E6850 Rig Suggestions/Comments

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zer0747

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Oct 6, 2007
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I was planning on getting a computer from Maingear but their prices are insane - so I figured I could build a myself a better computer for less money if I went to the trouble to do it myself. The first place I went to start researching parts was the [H].

I was planning on getting the E6850 Core 2 (3.0GHz x 2) for my processor, but I noticed that not very many people on the forums seem to be talking about it... Is the E6750 a better choice? For what its worth, I dont plan on overclocking at all (burned out too many parts in the past...) and I'm not very excited about the Quad Core processors (programmers are struggling to utilize 2 cores as it is).

As far as the Mobo and RAM, what pairs well with the E6850? I won't be doing any overclocking or SLi (too much overheating and not very cost effective), but I need SATA II.

For the hard drive I'm looking at the Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache SATA II. Should come in handy for my lolcat picture collection.

And for Bioshock and Starcraft II I'll be needing something to replace my old, busted 7800GT. I'm probably just going to wait until the new line of Nvidia cards come out in a couple months, then upgrade to whatever looks like the best deal (still waiting on that press release, Nvidia).

I figure a ~750W power supply should do the job, as long as it fits in here. Does anyone have recommendations on a good brand of power supply?

My budget is about $2,500 so any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
The E6750 is a better choice. It's been shown that the E6750 and E6850 OC about the same and the E6750 is $100 cheaper. Even at stock speeds, the E6850 isn't worth it over the E6750 since all you're getting for that extra $100 is 400Mhz which can easily be gained with just a small OC.

I think you should reconsider your stance on overclocking. C2D CPUs have a ton of overclocking headroom. Unlike some CPUs that get fidgety with even a 200Mhz OC, most C2Ds can OC an extra 1Ghz with little or no tweaking.

Also, if you don't upgrade that often, then consider the Q6600 since in the future, more apps will benefit from quad cores. Any cheap set of DDR2 800 RAM is all that you need for a C2D, even with OC in mind. I recommend this set:
G.SKILL F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ 2 x 1GB DDR2 800 RAM - $66

As for mobo, it would help if you told us what else you need in a mobo.

As for the HDD, you can get it cheaper here and with the same warranty:
Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $110

What size monitor do you have?

If you really think you need that much power, I recommend this:
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad -$180

Though this maybe all that you really need:
Corsair HX620 620W PSU - $147
 
Sorry about the long time it took me to reply - I'm at work right now.

If I were to stick with the E6850, what motherboard would be best for general performance and gaming (no overclocking, no SLi)

As for the monitor, I'm planning on taking advantage of the 22” Samsung 226BW special that was posted on the main page today.

And I'm not too knowledgeable about power supplies but that Corsair seems like a good fit. It should be able to handle a beefy video card when I make the switch. However, for some reason, all the power supplies I buy asplode and fry, taking half my computer along with them.
 
I agree with Danny.

If you really want to pay $100 for 333Mhz, then by all means, be Intel's guest. I have an E6750, and it took 1 minute (maybe less, actually) for me to OC it past the E6850, lol. As long as heat is managed well, OC'ing won't hurt anything.

The Corsair 520W is really all you need and would fit fine in the P180.

PSU FAQ: http://www.jonnyguru.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1036

PSU Suggestions:
http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showpost.php?p=1590883&postcount=193
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1460
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103
 
I am interested in the E6850 as my next choice too, and have heard many people dish it and recommend E6600 and E6750 over it.

If one is to overclock wouldn't the 6850 overlock better or higher thatn the lower end chips. I know certain platforms are better for ocing... but still
 
Kasher_Khan said:
I am interested in the E6850 as my next choice too, and have heard many people dish it and recommend E6600 and E6750 over it.

If one is to overclock wouldn't the 6850 overlock better or higher thatn the lower end chips. I know certain platforms are better for ocing... but still
Click to expand...

Nope, simply because they're binned the same. Over time, as Intel improves the manufacturing even more, the E6850 will start to pull away from the E6750... but right now, they're equal in terms of overclocking potential. However, by that time, there will be better chips out, like the Wolfdale and Yorkfield 45nm chips. The Penryn family chips would be a better buy than an E6850 unless they drop the price of it, which I doubt they will do since Intel's strategy before is to simply intro new chips at lower prices. A perfect example of this is the E6600 and E6750. Instead of dropping the price on the E6600, they simply EOL'd it at its current $220 pricepoint and intro'd the E6750 at the $183 pricepoint.

In either case, both will OC to 4Ghz. The only difference is the multiplier, so you'll have an easier time with the E6850. However, it really isn't that hard with the E6750... at least not hard enough, imo, to pay $100 more for a 9x multiplier.
 
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