Q6600 vs E6850 (Short term [12 months])

Tough choice if its within a year.. mmm.. If you're going to overclock, get the Q6600, if not, then get the e6850.

The E6850 will probably overclock better, just because it has fewer cores (fewer transistors, less heat).

Normally I'd recommend a quad because it's more future-proof, but that argument doesn't apply in your case since you'll upgrade the CPU soon. It depends on what you will do in the next year with the PC. For example a Quad will be better in some games (Supreme Commander, Flight Simulator, etc) but it will be weaker in most games just because of the lower frequency. If you do video encoding or video editing or CAD or .Net programming or use the PC as a server of some sort then go for quad.

Get a P35. A year from now the latest and greatest CPU should work on it, but it may not work on 680i. Also, since you're upgrading the GPU often, you don't need SLI (which means you don't need 680i).

   
(smiley's added just because they're new and cool   )

E6850 for sure in the short term.
And definately the P35.

The new Intel Chips will be getting the new stepping which is allowing for insane OCs at reasonable power levels.

The Q6600 is being migrated to this stepping but you will not be sure to get it for a while.

The P35 will be a safer bet for the extreme FSB speeds needed to really OC the 6850.

Also, not many things use four cores at this point in time so more power per Core is likely more useful that more cores with a short-term view.

Personally I' waiting for the Q6600 to get safely to the next stepping and then jumping on that. Personally I run many processes at once that I can move between cores so having as many cores as possible is good for me since I dont always run one intensive thing but many moderately intensive tasks.

Go with the E6850, at this time most programs don't use 2 cores much less 4. The P35 would be the safer choice as it makes better use of memory but if you plan to SLI 680i is the best choice. The E6850 should overclock easily close to 4Ghz and will be an outstanding CPU for the next couple of years.

As long as you have a good cooler get the Quad! From $600 to $266 you can't go wrong.

Yes the E6850 will overclock higher but depending what you are going to be using your computer for, I feel the Quad has alot of benifits. (Multithread apps, Multi-Tasking, Crysis, HL2 Ep2, and lots of "future" games)

I snagged a Q6600 a week ago for $300 on Frys.com! I know it was a one day sale thing, someone on this forum posted it and I ran and bought it, and I love it!!! So I'd say Quad all the way!

well this thread was started months ago. and now i am reviving it cuz the primordial question remains. e6850 vs q6600. both are equally priced at newegg. and i am makin a rig mainly for gaming. well. i just wanna upgrade cpu/mobo and maybe memory.
i have an e-6600 oc'ed @ 3.0 runnin stable but some of the next gen games seem to make my cpu hickup. i monitor my cpu consumption and it dose tend to stay at 100 % for the most part for games like gears of war, nfs pro, crysis, kane & lynce etc.
so i need a faster cpu. can't decided between the quad and the duo.
need some advice. thank you.

I got the e6850 for my new comp with a 680i mobo....

I got the e6850 because most benchmarks show that its better for gaming right now and for a while until the really next-gen games come out that utilize more than 2 cores..

680i because i was planning on getting 2x8800GT cards... dont know if that is going to happen or not.

Keep your e6600. It's not worth upgrading to a E6850 or a Q6600 when the launch of the Peryn cpus are so near.