if I buy now, I should buy the E8400... If I wait a month or so, then I should drop an extra 80 dollars and buy the new 45nm Quad Cores... Is that right?

    My friend wants to build this with gaming consideration to be primary, but also wants to make sure he doesnt have to upgrade anytime soon.
     
  5. Waymon3X6

    Waymon3X6 Regular member

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  6. dragnandy

    dragnandy Regular member

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    ive been wondering, how does that work? like why do games do not optimize well with quad cores? and how does video editing go better with quad core?
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2008
  7. krj15489

    krj15489 Active member

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    it is the way the code is written and compiled. most games are wtitten with one or two cores in mind and any others are ignored. but video editing software was written and designed to take advantage of extra cores. its all about the programming.

    a quad core would be a smart choice if you will to make your machine last. future games with be optimized for quads and will perform much better than a high clocked dual core like the e8400.
     
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2008
  8. dragnandy

    dragnandy Regular member

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    are there any current games that optimize quad cores?
     
  9. krj15489

    krj15489 Active member

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    Yes there are. supreme commander, and flight simulator. cod4 is good with multi core i think but im not sure about that.
     
  10. Waymon3X6

    Waymon3X6 Regular member

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    Crysis is optimized for duel cores currently but the 1.2 patch should allow for Quad Core utilization.
     
  11. krj15489

    krj15489 Active member

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    I think its funny that crysis was advertised as being optimized for a quad core and sli setup but only used two cores and an extra gpu made about 10% difference.

    Waymon, how does crysis play on your new computer?
     
  12. Waymon3X6

    Waymon3X6 Regular member

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    It plays pretty well - frames above 20 with an Ultra high settings config. I can't play it at 1920x1200 so I have to take it down a few steps - but it plays pretty well compared to what everyone else gets for frames.
     
  13. krj15489

    krj15489 Active member

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    Well thats good. it plays like crap for me. i can get smooth frame on the first level but every other level frames drop to 20 and it lags. i think it might be my processor but it only uses half of each core.
     
  14. redZoneOS

    redZoneOS Regular member

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    all right kool thanks guys, i'll tell my friend to buy the Quadcore then because he only is interested in newer games (crysis, COD4 etc), and he should be well prepared for the next year or 2 :)

    Thanks.
     

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