Intel guys....opinions on Q6700 vs Q9300

[Peter.Cort]

although if the board is not fsb limited, as i think the 790i is one where the cpu will probably hit a wall before the board hits a fsb wall. wouldn't the q9xxx series be a better choice for ocing then the q6xxx series?

 

[veedubfreak]

$ vs # still goes to the 65nm parts. The 45nm parts are just running way hotter than they were really expected to. Yes they use less power, but they still output a buttload of heat, and without extreme cooling they just arent providing enough to justify their cost over the older parts. I recall reading that the 9300 has about a 10% performance boost over the q6600, so the q6700 should be right with it as they both have the same clock speed, but the 6700 has more cache.

As an adendum, as sse4 becomes more relevant, the 45nms will come into their own, but will this happen before or after i can buy a nehalem

 

[Drizzt]

wouldn't the q9xxx series be a better choice for ocing then the q6xxx series?

Veedub just explained why not.

 

[Peter.Cort]

right he explained why it would be better, but my question was if you aren't fsb limited, would the 9 series be better then the 6 due to the lower die size.

 

[Blahages]

All Right. So, if I go for the Q6700, I might as well ask for opinions on motherboards while I'm at it.

Anyone have any recommendations on a motherboard for it? Ricanflow asked for some opinions back in like early February for me (thanks ), but obviously that was almost 3 months ago, so there may be better ones out now. Preferably with 4 RAM Slots. No Integrated Video, and something that'd go along with overclocking? I'm sure I'll end up doing it. Knowing me, I'll do it the same day I get it, but that remains to be seen. It'll happen eventually. If not specific motherboards, then what chipsets should I look for, and what brands should I stay away from?

With my current configuration, I'd need at least one PCI Express slot (2 wouldn't hurt, although I don't see myself using SLI or Crossfire), and I'm currently using 2 PCI Slots, so I'd prefer at least 3, if not more, if possible.

I don't really want to spend more than 200$ for the board. I've had a lot of bad luck with my Current DFI Board. I don't know if it's DFI in general, or just this type of board, as I had to RMA it when I bought it because the Chipset fan didn't move, and then broke off, then after I got my replacement, about 6 months after I got it, the Video card sits right over the chipset fan, and apparently it worked its way in too far, and prevented the fan from moving on the chipset, and burned up the fan, so I had to replace the fan. It also only allows me to use like 1 brand of DDR RAM. Any others I've ever tried, it just won't boot with. Half the time, it won't even boot with the current OCZ RAM I have, if I take one stick out.

I'm willing to spend a between 150-200$ if it's a good board. I don't really want a Cheapy board, that might be iffy.

In all, I'll end up buying a new processor, motherboard, and RAM. I MAY get a new Case, but that remains to be seen.

Will my Antec TPP-550 Watt PSU be sufficient for basically this configuration:

Motherboard
Q6700 Possibly Overclocked to 3.5-3.6GHz at some point
2x2GB of RAM (4GB DDR2)
2-3 SATA Drives
2 IDE DVDRW Drives
Hauppauge TV Tuner (PVR)
Creative SBLive 24
Radeon X800GT PCIe

?

I'd want some flexibility there. Don't want to be almost maxing it out.

My Current Video card is a Radeon X800GT PCI Express. I got it in Late 05, and it's taken a lot of beatings. The Fan died on it without my knowledge, and the card half burned up. It makes this odd high pitched squeeling sound (From the Card itself, not the Fan), but only in intensive OPENGL Games. I don't really do any gaming, or anything Graphically intensive. I Just abuse the crap out of the rest of the machine, so I'll run like 60+ tabs in Firefox, and like 40 different programs at once.

So, I don't really have a need to get a new Video card Yet. I may do it sometime soon, but it's not necessary. It works for my current needs.

I don't have any way of testing how much power is currently being used.

Also, when I do get around to overclocking, at what point would need non-stock cooling? I plan on buying a non-stock cooler anyway, but just so I know.

Also, any opinions/recommendations on coolers? Obviously one that keeps it as cool as possible (For the most part, for air cooling), and not too loud.

Thanks for everyone's input thus far.

 

[veg1992]

I recommend the Xigmatek Rifle for your CPU Cooler

as for a board, I recommend a 750i FTW if you can take its $180 price tag, but if not a Abit IP35 or Abit IP35-E

 

[stalin90]

+1 for the 750i, that or a x48 or x38

 

[Brinson]

3 posts all mentioning the same site?

Coincidence? I think not.

 

[thirdshiftdj]

I'd get the 750i w/ your budget

 

[Blahages]

Just to throw this out there...

What about the E8500 compared to the Q6700?

I mean, really, what would I have to be doing to notice the difference in the 4 cores vs 2 cores?

I've heard that people are consistently getting 4GHz with the E8500.

Gotta love indecisiveness. I'm just trying to sort out everything before I make the decision.

They're the same basic price, so it wouldn't be any difference there.

I'll try to better explain my "Normal" type of computer use.

Right now, I'm running XP, with 75 processes running, probably 60 Firefox Tabs, and a few windows, several explorer windows, I'm playing music, SSH'd into my Ubuntu Server, running a couple IM Clients, got a VPN Client running, couple sessions of Remote Desktop, VNC Server, my AntiVirus, and running Folding@Home in the background. Many times, I'll get a lot worse than this. This is probably normal to less use than usual. Sometimes I open 100+ MB Text files, Mess around with Images in Paint.NET or something, run Virtual Machines with Vista, XP, or Linux in VirtualBox, randomly install free/open source programs that I find online that look interesting to test them out, watch TV in MCE, etc.

Which would handle that better and faster? I know the E8500 is running the new architecture, so it's probably off the list, but I just wanted to be sure, and I'm making sure I exhaust my options before I make the choice.

I'll look into those motherboard suggestions.

Thanks.