CPU Help - Dual or Quad?

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Right well my build will be taking place soon as soon as my final part arrives. My CPU. I was planning on purchasing the CPU tomorrow and build it this weekend.

But am having second thoughts.

Basically I was going to puchase the Intel Q6600. But Looking around I can get a dual core with a faster FSB and better clock speeds but without the obvious extra two cores, and it also has a 6mb cache instead of an 8mb of the q6600.

In particular the E8500 seen here
Scan Computers UK: Intel Core 2 Duo, E8500, Wolfdale Core, S775, 3.16 GHz, 1333MHz, 6MB Cache, Retail

as apposed to the Q6600 seen here
Scan Computers UK: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 SLACR, Kentsfield Core, Socket 775, 2.40 GHz 1066MHz 8MB Cache, Retail

My rig will be for gaming and is the following:
XFX 9800GTX
Intel XXXXXX
Asus P5KC aLiFESTYLE Mobo (supports 1333mhz and ddr3)
4GB Corsair XMS2 PC2-6400 800MHz

and all the other usual stuff.


So what would be the best choice for gaming. I was strongly steering towards the Q6600 because of all the future proof talk I have heard. But what would be best for gaming (in particular games such as Crysis and UT3) and last me a good amount of time before having to upgrade. The fasterFSB and clock speeds are certainly appealing but so is having an extra 2 cores.

Thanks

- Will
 
Well, as I have heard many times, games don't all utilize more than a single core, but many new ones have started using dual and quad cores. So in that sense, I would stick with a quad.

Now I know you are worried about the increased FSB speed, but in reality anything past 2.0GHz in processing speed will run the game almost exactly the same. So once again, a quad core with 4 cores operating at 2.4GHz will have basically the same performance as an E8500 at 3.16GHz. Now, when games start coming out optimized for multi-core systems, your Q6600 will really shine there as it will have 2x the cores and if they are all running at over 2.0GHz then the increased speed on the dual core will not matter and the benefit will only lie in having more cores to divide the processes.
 
There is literally like 2 or 3 other threads talking about this same subject just below this thread. Just check them out and do research.
 
Well, as I have heard many times, games don't all utilize more than a single core, but many new ones have started using dual and quad cores. So in that sense, I would stick with a quad.

Now I know you are worried about the increased FSB speed, but in reality anything past 2.0GHz in processing speed will run the game almost exactly the same. So once again, a quad core with 4 cores operating at 2.4GHz will have basically the same performance as an E8500 at 3.16GHz. Now, when games start coming out optimized for multi-core systems, your Q6600 will really shine there as it will have 2x the cores and if they are all running at over 2.0GHz then the increased speed on the dual core will not matter and the benefit will only lie in having more cores to divide the processes.

Cheers mate. People on here are so helpful. Have helped me loads in the build up to my build. Much appreciated.
 
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