E8400 vursus Q9450 vursus Q6600?

It seems I have narrowed my new CPU choice to those listed below. However I am still not quite sure what the best option is. I do not do a whole lot of multi-tasking so I don’t know that the quad core CPU’s will do much for me. I mainly use my computer for gaming.

The current prices on Newegg on the following CPU's are as follows:

Q6600: $215
Q6700: $255
E8400: $195
E8500: $270
Q9450: $350

I did some research and I found that the Q9450 does 1m of Super Pi about 1.5 seconds faster when OC'ed to 3.2 Ghz. then the Q6600 at the same clock speed. However the E8400 does 1m of Super Pi faster then the Q9450 when overclocked to its maximum daily potential from what I have read.

So from what I have gathered the 8500 / 8400 seems to be the best option for gaming due to the high raw clock speed. Is this a true assumption? And from what I am told the 8400 is a better value over the 8500 because from what I have read the differences in speed is not noticeable and thus it’s not worth the extra money.

So ultimately what do you guys suggest? I know the 9450 is a good CPU but I dont know that its worth the extra $100 - 150 and from what I have read its slower in gaming then the E8400 / 8500, not to mention it cant be overclocked as much as the 8400 / 8500's.

ok well for starters how long are you going to have this cpu? if your going to upgrade in a few months then get the 8400 but if you plan on keeping it for a year then get the quad yes the 8400 is a better gaming cpu but you can do so much more with a quad ie. multitasking now im not saying that you cant multitask with the 8400 but the quad was built for that... now between the 8400 and the 8500 yes i would rather go with the 8400 the gains between them are minimal not worth the extra cash now between the 6600 and the 9450 i would rather go with the 6600 since you arent going to do any video incoding n such so you would have no use for the sse4 instruction set and the 6600 is only about 220 so its the best bang for the buck hands down plus you can take that puppy to 3.6 with a good hsf or 3.2 with stock so it really is worth the money

now as far as gaming goes with a quad dont think that gaming isnt good at all with the quad **** its ****ing great but the 8400 does give you about 10fps more .... since it does have a higher clock now if you are watercooled and if you are skilled then you might be able to get that quad to 4.0 thus giving you better performance than the 8400....


overall i would rather go with the quad since i dont upgrade my cpu's often (once every year or so) and gaming will be better with a quad in future games....

but if your a hard core gamer and want the most fps you cant get then just get the 8400 ....

If you do not use any programs that take advantage of a quad then go the E8400. I still believe this generation of CPU's is going to be out of date before a decent number of games truly takes advantage of quads(Not just use four cores but makes a noticeable difference). Unless you plan on encoding, modeling, fold, or some other task that truly benefits then don't bother with a quad. All it is going to do is run hotter and use more power. The E8400 will handle most users multi-tasking fine(i.e. internet, office, music, movies, etc.)

For gaming it is mostly a moot point as you likely to be GPU bound on most games.