E6850 or Q6600

[jonj]

I just bought all of the parts for my first pc. I heard about the intel price drops on july 22 so I just bought a decent pentium 4 for (60 dollars) to hold me over until then. I cannot decide If I should get the Q6600(1066fsb 2.4ghz) or the (I think it is called) the E6850(fsb1333 around 3.0 ghz). I bought a msi p6n diamon (although it cought on fire- have a post unfer general mobos here about it) and it can handel both fsb 1066 and 1333. The reason that I am asking for help is that I am a heavy gamer and this pc will probally be the one that i play crisys on. I dont know much about the benefits of dual and quad cores yet so I was hoping that someone else would know which one would be better to handle heavy gameing. Thank you in advance.

 

[jackluo923]

Q6600 hands down. Because you're playing Crysis which is multithreaded, Q6600 is a better deal.

 

[maverick7]

q6600 since that is 4 cores, and you can easily oc it to 3Ghz... so in turn it will be much faster.. also the E6850 IS EXTREMELY OVER PRICED

 

[jonj]

I have some friends that say that the E6850 will be better than the Q6600 becuase of the higher fsb(1333 compared to 1066). I am new to computer building and i admit that I still donot know much, but does the fsb really matter that much?

Thank you for your help

 

[Jehovah]

I don't know the game Crysis. But, in most cases, you will see FSB does NOT really help pure CPU performance for C2D series. I think it is because of the good L2 cache design. You can check E4300 vs E6300 benchmark from many many review on internet. The only thing metter is the core clock. E6850 is higher (if you are not planing to OC Q6600).

So, if Crysis is a heavy threaded game, go Q6600. if not, go E6850.

 

[jackluo923]

I have some friends that say that the E6850 will be better than the Q6600 becuase of the higher fsb(1333 compared to 1066).

When you compare E6750 and E6700, E6750 is faster by 1 or 2%.

if Crysis is a heavy threaded game, go Q6600. if not

Crysis is heavy threaded game and gamers will see a lot of improvments when using quad core processor over dual core.

 

[Hatman]

That higher FSB does NOT make a lot of extra performance and after july it wont be extremly overpried it'll be the same price as a Q6600.

Also yes I now think its possible but I dont think everyone will be able to overclock a q6600 to 3ghz. As the guy sais he doesnt know a lot so probably best he doesnt overclock!


Its still a hard choice. if you're going to upgrade within the next year id say go with the e6850, because those 2 extra cores while supported on thing like crysis probably wont do much over 2cores anyway. And a 600mhz clock is a lot.

 

[Zorg]

That higher FSB does NOT make a lot of extra performance and after july it wont be extremly overpried it'll be the same price as a Q6600.

Also yes I now think its possible but I dont think everyone will be able to overclock a q6600 to 3ghz. As the guy sais he doesnt know a lot so probably best he doesnt overclock!


Its still a hard choice. if you're going to upgrade within the next year id say go with the e6850, because those 2 extra cores while supported on thing like crysis probably wont do much over 2cores anyway. And a 600mhz clock is a lot.

I pulled this from another thread

Definitely get the P35 with DDR2. Gigabyte has a good selection including GA-P35C-DS3R with DDR2 and DDR3 slots for a future upgrade to DDR3. The P35 gives a trouble free overclock to 1333, see the link to a good review.

http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2989&p=1

Also you will need to get a good heatsink, don't use the Intel one. Try the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme paired with a Scythe S-Flex 120mm fan. Be careful with the case the Ultra 120 is tall.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835109140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185006

 

[jackluo923]

lso yes I now think its possible but I dont think everyone will be able to overclock a q6600 to 3ghz. As the guy sais he doesnt know a lot so probably best he doesnt overclock!

I think Maverick7 is trying to say that when you use a top notch air cooler like Ultra Extreme 120 and Tuniq Tower 120, its very easy to OC Q6600 to 3ghz.

I think you should definetly buy Q6600 if you plan on keeping the Cpu for 2+ years. Games with multithread will become popular thus Q6600 will become useful. You can overclock the Q6600 600mhz higher to match E6850, but you cannot overclock 2 more cores to the E6850.

 

[jonj]

if i do get the Q6600 will it give me better performance over my 3ghz pentium 4 in games like half life 2, fear, and battlefield 2? I dont know if these games will be able to take advantage of multiple cores - if going by core clock my p4 is 600mhz faster than one core of the Q6600 thanks

 

[Harrisson]

I'm also planning to buy new computer in a month, and went through the same question - Q6600 or E6850? After loads of reading, benchmarks, etc. came to conclusion - Q6600 is the way to go, will try to explain my thoughts on it

E6850 is faster than Q6600 on most todays games and apps by ~5%, average. So for todays needs and up to one year - E6850 may seem to be better for casual user. But do we buy computer for 0,5-1 year? I'm planning to use mine for ~3 years or so, and soon most of apps and games will be multithreaded. In such scenario Q6600 is faster up to 80%!

I can bet most users wont notice ~5% difference, but everyone would notice 30-80% diff. 8)

These ideas about casual user, who doesnt encode, rip much. If you do - there is no even slightest doubt even for today Q6600 is way better choice.

 

[Harrisson]

if i do get the Q6600 will it give me better performance over my 3ghz pentium 4 in games like half life 2, fear, and battlefield 2? I dont know if these games will be able to take advantage of multiple cores - if going by core clock my p4 is 600mhz faster than one core of the Q6600 thanks

Q6600 will be up to 3x faster than your P4 Just go for it.

 

[Hatman]

if i do get the Q6600 will it give me better performance over my 3ghz pentium 4 in games like half life 2, fear, and battlefield 2? I dont know if these games will be able to take advantage of multiple cores - if going by core clock my p4 is 600mhz faster than one core of the Q6600 thanks

While core2quad is 2.4ghz and the pentium 4 is 3ghz, clock for clock core2quad is better, due to it being a much newer, more advanved model. It's likely even 1 core from core2quad at 2.4ghz would outperform a pentium4 at 3ghz.


And the awesome thing is that you have 4 of them!!!

 

[jackluo923]

core microarchitecture is 90% more efficient than p4s. So if you buy a Q6600, it would be like 4.2ghz Pentium 4

 

[YO_KID37]

if i do get the Q6600 will it give me better performance over my 3ghz pentium 4 in games like half life 2, fear, and battlefield 2? I dont know if these games will be able to take advantage of multiple cores - if going by core clock my p4 is 600mhz faster than one core of the Q6600 thanks

Hahaha . After Intel and AMD put forth all that effort some people still don't know the difference between a Lamborghini 500HP and a MACK 500 HP Truck(One Races Hard fast, Other Pulls Loads Hard)

Both can be classified as Automobiles with Engines, but are completely different things all together

 

[boner]

Q666 :twisted:

 

[jonj]

thanks for clearing this up for me. I will go with the Q6600 becuase I dont want have to upgrade soon after this. Now just to wait til july 22 for the price drops :lol: thanks

 

[Zorg]

thanks for clearing this up for me. I will go with the Q6600 becuase I dont want have to upgrade soon after this. Now just to wait til july 22 for the price drops :lol: thanks

Smart decision. Remember match it to P35 mobo, see the links in my earlier post.

 

[jonj]

thank s for clearing this up for me. I will go with the Q6600 becuase I dont want have to upgrade soon after this. Now just to wait til july 22 for the price drops :lol: thanks

Smart decision. Remember match it to P35 mobo, see the links in my earlier post.

I already have a MSI P6n 680i Diamond. I had to rma it but in my opinion it is the best mobo ever

 

[jonj]

I say the Q6600 is the better choice also. Especially since you are want to play Crysis.

Ya. I think that the Q6600 should be good for gaming and i hope that It will last a couple of years.
I just hope that my 640mb 8800gts will be able to play bioshock on my 22in monitor.

 

[speed4life]

Get the Quad and you will have no regrets!!!!

 

[jonj]

has anyone heard any info as to how high you could over clock a Q6600??

 

[elcold]

Personally I'm getting one of the cheaper dual core and waiting until 2008 to get a quad core, mostly because the cheaper dual core fit my current needs and just in case the next gen quad cores are a huge leap, I'll have enough money to upgrade to them.

 

[easyg]

I'd get the Q6600 too, but that's not to say the E6850 is a bad deal.

While 3.0GHz on a quad is possible with good cooling, 3.6GHz should be possible on the E6850 w/ stock cooling. Stock vs stock, or best overclock vs best overclock, the E6850 will smash the Q6600 on single-threaded apps.

But I agree with majority here. If you're building for the future, the Q6600 makes a lot more sense at the same price point.

 

[jonj]

anyone know how much the E6850 will be?