screw q6600...it seems from other reports their overclocking ability is getting worse and worse...i know some of you guys got good ones, but there are many many more that are NOT performing well in the OC arena (take my old one for example...please lol)
get a decent dual core and overclock the poo poo out of it. an e8400 will overclock better than a q6600, will run cooler, will use less power, and trounces it in most applications (in almost ALL games). there are a few that the q6600 performs better in, but not many everyday apps. if you are gaming mostly, the 84/8500 is a better chip hands down. and it also costs a little less. dont listen to the "quad-core is future proof" crap argument. q6600 is quickly becoming a primitive processor. and by the time you actually NEED a quad core to stay on top of things (who knows when that will be...software engineers are begging hardware engineers to slow down lol)...the q6600 will be a long way down the obsolete road. nehalem will be out by then definitely (making most ALL other current processors obsolete), and you will likely be able to get a q9550 or other 45nm quad for a song. AND you will still be able to use it in your lga775 mobo (as compared to nehalem). now...you might "need" a quad core now if you:
play COD4 w/teamspeak
burn DVD's
run limewire downloads
encode video
mix audio
type a school paper and
fold....
AT THE SAME TIME.....lol...who does that?? i dont.
i just started messing with this e8400 and already i <3 it waaaaaay more than the q6600 i had (for a short time).