want the fastest cpu - cant decide quadcore or dual core

That is a long time for a PC. In such a case, the QX6700, hands down.

Quad core is more future proof.

Dual core might be slightly faster now (or at least about the same).

Both of the processors you mentioned are way beyond reason in terms of price, though. As a practical person, I've never understood why people would want to spend the price of an entire, solid PC on a single component... Maximum performance stuff has terrible price/performance tradeoff and really won't last you that much longer than stuff that costs half the money.

But then, I never understood spending $100,000 on a sports car either  

Yeah well the thing is that , all these years i have been buying good components but never all out.

I was in law college so money was always tight , being a student  

but now since i am working and still a bachelor   hehehe i can spend the money which i have lying around .

  i aint buying a e6600 not now , i know when i wanted a fx series processor

but never had the money   but now i got it  

5-7 years is long period of time but still qx6700 is more future proof than any dualcore 8)

what motherboard and ram should i get to compliment the quad processor .

Thanks guys you have been gr8  

5-7 years 8O .... in 5-7 months, there will be plenty of new AMD and Intel chips performing at least 30% faster than actual dual cores. If Intel keeps playing the dual die package game, they'll be able to rush an octo core in early 2008 and that will mean about 80% more over your quad. AMD has already demonstrated a teraflop solution with their R600 chipsets and hell knows what you can do with such solutions in your hands.
Conclusion:
Just think that the last 7 years, we went from Pentium3s/Athlons to the XQ6700/QFX. The next 2-3 years will probably bring more new performance levels than the past 7 years did so just forget about a CPU that does not need to be upgraded in 5-7years.

if you do not want to overclock and you do not want to upgrade then buy the quad core q6600 - the unlocked multiplier is uselss - th q6600 will drop in a few months to half the qx6700

the qx6700 will be $900 for the next year

Well, the Q6600 may also drop to an affordable $500-600 if Barcelona quads have a strong impact on the market; it's going to be price wars for some good amount of time :wink:

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/30/intel_22_april_...
http://www.hkepc.com/bbs/itnews.php?tid=714230&starttim...

The Q6600 will drop to $530 regardless of what Barcelona does or doesn't do, and before it does or does not do so.

@OP
I would recommend waiting until the Q6600 drops and then get that. Money may not be an issue, but that doesn't mean you should let yourself get ripped off, either.

On the other hand, I wholeheartedly agree that there is no way you can expect a system to last 5 years or more, and still be at ALL competitive with the then-current gen.

Your well on your way to making good money and still being broke. Don't spend you money so recklessly considering investing extra money.

I'm getting mixed thoughts on this.

"Want the fastest cpu":

Between the 2 your choosing both are quite fast

"Quad or Dual; As I want to make a future Rig."

One thing I'd like to say, hardware is only going to be as good as the software that runs it. There is really no 64bit apps out there to really take advantage of Vista at this time, not to mention reg apps and drivers. Making a rig future proof, is actually somewhat not an easy task, and sometimes can become a liability rather then guarantee of something to be future proof.

As your getting out of college, you should think about what your going to use your PC for, rather then making it future proof. I say that only, since dual core just came out, and getting a quad core would be nice, though, what exactly would a home user benefit from it? It basically will not make the machine faster, but perhaps run more programs at once smoother then single or dual core.

Getting the right MB would be important to look at perhaps. You could just work off a dual core, then upgrade to quad, if you really feel the need to.

Anything you buy today will be obsolete in two years. The possible exception is the monitor and keyboard. Spend the extra money for the best monitor you can afford, and then get a second one.

Hmm so even if i buy top of the line it wont give me competitive results over a period of 2 years :?:

I was like thinking of the people who bought a Fx series AMD cpu , i am sure there systems are still competitive .

I see your point though a 6400 can out perform a FX series cpu today .

Hmm i am confused . Also guys i am out of law college working now so thats how i have the money . Plus i come from a decent financial background , but i just dont like borrowing from my parents , self respect and stuff you know  

So what should i do then ; The computer is basically for gaming . I already have bought a 8800 gts 320 mb cause i dont game beyond 1600 x 1200 . Its the EVGA superclocked version .


I am definitely getting a new computer. I thought one of these processors would easily last me 2 - 4 years .

Of course i upgrade my video card every say 18 months or so as i want to be able to game on the best settings .

Your 8800gts-320 should serve you well for a few years. It is the critical component for gaming. Anything faster than an E6600 to go with it is probably overkill, as far as gaming is concerned. When it comes time to increase your performance, adding another 8800gts-320 in SLI will probably not be an attractive option compared to the then newest high end single vga card.

Buy what suits you now, invest the difference, and plan on upgrading in two years.