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Q6600 vs Q6700

J

joepacelli

n00b
Joined
Apr 3, 2008
Messages
49
So Intel cut the Q6700 by 50% and it puts the price now down close to the Q6600. So does this make the Q6700 a better buy than the Q6600. What are it's OC potential? Or do I get the cheaper Q6600?

I picked up 2 EVGA 8800GT 512mb this weekend at TigerDirect. $189.99 each with MIR $30 each.

I was waiting for the Intel drop to get my CPU and want to know whether I should go Q6600 or Q6700.

Also do I go with a mobo which does DDR3 vs DDR2. It's been over 2 yrs since I've upgraded. My current system is an AMD x2 4400, 2Gb, 7800GT 256mb (Just replaced with the 2 EVGA's), and the current mobo A8N-SLI Premium.

Plus, Intel or nvidia chipset? Is the nvidia chipset better since I'm SLI'ing to nvidia cards because Intel chipset is geared towards crossfire right?

Joe
 
I'm not aware of the Q6700 being significantly better with overclocking than the Q6600, since the Q6600 is already very good. The higher multiplier might help you eke out slightly more, but I'd only personally go for the Q6700 if prices are very close.

DDR3 is still very expensive and gives little performance benefit compared to DDR2. Its popularity is slowly rising, but I wouldn't buy it.

You must use an Nvidia chipset to use SLI. Watch out for older Nvidia chipsets, I believe they're poor for overclocking quad-cores.
 
From my experience, the higher multi on the q6700 is worth the extra couple dollars. You'll need an nVidia chipset (680i, 780i) to use both your 8800 GTs in SLI. nV chipsets can be finicky with FSB increases. In my case, I had two different e6600s that couldn't go above 3.2ghz due to low FSB headroom on my 680i. In addition to the e6700 being binned a bit better, its higher multi allows me to get to 3.6ghz on the same board.

Although it kills me to spend even a dime extra on what is essentially the same piece of hardware, I'd spend the extra $50 on the q6700. Most people seem to be hitting at least 3.4ghz with them.

Do not get DDR3. The price/performance increase over DDR2 is absurd; you're paying 100%+ more for 3-5% gain. You'll do well with 800mhz DDR2. The nvidia bios allows you to uncouple your RAM's speed from FSB, thus allowing you to keep your memory at spec while OC-ing (other than SLI, this is the one, and only bonus of the nV chipset imo)
 
colinstu said:
Get the eVGA 750i FTW and the Q6600.

If the Q6700 could do 400x10, it'd be worth is. But it can't... 400x9 on a Q6600 and call it a day.
Click to expand...

I was actually planning on doing just that, but now that the q6700 price has come down I was wondering about using that instead. I realize that it can't hit 400x10 but even so the higher multiplier will let it hit the same OC for less FSB. i.e. 378x10 or 333x10.
 
devman said:
I was actually planning on doing just that, but now that the q6700 price has come down I was wondering about using that instead. I realize that it can't hit 400x10 but even so the higher multiplier will let it hit the same OC for less FSB. i.e. 378x10 or 333x10.
Click to expand...

Still, Q6600 --- DDR2-800 is cheap, 400x9=3.6Ghz which is usually doable on high end air, and 400x2 = 8800, so you can run linked and synced 1:1 ideal with the RAM for cheap. The Q6700's higher multi means your RAM will actually be running slower since as others have said 400x10 is not realistic.
 
There's no way you're going to squeeze 10x400 out of the Q6700...
The only thing the 10x does for you is allow to customize your OC settings a little better. Not that it even matters...
 
What about this motherboard MSI P7N Diamond

Plus someone on another forum mention the Q9300. I know this is 45nm, and the L2 cache is 6Mb. But they mentioned it was cooler and was also a good OC'er
 
The P7N Diamond is... finicky. I had horrible luck with mine, to the point that I convinced Newegg to let me swap it out for a different board. That said, many have had very good luck with it and the solid capacitors and good heatpipe system should mean it lasts a long time.

I personally found the BIOS to be really immature, and never got good OCs out of the thing. I couldn't get 3.4Ghz stable when most were doing 3.6Ghz+, and everyone determined I had a bad chip... but with the new board I was running 3.6Ghz stable within minutes.

I'd personally go with the EVGA 750i FTW board. Solid caps, and less trouble. It seems to be a reference board without the usual reliability issues. Hopefully.

The Q9300 is still running like $300 right? Not worth it over a ~$190 Q6600 from Frys.
 
The Q9300 is slightly better than the Q6600 in most benchmarks. It doesn't overclock quite so well due to the lower multiplier, which isn't too much of a problem performance-wise, but might be more of one if you've on an Nvidia board that's a little fussy with the FSB.

It's not worth paying significantly more for it though.
 
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