[E8400 / Q6600] First time OC.

Hey folks,

been living on the forums for the past few days reading up everything I can.

Now I've got a few questions - I'm a computer junkie, I love building computers. My last box was a bit of a let down because I ended up with X1900XTs with temperature issues, a DFI LanParty motherboard that wouldn't post if I tried to OC (tried troubleshooting it, my buddy who's a technician said that my board is most likely faulty). I'm in the market for a new rig!

So the question;

I've got one friend who says E8400 > Q6600 because of the lack of quad-core implementation on current games. My other amigo insists that quad-core is better than dual-core, for the fact that it's overall processing power is better.
--For gaming, would the E8400 beat the Q6600 assuming both were OC'd to a relatively decent degree (thinking of running my first watercooled system).

(If it matters, I was thinking about using 2x HD 3870X2s as my video card, and was hoping to squeeze 8gb of ram in there but I'm quite unfamiliar with RAM and OC'ing, so not sure on make and model! Does the Asus Rampage support both dual and quad cores? It's probably listed in the description, but I seem to have missed it!)

In conclusion,

Hello everyone!

Games don't take advantage of more then 2 threads right now, so for pure FPS an E8400 is better then a Q6600, stock or overclocked. The CPU isn't the deciding factor for in game performance though, thats left to the graphics card, so as long as you have a decent dual core CPU it'll be enough.

Generaly though if its a gaming rig get the E8400, if you do stuff that can see benefits from 4 cores such as encoding/decoding etc get the Q6600.

If your going water cooling I would get a Q6600 though since E8400 can OC 4ghz on low end air, really doesn't need water cooling unless your going for a 5ghz+ OC, and at that point its still more of a problem of just pumping enough volts into it then it is of keeping it cool.

I agree with blazed. GPU is the limiting factor for gaming, and your CPU can bottleneck your GPU sometimes. Higher MHz is better, and since games don't really take advantage of 4 cores yet, I would go with the E8400. I used to have a Q6600 and I see an improvement in gaming and 3dmark.

So with watercooling - the Q6600 would be better since I could get a higher clock out of it? Or the E8400 because of there is more dual-core implementation?
My problem in the past has always been heat, so negating that with watercooling would leave me with the vcore as my barrier?

The E8400 will give you plenty of CPU punch power for gaming without the struggle to OC it, it also runs much cooler than the Q6600.

So bottom line, if you looking at a gaming CPU, get the E8400 or even the E7300 for around $130, they E7200 has 3 mb cache but that makes hardly any difference in gaming FPS

From what I've gathered, the E8400 is the overclocking star of the core 2 duos. I've seen that the E8400 runs up to 4.5Ghz without going to high in the vcore, but at the same time - what is the safe-zone?

Am I right to assume that the 45nm chips have a lower max vcore than the older 65nm? I know the 45nm's supposed run cooler? I assumed that 1.5V was always the danger zone for overclocking - I see on the E8400 batch thread that some people have gotten over 4050 Mhz with a higher vcore.

Will there be a magnificent difference in performance between the OC to 4.2/4.3 and pushing to 4.5+?

What is the absolute maximum voltage for the E8400 if I don't want to make my stuff catch fire?

If I'm not mistaken - a single core CPU can manage 4gb of RAM. A 32bit OS can manage 4gb of RAM.
- a dual core would be able to work with 2 times what the single core could - so the max a dual core can manage is bumped to 8?
- 32 bit operating systems don't understand or recognize the extra ram, but a 64bit operating system does.
Thus with a 2-4 core CPU, and a 64 bit operating system, you can use 4 x 2gb kits.

It's quite possible I've misunderstood something - if I'm wrong, please let me know!

Threadjacked

Back on topic! E8400 vs Q6600. I'm seeing that the E8400 is better for gaming, but the Q6600 has more potential under watercooling because it runs hotter.

General performance for games- E8400 wins?

Correct me if I'm wrong here OP, but I read your main post...

Your planning on having:
2x3870x2's
8gb memory
maximus formula(?)
Watercooling

Instead of going cheap on the processor since your looking at top end everything else, why not get a Extreme series CPU?

The dual core extremes pop up in the classies every now and then and the quad core extremes are pretty hefy in price but the unlocked multi makes up for it.

just my 2 cents.

Otherwise, go for the dual core for gaming. It can achieve a higher core speed than the quad can on average which, I can vouch for, does make a difference in game fps/load times/etc. Normal OC's going around for the quads on water is 3.6-3.8. The new duals (E8400-E8600) are hitting around 4.2-4.5.

Darionis said:

Threadjacked

Back on topic! E8400 vs Q6600. I'm seeing that the E8400 is better for gaming, but the Q6600 has more potential under watercooling because it runs hotter.

General performance for games- E8400 wins?

Click to expand...

Still, there's only so far a chip can go, no matter how cool it is. I would opt for an E8400 for gaming, but it seems your budget is a little more open than that. If you're getting 8GB of RAM and CF X2's I would suggest a Q9450 or maybe Q9550 (if you want to want for the price to go down). Technically the Q9550 has replaced the Q9450's price point and the Q9450 has been discontinued.

But I would only get a Q9450/Q9550 if you really want to go all out with the RAM and GPU's. You might as well not skimp on your CPU if you aren't skimping on anything else.

But I don't think you should go all out at first (upgrade when prices go down) I suggest getting one 3870X2, 2x2GB of RAM and an E3110 (E8400).

The E3110 is the server version of the E8400. It is identical except it runs at a lower voltage (server parts need to be cooler and run longer). The lower voltage means it is a higher bin and it can generally overclock better than it's E8400 brethren.

Back to the overall build. You shouldn't really pin yourself with 4x2GB of RAM and 2 $350 3870X2's. I would get one X2 and then wait for prices to go down. Do the same with the RAM.

Well, the price difference between the normal CPUs and the extremes is in the 600$ range. I was aiming to build under 2500, and using a cheaper CPU lets me do that - I was hoping that I would make up the difference in the overclock.

You say that the E3110 can be overclocked higher since it runs at a lower voltage and temp?

You can also pickup a QX6850 for around $500 new right now... 3ghz and unlocked multi. It will not clock as high as a QX9650, but it's still a great performer.

This will set all of you straight on what core to use!

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/dual-quad,1720.html