Gaming Processor

[total-noob]

I'm wanting a quad core processor and I'm wondering whats the best for gaming I was suggested the q9550.

 

[pesh]

Depends what you budget is and whether or not you are going to overclock. Ever since the core2 architecture, OC your cpu is a very easy alternative to spending more money. So its up to you man, the q9550 is a bad ass chip though.

 

[lunyone]

Quad core on the cheap (assuming your going to OC to 3-3.6 gHz):
q6600!!
Duo Core chips: I'd consider anything from a e7200-e8600, depending on budget and OC'ing abilities!!

Most C2D's will do you just fine for gaming, but there will eventually be more games coded for more than 2 cores, so you'll have to consider that.

 

[aeiouandxyz]

Get the Q6600 or the Q9550 and oc c to stock speed of a C2D. The difference in fps is negligible in real life and you could play with less eye candy.

 

[dirtmountain]

2 good articles about CPU scaling with the HD4870x2 and the GTX280

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=770
and
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=775

will give you a good idea of relative gaming power with stock clocks and overclocks

 

[xsamitt]

habitat87...........You do have an interesting way of seeing it.And if i'm correct a Duel Core doesn't run hot as a Quad.

 

[eklipz330]

well either way, i see a quad as a great alternative simply because of all those pesky background processes and apps that always seem to be on...

and i've heard plenty of people hitting 4ghz+ on q9550/q9650 E0 stepping, on AIR cooling...i would totally get on that... you don't need a beast overclock simply because games on higher resolutions rely on the gpu, so a core2 or a quad2 @ above 3.6 should suffice... up until 1680x1050 anyhow

 

[total-noob]

Thanks a lot for all the info and quick responses, I am actually getting a custom pc built and the builder is using a q9550, but upon reading the reviews on cnet they were saying its best for multi tasking but not necessarily gaming, but the builder reassured be it would be good b/c I'm getting like 8 gb of ram w/ a 1 tb hard drive. I guess what I'm getting at is, is there any room for inprovement?

 

[lunyone]

Hope he's using a 64 bit OS, otherwise the 8 gb's of RAM will effectively be 3 gb's!!

 

[total-noob]

yeah I'm gonna have vista

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Just make sure you grab 64 bit version of vista as there are 32 bit versions of that OS floating out there.