E8500, E6850 Or Q9300?

will you be able to OC the Q9300?

Yes, i will be able to oc the cpu.

the e8500 outperforms the e6850 (assuming money is not part of the issue)

the e8500 will outperform the Q9300 at stock settings in any games that uses two cores and will stay competitive in multi-core (3+) games

but once you OC the q9300, it will offer you a better long term CPU and will pull away in multi-core games

Then chose the quad but you won't be getting a stunning OC out of a Q9300 (as it already runs a 1333 / 333 FSB and it has half of the cache missing of a full Yorky.

A better buy in terms of a quad to overclock would be the cheapest 12MB cache quad you can afford ...

http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=33923,33924,35428,

Alternatively the E8500 will fly along for most things you want ... it is just a little less "future proof" in terms of the newer games ... that will make use of the extra 2 cores.

Hope this helps.

Does all games today support multi core?
i am new to all this and my current pc is the eeepc :|
i think i will go with the e8500, what would you take?

Newer games support more than two cores ... not all ... but as time goes by they will.

The E8500 is a good choice if your happy to not overclock, and it will give you good all round performance, as you have 2 cores flying at 3.16.

If your going to overclock, then look at a comparable priced quad, preferably one with the 12Mb cache ... as upping the clock on it will return a much more predictable performance boost for you.

Hope this helps.

not not every game, SC II prefers a fast dual core according to beta testers. I'm sure Diablo 3 will be the same. Fallout 3 also likes a fast dual core, so Fallout 3 vegas will most likely be the same. More and more games go like multi-cores though.

The e8500 is still a very good CPU, plenty of people game with the e8xxx series.

if this is a new system all of those would be a poor choice

Well obviously the OP has an LGA775 mobo ... at least that's what I assumed.

If he didn't I'd be suggesting an AM3 mobo and anything tripple or quad ...

Good point.