What's best for me?

[MrGB]

For the entire build I'm looking to spend anywhere from $700-1,000, but right now I'm trying to pinpoint a chip that fits within my budget and will meet my needs.

Here's how I mainly use my PC:

Gaming:
Cod4
Supreme Commander: FA

Internet/Video:

I download a lot of boxing matches and convert and edit a lot of these large video files.

Other than that, that's just about it.


Some of the chips I've been looking at are the Q6600 and QX6700 (which just went for $366 on ebay)

Any thoughts/recommendations are appreciated.

 

[MrGB]

After a quick search I can say that I'm going to scratch the QX

 

[jimmysmitty]

Only thing that makes the QX6700 better than the Q6600(other than its 260MHz stock clock advantage is that it has an unlocked multiplier so OC'ing it will be easier when using lower voltages.

But the Q6600 is a great chip too. Get a G) and pair it up with a Zalman CPNS9700/Thermalright Ultra 120, OC it to 3GHz on stock voltage and watch it fly when editing thos videos and playin those games.

 

[aevm]

Yeah, I wouldn't buy a CPU on eBay.

Between the 9700 and the Thermalright I vote Thermalright because it's quieter and more effective. The Tuniq Tower is also a good choice, almost as good as the Thermalright and cheaper. Still, on your budget, Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro sounds like the best choice to me.

CoD 4 is the one game that actually scales perfectly with AMD HD 3870 cards. I saw some charts where they added a second HD 3870, then a third, then a fourth (using a 790fx motherboard), and performance actually kept going up in large amounts. No clue if that also works for SLI, i.e. nVidia cards. Crysis for example had big benefits when the second card was added but almost nothing for the 3rd and 4th. (OK, for your budget, this is not important, but I still find it interesting.) Ideally, you'd get a GA-X38-DS4 and an HD 3870, then add another video card later.

The best hard disk for what you're describing is Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB. A bit expensive for that budget, I'm afraid. Their speed is way higher than any other disks around when dealing with huge video files.

 

[jimmysmitty]

For HDD's you could just get 2 Seagate 500GB's and put them in a RAID0. Get the same space but more performance.

 

[MrGB]

Looks like I'll be getting the Q6600 then unless there's something else around that range that outperforms it? This can be clocked well on air right? Also consider my PC sits in somewhat of an enclosure. The front is open, but I can't see the sides and back getting much air, maybe. I can't get temp reads on my current PC, but I don't think I'll want to OC this new chip a whole bunch. I doubt if I'd really have the need to OC anyway though.

As far as HDDs go, I was planning to stick with something good, but basic (I'll look into those Seagate's) for the main drives, and go with a 750GB external. That way I can play all my movies on my Xbox 360 (just need USB 2.0) and not have to burn them to a disc.

I was looking at this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136176

But it doesn't have any reviews.


thx

 

[aevm]

The E8400 outperforms the Q6600 in most games, and it's close in price. However, for editing videos you do want a quad for best results. Supreme Commander is quad-friendly too. The Q6700 and QX6950 outperform the Q6600 but they're not in the same price range. I think the Q6600 is your best option.

If your motherboard supports eSATA look for an external disk with eSATA+USB, or an eSATA/USB enclosure + a regular hard disk. I read some great reviews for Seagate FreeAgent Pro (and almost bought one), but after reading the newegg reviews I can't recommend it.