Help - E8400 vs Q6600

[scottoliver]

Hey guys,

Im guessing you get the jist of things by the name of the thread.

Just want to a few things clear though, the computer I am building will be for games, school work and general use. Im looking at playing Crysis, COD4, Assassins Creed and others. Im hoping to get a good lifetime expectancy out of this computer with minimal upgrades, however after about 4 months of purchasing this computer I will get the best CPU fan I can find. So which is it to be.

E8400 - 2 Cores - 6MB Cache - 3.0 GHZ
Q6600 - 4 Cores - 4MB Cache - 2.4 GHZ

And PLEASE guys, dont list saying just get the next Q**** CPU, unless it will come out pretty much the under $300 AUD, because I cant really spend the extra money. *im broke as it is*

Thanks

 

[p3matty]

My vote, E2160 and a good aftermarket cooler now. Total price is 1/3 of either of your options, and seeing the FSB to 333 will give you the E8400 with only less cache. You said money is an issue, so I think that's your best option. The money saved can get you a mobo and RAM.

 

[Andrius]

Hey guys,

E8400 - 2 Cores - 6MB Cache - 3.0 GHZ
Q6600 - 4 Cores - 4MB Cache - 2.4 GHZ

And PLEASE guys, dont list saying just get the next Q**** CPU, unless it will come out pretty much the under $300 AUD, because I cant really spend the extra money. *im broke as it is*

Thanks

Go with Q6600(has 2x 4MB L2 Cache) if you plan to keep this system for a while.
E8400 may be a better choice for current games, but it's not going to last as long as a Q6600 based system.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

With Intel and M$ getting together to expand the usage of mulithreaded apps and programs, itll be here eventually heheh, I mean we are talking M$ ya know

 

[aevm]

I'd get a E2180 and a XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 cooler, then spend all the remaining cash on the best possible video card.

 

[meown00b]

Hi, this is my first post here and would like to say that this is a very controversial debate.
Based on all the other Q6600 vs. E8400 threads I've seen, the question really boils down
to what you use your PC for. If you are into benchmarking, video encoding, editing, then I'd
suggest going with the quad core. If you are doing HEAVY multitasking (one guy was running
four instances of World of Warcraft on 4 different accounts), then go with the Q6600.

For general purposes and gaming, I would recommend the E8400.

I personally bought BOTH a G0 Q6600 and an E8400 and I'm selling my Q6600
as of this moment. Reasons: I am primarily a gamer and use my PC for my classes, I could overclock
to 4.0Ghz on a 90 dollar motherboard, Runs nice and cool, I could run at 3.6 with only 1.2VCore if I wanted.

Both CPUs will be comparable in gaming performance- it'll rely on your GPU a lot more.
One thing I noticed was that the Q6600 seems to handle COD4 a lot smoother, perhaps because
it supports the usage of all four cores. There is virtually no bottleneck from either chip.

The reason why I would pick the E8400 is that by the time you need more than 2 cores for gaming,
there'll already be cheaper and better quad core solutions than the Q6600. As of now, the low
number of games that support quads does not justify the extra heat and power consumption of the Q6600.

If you game and hardly use the 2 extra cores, what's the point? That's my justification for the E8400.

Then again, the E8400 is extremely hard to come by (I got really lucky with buying the LAST one from
a Local PC shop). I got the Q6600 for $210 at MicroCenter, E8400 for $250. Although I paid 40 more for a
dual core, I figure I'll be saving about $10 / month in the electric bill, so in the long run, the cost to me will be less.

Get the E8400 if you can for ~$200. If you can't, Q6600 G0 is still an excellent choice that will
last you a long, long time.

 

[chunkymonster]

I voted for the E8400. But, if you can't find one, then you should opt for a Xeon E3110 as it's essentially the same chip but just binned as a server chip rather than a desktop chip; plus most on-line retailers sell the Xeon E3110 for $20-$30USD cheaper than the E8400.

 

[Shadow703793]

Q6600. You get more cores and about the same cost. If you do some video editing,etc. the Q6600 will be a real help.

 

[mrgoodbar]

Q6600. more cores more future proof good investment.

 

[rockbyter]

I imagine you will be disappointed with dual core within a year. Quad core is the only road to go for value and performance, and you won't second guess yourself for having one.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

If youre planning on gaming, go with the 8400. The problem with future proofing on these quads today is, in a years time, theres going to be a socket change (Nehalem) and its a dead end. Performance wise, the 8400 is a better solution for gaming. Other uses like vid encode etc, then yes a quad will supercede the usage of a dual core, which are both dead ends as soon as Nehalem comes out

 

[scottoliver]

Thanks for all your inputs. Im still unsure about the CPU at this point in time because there are alot of good points from either side.

As for the votes. I cant actually see the results because it just tells me that my vote has already been counted so mmm. However i will defo check out that Xeon chip.

Still unsure but I think im looking at going with the Q6600 and a month or so down the line upgrading to the Zalman 9700 and overclocking just to a simple 3.0

Any ideas?

 

[aevm]

The results right now are 6 for E8400, 11 for Q6600, 1 for other.

I would say the Q6600 is your best solution only if the video encoding is something you will do a lot, and only if you have software for it that can use all 4 cores. OK, also if your favorite game is Flight Simulator X. For almost anything else. an overclocked E8400 is better than an overclocked Q6600.

I don't get the part about building the PC now and adding the cooler later. No offense but that's weird. What, waiting to save another $40? Also, some coolers need you to remove the mobo from the case to install them. Also, why bother cleaning the paste and reapplying. Just put the cooler there from the start.

Forget the Zalman 9700, it's expensive and tends to be annoying under load. Get yourself a Xigmatek HDT-S1283 instead.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003

 

[jprevost]

You just said you want to play games and school work. Where do either of those really need 4 cores? Go with a dual core and I'll repeat some other replies when I say, "save for a video card." Forget the cpu. Get a great cheap overclocking dual core for the time being. Until you start video editing and list programs that will take advantage of the extra cores, don't invest in quad just yet. 3GB or ram, a E2_/E4_/or E6_ processor is more than enough for the latest games when coupled with a nice video card like a 9600GT. You don't want to be broke and playing games on an expensive machine that will depreciate faster than the fast food sitting next to you while you wonder why you have to eat this crap every day... been there, done that, wised up and still won't pay more than $1000 for a complete computer.

 

[scottoliver]

Hey, Im getting the 9800 GX2 at the moment. So i dont really have to save my money to reach for a better video card.

Thanks. Keep the advice coming

 

[aevm]

Wow... OK, get a Q9300 or Q9450 or even Q9550. You'll have to wait a bit for them, but they have all the advantages of both E8400 and Q6600 and will last you a long time. A bit pricy, the Q9550, but then so is the 9800GX2. Besides, the 9800GX2 drivers stink right now AFAIK, so you don't lose much by waiting.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Then youll want the max you can get from your cpu, to avoid any kind of bottleneck, so 8400

 

[EXT64]

Celeron!

(Sorry, I just felt like posting to break 400 posts )

If you can afford a 9800GX2, get a QX----.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Yeaaaayy LOL 400 wooot

 

[scottoliver]

Well price is still a factor for me, you may look at this rig and say your getting a 9800 GX2 so you can afford it, but I dont want to get ahead of myself, im selling my laptop for around $2000 and have $400 in my pocket. So that works out for my rig including 9800 GX2 + 4GB RAM + Q6600 + P182 + 850W PSU + 790i Mobo + 22" Monitor

How much will the prices for the new Quad Cores be. If they are <$320 AUD then I can afford to stretch but if there like $400 - $500 then I just cant really stretch.

Also any suggestions on some decent CPU Coolers *in buget material*

 

[portal]

I went with the E3110 (E8400).

 

[Thorbaden]

id go with the E8400/E3110 (i ordered the E3110 recently) only becuase the performance in games is much better than the Q6600 and can overclock easily 4ghz+ and according to that overclocking review on teh E8400 here it was outperforming the new 45nm quads in some benchmarks.

 

[scottoliver]

Thanks alot for that last comment, i think im leaning more towards the E8400 because like people have said when a very decent processor for the Quad Core range comes out at a reasonable price and also when they are needed I guess ill pick one up.

Thanks alot for all of your info and please if you have any more suggestions or vital info please post.

 

[satanpro]

scott, while I'm a q6600 fan and would recommend it over the 8400, you should probably wait until you can choose between the q9450 that should come out very soon. You'll have the best of both worlds then, for only a little more price.

 

[kad]

Get my vote for E8400
With HS And Fan OC to 4 and outperform Q6600 OCD to 3 in gaming
I'm not sure of Xeon E3110 cause this a server processor and uses ECC Rams
I'm Afraid you guys will get compatibility issues of Mobo-Ram-Processor