Whats the best Intel Core 2 Duo Processor?

[phearr]

Hey guys im about to like buy most of my parts to finish my first rig and so far i have the Case and PSU

I want to know is what is the best Intel core 2 duo out there since the prices are all going down tommrow and im going early to tiger or Canada computers to check. Just to make sure.. will it go down right away? Im waiting til midnight and refreshing the pages for CPUS and see if they have like a sale for them? Or is this for America only? Will it be price cut by tomorrow morning in Canada or Monday? anyways ennuf about the price cut and more talk about what processor i should choose. the 3 are

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processors
Intel® Core™2 Quad Processors
Intel® Core™2 Extreme Processor

now for sure i cant afford a Intel® Core™2 Extreme Processor so i dont think ill be getting one of those since they cost about 1200 Canadian and i dont think they are going to cut the price to around 500-600 so i dont think ill be getting one of these processors ATM.

i have 2 choices.. a Duo or Quad.. which one is better for gaming and performance? which one is getting the prices down cuz im not really sure yet all i know is that tomorrow the prices for Intel CPUs will go down and its the best time to get one.. so which should i should what model is the best? my first choice since the beginning was the Q6600 and im not sure now because i keep seeing Duo models like E6600,6700 and so on and i dunno what is better the Quad Series or Duo? like i said i want this to be pure gaming PC and i think i already know quad should be the best and i think that the Q6600 beats all of duos but i havent checked just think tho because Quad is the second best after Extreme series i think.. lol anyways help.. im going there tommrow to make my choice so i need anwsers quick i have til 7-8 in the morning nad im going there early to make sure they dont get sold out. o if it helps i will list all the parts i have and will be getting and they are my final choices. i still have problems with cpu and motheboard tho.

Case - Cooler Master Centurion 5
Power Supply - Mushkin 550 Watts
Hard Drive - Seagate Barracuda (ST3320620AS) 7200.10 320GB SATA
CPU Fan - Zalman CNPS9500

Ram - http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=013889&cid=RAM.835
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2206874&CatId=2264
Same model ram but different speeds... i think the lower the better right? Anyways going to tiger since its cheaper The one from tiger is better correct?

Video Card - BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC2 Or EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS going to let my dad decide the bfg is 560 and evga is 580 cad so the better for just 20 bucks id like to go with evga if its better which i think it is.. and i hear they are they best manufacture of videocards so is 20 bucks worth getting or will it just be the same? anyways ill get either.

OS - Windows XP home edition

DVD Drives - i havnt done much into looking but ill just choose 2 DVD burners if u have advice on what to get under 100 bucks that would be helpful.

now here is the other parts not 100 percent sure but had a idea on what to choose tell me if i should stick to this from what i already have.

CPU - Q6600
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R

there u have it all the things ill be getting to build my FIRST RIG!! WOOT are the choices wonderful? will it all fit and work even tho i double checked and it seems its all compatible with eveything.. so plz give advice on what cpu and motherboard to get becuase im not sure yet.. and havent seen the price go down in tiger or CC even tho its past midnight. thanks for all the hlep i hope this rig last at least 1-3 years without upgrading thanks for the help i love this site.

 

[akahuddy]

Q6600 - Should be nice and future proof for nearly anything you could do. Stick with the Quad for sure though. Once things become multi-threaded, this will fly. (and it runs F@H SMP client like a champ)
Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R - Solid motherboard. 2 thumbs up.
DVD Drives... no particular favorites, but go for SATA connection if possible.
OS - Still you're choice...
GPU - Solid cards either way.
RAM - The lower latency RAM is better.
CPU Fan - Should be fine
HD - Good
Mushkin 550W... never heard of Mushkin and PSU's. I'm personally fond of SeaSonic and Corsair. PSU's are VERY IMPORTANT... read up on them at johnnyguru.com or @ x_c_p_u_s.com (remove underscores)
Case - Centurion 5 is nice... this one is better: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119106
No 80mm fans. Move side fan to front and it is a solid case. If you want to pony up a bit, something from Lian-Li or Antec (P180B) is even swankier...

 

[phearr]

its to late.. btw tom reviewed my case so it wasnt the best but if its a reviwed case it means its good? lol anyways ya ill keep the case.. and power supply i posted in other fourms and they say this is a good psu for its price.. anyways its modular so i can connect what i want and have more space.. and yes im still using xp if i had to and there is no xps i would go for vista even tho i really dont want it i still have to go for xp for now i can spend another 150 on vista in december when sp1 comes out so its no biggie. thanks for your reply

 

[phearr]

o i have a last question... is it true that the q6600 comes with 2 CPUS? or its like 2 in 1? cuz if it comes it 2 how will i install it in my motherboard there is only ennuf for 1

 

[akahuddy]

Reviewing doesn't equal quality. Quality = quality. Not to worry, the case will work just fine.

I'd still try and get a different PSU... A good PSU for the price is NOT what you use on high end parts. The certain PSU you've picked out is cutting it close for your system. It only delivers 28A through the 12V rails as listed on the manufacturer website:
http://www.mushkin.com/doc/products/power_supply/hp-550.asp 336W/12V=28A.
And see where Mushkin falls on this website (which is pretty accurate):
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088

I also get leery after seeing several horrendous reviews on Newegg.

Everything else you have will be great, but consider trying to get something like this Corsair:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139001
40A on 3x12V rails and rates better than the Mushkin unit.

 

[akahuddy]

Q6600 is basically 2 E6600 CPUS packaged together to form a single socket quad core chip.

 

[phearr]

ok ty for the help with cpu now for sure im getting the q6600 STILL no price cut on tiger or CC but ill check this moring its almost 3 and im tired. thanks but i think ill keep the PSU for now its 550W and i got it for 100 bucks i might consider upgrading to 600-700 if i planed to but as for now ill stick to the mushkin i already bought it and its installed in the case already. but thanks for the help with cpu i now understand

 

[systemlord]

Don't waist your money on the Extremes cause you can overclock a E6600 well past 3.4GHz, I have mine at 3.6GHz. The Q6600 is two E6600's so you will have 4 cores. You can OC it if you want to, maybe 3.4GHz not sure how quad cores OC though. You can also can get a better cooler by getting a Tuniq Tower 120. At stock clock on my E6600 @2.4GHz @ idle 17-18C and full load 28C. With my OC in my sig @3.6GHz idle's 28C & full load 54C which is 6C lower than max temp. But games never go higher than 48C.

 

[apt403]

Return the PSU. Mushkin is a decent company, but that power supply simply DOES NOT have enough power to run your build reliably over time. You'll be pushing it to the edge of it's capacity, and it'll eventually die. Possibly taking the RAM, CPU, GPU, mobo, ect., with it to the scrap heap. If you can't return it, then get a new psu as ASAP. The Corsair unit akahuddy linked is an awesome PSU.

 

[Trapperjohn117]

I wouldn't go by the thought the q6600 is two e6600's processing power wise. It turns out that the 1066 bus holds back the performance of the current quads (that's why you'll always see an e6600 outperform a q6600 at the same clocks in single threaded tasks), so unless you're willing to dish out the money for a 1333fsb quad core, I would say dump that idea. Not to mention, unless you can name me 5 things that can make use of all 4 cores, I would say you are wasting your time, and here's why: 1. 65nm intel quads run very hot and draw tons of power (can't say whether that'll be true about amd's offerings or 45nm, though my guess is not). 2. 1066 quads are outperformed by their 1066 dual core counterparts. 3. you won't notice any speed difference unless you use tons of multithreaded programs. 4. You can get the e6850 for the same price which will clock a lot higher on air for you (you could go phase, which I can discuss with you if you want through msn) and you will actually notice the higher clockspeed in ALL activities vs just a few multithreaded tasks.

ohh and btw, systemlord, your results for 2.4ghz are impossible unless you keep your room at 15c, which I'm sure you do not. For anything besides dice, ln2, tec (including chillers) and phase cooling, you cannot go below the ambient temp. Factor in at the best possible conditions the heatload-dissapation delta will be minimum a few C, your room must be very cold in order to achieve 17c idle. My guess is that you are using something like core temp that displays the temperature I believe it was 12c lower than it is. If anyone has any questions, you guys can msn me (just ask for the address through pm).

 

[phearr]

omg i just got everything and installing the CPU to the motherboard do i really need the paste cuz i got a diff fan my dad ditn want to get the zalman and it was sold out anyways the fan i got didnt come with paste is paste really needed?

 

[ethel]

omg i just got everything and installing the CPU to the motherboard do i really need the paste cuz i got a diff fan my dad ditn want to get the zalman and it was sold out anyways the fan i got didnt come with paste is paste really needed?

 

[delt]

Yeah, you will need thremal paste. Don't forget that step.

 

[phearr]

Ok i just checked the cpus fan i got it was already added i didnt see that lol.. anyways IM DONE ALL but sad thing is that it wont turn on.. what im i doing wrong? i installed the memory since the video card and cpu and cpu fan and hard drive and everything i got and it wont turn on.. any guides out there that tell step by step to make sure its fully right?

 

[do_it_anyway]

Is anthing happening at all?
Any lights, fans spinning etc?
Are all the power plugs from your PSU plugged in. Remember you need power direct to the CPU on intel chips. Its usually a 4 pin square plug by the side of the CPU, often there is a molex connector as well.

Also, have you connected power to the graphics card?

And stupid question, but you have turned the powersupply on at the back?