E6850 vs. Q6600

[noxiousCaitSith]

i've been holding out on buying a CPU til i got almost everything else but i am now left with a somewhat difficult decision.
while the quad core seems like it will perform better for applications that utilitze quad core, there don't seem to be too many programs that use it. but if it's overclocked well enough like i've seen in tests then it should do better than the e6850. also, i will be using the computer as a workstation for maya and the UT editor cause my parents' computer gets molested by the UT editor for some reason. so for rendering i'm pretty sure the q6600 will be better.
but the E6850 has a higher nominal clock speed. i don't really know anything about overclocking so any kind of link to a good help page would be much appreciated. i just don't want to mess anything up if i do decide to do it. also, i don't want to do anything that will make my parents' electric bill go through the roof or shorten the life of the processor. if i knew how to overclock, i'd probably go with the Q6600. the 6700 is only 2.66 GHz and it's about double the price of the 6600, and it seems like it wouldn't take much to overclock the 6600 to that since the tests i read about put the 6600 up to about 3.5GHz...

so pretty much my problem is with overclocking. what kind of cooling system to get for it and what program to use for it and what not.

[Damnidge]

If you are going to be doing all that rendering I would think you want the Q6600. I know from when I did my research (I settled on a E6750) that the Q6600 is a powerful overclocker, and even when it is not overclocked, it still pwns. Choco has one, so if you see him around ask his impressions, but from what I know, I'd be surprised if it is not the Q6600.

I got my cpu from Antares Digital, which I had never heard of before, but it was out of CA so no tax, and their resellerratings review is very high. The Q6600 OEM is only 260:

https://www.antaresdigital.com/customer ... t=0&page=1

I think retail is 8 more, but I would think you want to put that 8 toward an after market cooler for possible overclocking.

[DW_Hornet]

Please keep in mind that all penryn based chips (next gen intel chips on 45nm) are due out very shortly. They were supposed to be in the market already but intel changed the dates, I think Jan 21?

[noxiousCaitSith]

so...does that mean that the Q6600 might drop in price? or just better quad core stuff? i'd rather not spend more than what the Q6600 costs already.




i was thinking of OEM until i just read that the warranty is not nearly as long as a retail CPU. if the difference in price between OEM and retail is only that much i'd probably just get the retail for better warranty...but then, does overclocking void any kind of warranties? :tard:

[zeus]

so...does that mean that the Q6600 might drop in price? or just better quad core stuff? i'd rather not spend more than what the Q6600 costs already.




i was thinking of OEM until i just read that the warranty is not nearly as long as a retail CPU. if the difference in price between OEM and retail is only that much i'd probably just get the retail for better warranty...but then, does overclocking void any kind of warranties? :tard:

Both

OC technically voids your warranty.

The difference between OEM and retail is warranty and heatsink.

[Damnidge]

That's true I forgot that - that's one reason I got the retail, was for the longer warranty.

[noxiousCaitSith]

indeed. so as long as they don't have a way of knowing if you overclocked then it doesn't matter. :cheers:

also, i just found a thing about the release dates for the new quad cores from the consumer electronics show...they have been moved to Q1 which means it could be a couple of months before they are released...bah. i don't know if i'm that patient to wait for a q6600 price drop. it would depend on how much...

[zeus]

I would just nut up and get the q6600. It is really hard to find a better bargain than that chip unless you go on the cheap end and OC the hell out of it.

The penryns are not going to provide the huge jump that the conroes provided from what I understand, we are talking 5-10% for most things per clock. That is unless you are using SSE4 stuff, then there is an exponential jump.

[DW_ToxicWaste]

Listing of released processors:

http://anandtech.com/GalleryImage.aspx?id=19

Strongly suggest if you can wait a couple of weeks, and can afford the extra $50, you go for a Q9450. You get more cache, and these things overclock like crazy. If not, you cannot go wrong with a Q6600. Just make sure you get a G0 stepping.

There are a lot of overclocking guides and discussions on the internet. You don't need anything exotice to get a lot more out of the Q6600 other than a decent 3rd party HSF.

I get OEM CPUs without a concern. I don't think I have ever returned a CPU in my life, certainly not two years into using it. But if it's only a couple of bucks difference, it doesn't make any sense not to get the retail. You can ebay the Intel HSF.

Rich (TW)

[Damnidge]

The GO stepping can be rough at newegg, I read a lot of reviews on there when I was looking at them where people had to take a shot in the dark to get the GO stepping.

ClubIT has all of their processors clearly labeled, so I'd go with them if you want to make sure. I also think they are usually one of the cheapest. I purchased three parts for my new computer from there this time around and I was very impressed with their service.