Best Core 2 Series Desktops-Results and Specs

[mykhal c]

Hey guys, did anyone else hear about the price reduction of the Q6700? It was halved on the 20th so now the Q6700's are going for $299. Newegg. Has anyone tested these processors? Is it worth the extra $70 bux for the Q6700? I have to imagine it is...

personally i'd go with the Q9450...larger cache size, faster FSB and only $50 more than the Q6700. they're gonna have to do one of two things...either drop the price of the Q6700 even more or raise the price of the Q9450. to me, the Q6700 at that price does NOT make a lotta sense with the Q9450 sittin' out there for $50 more...IMHO

[jello]

Maybe this interesting reading, 3 gig ram switch in windows xp;

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms791558.aspx

[bladesg]

Read about it today. I'm also wondering if it's worth the extra $80 to get it instead of the Q6600. Anyone have any experience with both?

I don't think it's worth it. You'd be better off with a Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz, because it's a bargain and if you get the G0 stepping it'll do 2.66GHz no sweat at all. Go into BIOS and change FSB = 266 to FSB = 296 and get yourself a Q6700 for the price of a Q6600.

Only other option is a Q9450 like Mykhal c has already stated with good reason.

[blanks77]

personally i'd go with the Q9450...larger cache size, faster FSB and only $50 more than the Q6700. they're gonna have to do one of two things...either drop the price of the Q6700 even more or raise the price of the Q9450. to me, the Q6700 at that price does NOT make a lotta sense with the Q9450 sittin' out there for $50 more...IMHO

Yeah, I was looking at the Q9450 too, (I'm also building a Windows PT LE system), but aside from being unavailable, it's OEM. You'd need a cooling system too... (Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 maybe?) which bumps the price to $82ish more than the Q6700. Arguably, the cooling system might be a good idea for the Q6700 though... Just trying to figure out what's the best price/performance, with an emphasis on performance. I'm thinkin:

Asus Maximus Formula mobo
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700. (Maybe 1gb less RAM and faster processor??)
Corsair Dominator 4GB (2x2GB) DDR 1066 (PC2 8500)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250gb (16 mb cache) for system drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500gb (32 mb cache) for session/audio drive

Anyone know how the 32mb cache hard drives have been performing? Does that performance make it worth buying them over 16mb cache? Think two of the same hard drives (16 or 32mb cache) is better than different ones?

Haven't decided on a video card yet... I do play games so ideally I'd get a GeForce 8800GT but I saw the thread about problems with Pro Tools and the nVidia drivers, so I'm hesitant to get it.

If anyone has any suggestions, it would be much appreciated.

[mykhal c]

I don't think it's worth it. You'd be better off with a Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz, because it's a bargain and if you get the G0 stepping it'll do 2.66GHz no sweat at all. Go into BIOS and change FSB = 266 to FSB = 296 and get yourself a Q6700 for the price of a Q6600.

this REALLY is the answer!!!

Yeah, I was looking at the Q9450 too, (I'm also building a Windows PT LE system), but aside from being unavailable, it's OEM. You'd need a cooling system too... (Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 maybe?) which bumps the price to $82ish more than the Q6700. Arguably, the cooling system might be a good idea for the Q6700 though... Just trying to figure out what's the best price/performance, with an emphasis on performance. I'm thinkin:

Asus Maximus Formula mobo
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700. (Maybe 1gb less RAM and faster processor??)
Corsair Dominator 4GB (2x2GB) DDR 1066 (PC2 8500)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250gb (16 mb cache) for system drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500gb (32 mb cache) for session/audio drive

Anyone know how the 32mb cache hard drives have been performing? Does that performance make it worth buying them over 16mb cache? Think two of the same hard drives (16 or 32mb cache) is better than different ones?

Haven't decided on a video card yet... I do play games so ideally I'd get a GeForce 8800GT but I saw the thread about problems with Pro Tools and the nVidia drivers, so I'm hesitant to get it.

If anyone has any suggestions, it would be much appreciated.

blade, really gave the best advice IMHO. he's been runnin' his q6600 at 3.2ghz (did i remember correctly?) since building. and i'm usin' the FREEZER 7 on my Q6600...nice!!! i'm usin' ASUS EN8500GT (NVIDIA 8500GT) and no problems. the thread you are talkin' about was with a GIGA mobo which has some documented issues with latency...as a result of what is the question!! but to date i do not remember a documented case on the DUC with an ASUS mobo and NVIDIA 8000 series cards.

again IMHO, i think the Q9450 will stay scarce until the Q6700s are moved a bit more or like i said earlier, price adjustment one way or another

[blanks77]

I don't think it's worth it. You'd be better off with a Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz, because it's a bargain and if you get the G0 stepping it'll do 2.66GHz no sweat at all. Go into BIOS and change FSB = 266 to FSB = 296 and get yourself a Q6700 for the price of a Q6600.

Only other option is a Q9450 like Mykhal c has already stated with good reason.

Yeah, I agree with you. The extra $80 just gets you guaranteed G0 stepping and 10x multiplier (instead of 9x on Q6600) for OCing. Q6600 seems to be the way to go. Are all Q6600s shipped with G0 stepping now? (or specifically Q6600 from Newegg)

Thanks for the help!

[mykhal c]

Yeah, I agree with you. The extra $80 just gets you guaranteed G0 stepping and 10x multiplier (instead of 9x on Q6600) for OCing. Q6600 seems to be the way to go. Are all Q6600s shipped with G0 stepping now? (or specifically Q6600 from Newegg)

Thanks for the help!

guaranteed G0 stepping... CLUBIT Q6600 G0...i 'm not sure what NEWEGG is shippin' these days

[Neil33]

Actually the Q6700 is only $40 more at Tigerdirect now. Still not worth it? Cheapest the Q9450 is going for in-stock is $379 according to Pricewatch, which puts it out of the price/performance curve IMO. How high can you reasonably OC the Q6700 on air?

[blanks77]

Actually the Q6700 is only $40 more at Tigerdirect now. Still not worth it? Cheapest the Q9450 is going for in-stock is $379 according to Pricewatch, which puts it out of the price/performance curve IMO. How high can you reasonably OC the Q6700 on air?

That's OEM so you'd need to add in the price of a heatsink/fan. Still about $70-80 more than the Q6600. I'm curious about the OCing of the Q6700 as well though...

[bladesg]

The Q6700 won't necessarily clock higher than a Q6600 because it'll depend on other factors including CPU VID, Memory, Motherboard and cooling. If you're going to overclock then IMHO a Q6600 is a no brainer. If you don't want to OC then i'd be looking for a Q9450. I can strongly recommend the Noctua NH-U12(F or P) CPU cooler.

Now to go a little off topic...... If anyone is going to do a Newegg order shortly, I'm after a SIIG Firewire card (digi approved). I can't come by these cards in Australia and when I purchased my ADS card it took 6+ weeks to come within Australia. If anyone can help me out, it would be greatly appreciated. Please PM me if you can help out and of course I can cover costs and shipping via Paypal.