Quad or not to Quad

**Ewok** · 12-25-07, 12:35 PM

I write custom multi-threaded apps for a living and have to profile and benchmark them on different core processors (1/2/4) to keep the apps as fast as possible.

Originally Posted by SoySoldier

Ok, so its like this: it has four workers, and the other has two who are faster. Sure if I have 8 jobs to do, I would rather have the four slightly slower workers, but when I have one or two jobs to do, the two win out. The game only needs one worker. So should you give it one slower worker, or one faster worker?

And that is exactly how it is.

**MaKe_OuT_33** · 12-25-07, 04:10 PM

So if I just bought my Q6600 less than 30 days ago and I can swap it for an E6850 with no penalty, i should do it? I built my computer for gaming. I am running an ASUS P5N-E SLI board that says fsb 1333/1066MHz so I guess its good for this E6850. Would I be getting more for my money with the dual core?

**BrokenApe** · 12-25-07, 08:06 PM

The supreme commander series (regular and forged alliance) are mutli-core optimized if you like RTS and want a good test

**SapiensErus** · 12-26-07, 12:06 AM

Originally Posted by BrokenApe

The supreme commander series (regular and forged alliance) are mutli-core optimized if you like RTS and want a good test

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/07/...07/page16.html

E6850 outperforming Q6600 at Supreme Commander (I already posted this up above in all those links)

**MasterBlaster** · 12-27-07, 04:09 PM

My question to you is, are you going to over clock it?

And how much are you going to overclock it.

Because i would take the Q6600 if you are going for a clock of 3.6 on air (which can be done, if you get a good chip. Normally they are getting around 3.2-3.4 clocks) and when they are over clocked on vista with its ability to spread the load out to different cores, the quad starts to kick some but. I just read a review of overclocking Q6600 versus e6850.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/11/08/dual_vs_quad/

IF i go with the upgrade to the 780i and look for another 8800GTX on ebay or craigslist, i will be going for a 3.6 clock on a Q6600.

**SapiensErus** · 12-27-07, 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by MasterBlaster

My question to you is, are you going to over clock it?

And how much are you going to overclock it.

Because i would take the Q6600 if you are going for a clock of 3.6 on air (which can be done, if you get a good chip. Normally they are getting around 3.2-3.4 clocks) and when they are over clocked on vista with its ability to spread the load out to different cores, the quad starts to kick some but. I just read a review of overclocking Q6600 versus e6850.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/11/08/dual_vs_quad/

IF i go with the upgrade to the 780i and look for another 8800GTX on ebay or craigslist, i will be going for a 3.6 clock on a Q6600.

good point... they are actually both great procs that will run everything out there today beautifully. But as far as OCing goes; if you are not getting the jaggies with everything cranked up, why stress it?

**SapiensErus** · 12-27-07, 04:33 PM

Originally Posted by MasterBlaster

My question to you is, are you going to over clock it?

And how much are you going to overclock it.

Because i would take the Q6600 if you are going for a clock of 3.6 on air (which can be done, if you get a good chip. Normally they are getting around 3.2-3.4 clocks) and when they are over clocked on vista with its ability to spread the load out to different cores, the quad starts to kick some but. I just read a review of overclocking Q6600 versus e6850.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/11/08/dual_vs_quad/

IF i go with the upgrade to the 780i and look for another 8800GTX on ebay or craigslist, i will be going for a 3.6 clock on a Q6600.

Also that article is OCing a E6750 not an E6850; I am guessing that OCing a E6850 and the Q6600 will result in performance comparison to the non-OCed benchmarks (which I linked to extensively earlier) except they will do it faster.

Also, at the end of the article (page 41) it states: "In video-editing and 3D-rendering scenarios, the Core 2 Quad Q6600 is noticeably faster than the dual-core CPU. On the other hand, it still trails its sibling when it comes to gaming. " and it is an E6750 not E6850..meaning the Q6600 may trail its sibling even farther.

Gaming? OC or not got Dual core with the 1333 bus at this time. period.

**HeavyG** · 12-29-07, 07:26 PM

The 3.6GHz on the Q6600 is not likely. I'm not saying it isnt possible... just that it isnt as easy as it seems. I have my E6850 running at 3.8GHz.

That is a 26% overclock. Overclocking your Q6600 to 3.6GHz would be a 50% overclock, which more than likely would result in instability and cut down on the life of the chip.

I would say 3.2GHz is a bit more realistic for overclocking the Q6600. And if that is the case, most games would probably run better on the E6850. Lets face it. This year, only two games have really utilized the quad technology: Crysis and Supreme Commander.

I would say the next chip you get should be a quad core, but not this one. You probably wont utilize the technology during the chip's life. You will, however, more than likely take advantage of the high clock speed of the E6850 with most of the games that are coming out this year. A lot of games will be using the Unreal 3 engine, which run better on the E6850.

I went through this in September when I did my upgrading. The E6850 is still the chip of choice. But I'm surprised it is still in the $300 price range.