Q6600 OR E8400 ?

[PAT_2008]

Hi, guys u might have heard this a million times...but i really need ur help! I am building a LOW BUDGET pc. I am probably have to use it for 3 YEARS or more. I don't know which one to get Q6600 or E8400. I am NOT GOING TO OVERCLOCK. This is what i have thought of getting so far : Q6600, Biostar gf7050v-m7 mobo, 2gb DDR2 800 mhz, 360 gb HDD, 17" monitor, microsoft keyboard and mouse, zebronics cabinet, 5.1 channel foxin speakers. WHAT DO U SUGGEST ?

[qrs321]

Well, I'd say the q6600 is more future proof as more programs will support multi-threaded performance. Because of the e8400 higher clock though it is probably the better performer at the moment.

[RicheemxX]

Its funny what some people consider "low budget" most of us don't figure a $200 cpu as being low budget. I personally have never bought into the idea of future proofing, specially these days. New tech is developing fast, price are dropping faster and things are goings nuts. The best advice is find a good price point for what you want right now and build on that.

Posting your budget and what you plan to do with the pc will give people a better idea of what you might need.

[KarmaKiller]

I agree with Rich, post your budget. There are much better bangs for the buck out there then what you have listed in your brief description.

[RicheemxX]

You know its funny I just looked at a "budget build" I was going to do for a friend of mine a couple yrs ago and the difference in price to performance (now that he finally wants it) is silly. 3 yrs is a long time in tech!

But one of the first things I see is the user is building with on-board graphics, thats fine for surfing the web but not much else. Second 2 gigs of ram is decent, but thats pretty much the low end for right now. It is the sweet spot for pricing, but for wanting something 3yrs down the road that might be lite.

That mobo really is limiting for any possible future upgrades should the need arise, and I didn't look but does it even support 45nm cpu's?

[#43 fan]

I would get a cheaper CPU, for a budget build.
This is what I recently built:
AMD X2 for $60
Cheaper Gigabyte Motherboard for $60
New PSU for $40 (ended up using my old one, actually)
Videocard 4850 for $200 (the only non-budget part of my build)
RAM Transcend 2GB $38.99
DVD drive $29
I already had the case, Hard drive, and Windows.
In other words, I would get a videocard for about $100.

[ShyguyXPC]

another question is what kind of tasks will this PC be used for, something else to look at when considering the parts, besides the budget...

nevermind, I didn't see the last part of Rich's first reply, last part of last statement

[PAT_2008]

Thanks all for the replies. My budget is about $400 - $450 (without monitor and dvd burner, i will retain these parts from my old pc). I chose the BIOSTAR motherboard as it was low priced and thus i could afford a better processor. I can add more ram, graphics card, hdd later on but not change the processor and mobo every time a new processor is out. So should i wait for the Q3 intel releases for better processor or the Q6600's price may be furthered lowered? Future proof is what i am looking for....so suggest me something "MORE BANG FOR THE BUCK"!And as for the mobo supporting 45nm...i don't know,i came across a good review in reviews.cnet.com, i will send the review in my next post.

[washe]

I usually stay away from Biostar....

Gigabyte GA-EP35-DSL3 are pretty good mobos for 80 bucks... and great for the budget build

[PAT_2008]

BIOSTAR GF7050V-M7 REVIEW : Manufacturer: Biostar Part number: GF7050V-M7 GeneralProduct type (AE) Motherboard Form factor Micro ATX Width 7.3 in Depth 9.6 in Compatible Processors Celeron D, Pentium 4, Pentium D, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Extreme, Celeron 400 sequence, Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 64-bit Processor Compatibility Yes Mainboard processor socket LGA775 Socket Mainboard / Multi-Core Support Dual-Core / Quad-core Chipset Type NVIDIA GeForce 7050 / nForce 610i Data bus speed 1333 MHz BIOS type Phoenix-Award Storage key information ATA-133, Serial ATA-300 (RAID) Power connectors 4-pin ATX12V connector, 24-pin main power connector ProcessorInstalled Qty (Max Supported) 0 ( 1 ) MemoryCache Memory Type None Supported RAM Technology DDR II SDRAM RAM Installed ( Max ) 0 MB / 4 GB (max) Supported RAM Speed PC2-5300, PC2-6400 VideoGraphics Controller NVIDIA GeForce 7050 Video Memory Shared video memory (UMA) Video Memory Installed ( Max ) / 512 MB (max) AudioAudio Output Sound card Audio codec Realtek ALC662 Sound Output Mode 5.1 channel surround Audio output compliant standards High Definition Audio Telecom / NetworkingModem None Networking Network adapter - Realtek RTL8201CL - Ethernet, - Fast Ethernet FeaturesBIOS Features APM 1.1 support, APM 1.2 support, BIOSTAR WarpSpeeder, Hyper-Threading Technology Hardware Monitoring CPU core voltage, CPU fan tachometer, Chassis temperature, CPU core temperature, Chassis fan tachometer Hardware Features BIOSTAR [WarpSpeeder] Expansion / ConnectivityExpansion Slots Total (Free) 1 Processor - LGA775 Socket, 2 Memory - DIMM 240-pin, 1 PCI Express x16, 1 PCI Express x1, 2 PCI Storage Interfaces ATA-133 - connector(s): 1 x 40pin IDC - 2 device(s), Serial ATA-300 - connector(s): 4 x 7pin Serial ATA - 4 device(s) - RAID 0 / RAID 1 Interfaces 1 x Keyboard - Generic - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style), 1 x Mouse - Generic - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style), 4 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 pin USB Type A, 1 x Audio - Line-out (center/subwoofer)/microphone - Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1 x Audio - Line-out - Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1 x Audio - Line-out (rear)/line-in - Mini-phone 3.5 mm, 1 x Display / video - VGA - 15 pin D-Sub (DB-15), 1 x Network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - RJ-45, 1 x Serial - RS-232 - 9 pin D-Sub (DB-9), 1 x Audio - SPDIF output, 1 x Audio - Line-in - 4 pin MPC, 1 x Storage - Floppy interface - 34 pin IDC Additional connectors (optional) 4 x Hi-Speed USB MiscellaneousMiscellaneous / Included Accessories (AE) I/O back plate Cables Included 1 x Floppy cable, 1 x Serial ATA cable, 1 x IDE cable Software Included (Mainboard) Drivers & utilities Miscellaneous compliant standards RoHS, APM 1.1, APM 1.2, ACPI 1.0b, FCC Part 15 B, Plug and Play ...In case u were wondering. What more can u expect from a $60 mobo ? Sorry for the long post.</p>