Hi everyone!
I have to update my bedroom/homestudio PC and I'm a little lost on which processor and motherboard to get. I'm also short on money and I live in Brazil, so prices here are much more expensive than in the US.
I thought about getting an Intel Core 2 Quad. From what I looked on some websites, the Q6600 and Q8200 look good, but I have no idea of which one is better or if there's other options out there.
The motherboard is another thing that concerns me. I need something stable, specially the USB ports (my current PC has issues with USB). I've looked for some motherboards, but there are so many and I can't tell which one is better.
I know I'm not being too specific here, but as I said, I'm lost and don't know where to start. Sorry about that :(
Thank you!
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Well, if you use a lot of plugins, then yes, a quad core will pr
Well, if you use a lot of plugins, then yes, a quad core will probably give you more "oomph".
I would get the fastest quad you can unless you're on a budget, in which case I'd get the fastest Duo, a £15 heatsink, and overclock.
(Maybe I'd do that with a Quad too, but you can't OC a Q8200).
Codemonkey wrote: Well, if you use a lot of plugins, then yes, a
Codemonkey wrote: Well, if you use a lot of plugins, then yes, a quad core will probably give you more "oomph".
I would get the fastest quad you can unless you're on a budget, in which case I'd get the fastest Duo, a £15 heatsink, and overclock.
(Maybe I'd do that with a Quad too, but you can't OC a Q8200).
I understand your point, but I never overclocked a computer and I'm not too shure I want to. Where I live is hot most of the year and I'm afraid (even with good cooling system) it might reduce the lifespan of the components.
Also, I'll have to spend some $$ on a better cooling system and power, I don't know if its worth it (at least for my use of a PC).
But it's good to know that the Q8200 is not overclockable, it's a point against it.
Thanks!
Just two more questions about the processors... The Q6600 has a
Just two more questions about the processors...
The Q6600 has a 1066 MHz FSB and the Q8200 has 1333MHz.
If I use those DDR3 memory with higher MHz, will the Q6600 be the bottleneck of the system?
And what about that L2 cache? The Q6600 has 8MB, while the Q8200 has 4MB. Does it really make a difference for audio recording and running lots of plugins?
Thanks,
Most motherboard BIOS allow you to set the memory frequency sepa
Most motherboard BIOS allow you to set the memory frequency separate from the FSB using a "divider," so I don't think you need to worry about the Q6600 being a bottleneck. Of course instead, while you are in the BIOS, you could always just scale back the CPU multiplier to 6, push your FSB up to 400, and make sure your RAM voltage is up to the number rated by the manufacturer. Congrats, you are now running a Q6600 at 1600FSB (assuming your motherboard is not crap). And you could also do this easily with DDR2 if you want to save some bucks...
At stock speeds and such, I don't think you will notice a heck of a big difference between the two. You could save yourself $35 by going with the Q8200 if you have no plans to overclock.
I'm not sure why Codemonkey won't allow you to overclock the Q8200. I guess you could always do it and just not tell him... :wink:
I have a Q8200. It's good. From what I hear, the Q6600 is better
I have a Q8200. It's good.
From what I hear, the Q6600 is better.
Personally I think I'd rather have a faster Duo than a slower Quad - but I use very few plugins and I game a lot.