at first i was going to get a AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ since im a big AMD fan but now im thinking about getting the e6600, my question is ithis.. is it really worth it to drop 250$ on a dual core processor when almost no software supports dual core processors?
yes. if you encode video or play supreme commander/cpu intensive games or convert music. No. if you seldom use your computer or just do spreadsheets or surf the internet.
im a huge gamer, so this would increase game proformance? even tho the games are not encoded in the dual core formatt?
Yes, because for one the Core 2 Duos are faster than any other processor out right now. Another reason (just for dual core) is that one core will handle all of your running programs besides the game itself. The other core will be for the game your playing only, making it so that no other task slow your game down.
wow awesome i didnt know that, makes me happy about getting a dual core now =D, i plan on liquid cooling do u think it would be possible to get the e6600 to around 4ghz?
What about quad core? Oh yea, and Xeon.... A 2.4Ghz processor to 4ghz per core? I dont think so.... But I may be wrong. Afer I saw that 5Ghz overclock from a P4 @ 3.2, I guess anything is possible... But he had liquid nitrogen cooling
I don't know alot about Xeon, but I suppose the quad core is faster, I was actually referring to that family of processors rather than specifically the Core 2 Duo. Actually you can overclock the E6600 to 4 GHz or higher. DocTY has done it, I'm not going to say it's easy, but it's far from impossible.
To tell you the truth I really don't know. You can probably read around in the Official PC Building thread some and find out. But it is entirely possible to get 4 GHz out of a E6600 if your willing to spend a little bit.
Its not just the cooling(its very important) but also your motherboard. If your board is not a great oveclocker then you arent going anywhere. I think boards based on the P965 chipset are very good for overclocking.
i plan on going all out so far ive had my eye on the asus striker mobo, unless theres a cheaper solution to get the e6600 to 4ghz?
I would go with the Asus P5B-Deluxe. I think it is one of the best for overcloking. I have seen reviews in which the striker doesnt do very well over 400mhz. A 90 dollar Asus P5b-e does better than that.
awesome, looks like a winner. thanks alot for all the help, i just have one more question. what would u suggest as for liquid cooling? i plan on putting water blocks on the e6600 and my 8800gts, but im not really sure what type of liquid cooling system would be the best for results i want out of my pc.
docty was on water. ds3 is a good mobo and exelent value for cash if you get the latest revision that supports 1333fsb. a x2 6000 will give about the same performance as a e6600 but it most likly will not oc as far. if you are after a gaming chipset i would say go with a 680i chipset (590 for amd) as they do run games faster than the intel chipsets.