Best CPU for under $300?

[JSK07]

The upgrade bug has bitten and I am looking to upgrade my current system. AMD X2 3800 (939) currently overclocked at 2.5ghz, 2gb of generic ram on a DFI motherboard.

I have been looking at the Q6600, E6750 or AMD X2 6000+ as the processor for my new system. I just can't decide between them. I've been doing some searching and reading various threads but it hasn't helped.

I am a casual gamer. Mainly playing MMORPG games like World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online. Once in a blue moon I might load up a first person shooter or real time strategy game. I also dabble with Photoshop CS2, picture and video editing and MP3's. I also run Visual Studio 2005 for my job. I will be running Vista 64 Ultimate as my operating system.

At this point I am leaning towards the the Q6600 with a good motherboard and overclocking it up to the 2.8-3.0ghz range. But on some of the benchmarks I've seen both the E6750 and AMD X2 6000 have outperformed the Q6600.

 

[Cogman]

Q6600 will definitely be the best bang for your buck. Get one, with some decent cooling, and over clock like mad.

 

[sdsdv10]

You did know that at stock the Q6600 is 2.4GHz and the E6750 is 2.66GHz...
So most benchmarks at stock speed (which don't take advantage of the 2 extra cores) will favor the E6750.

Check out this thread at xtremesystems on quad core overclocking. http://www.xtremesystems.org/f...howthread.php?t=157690

A number of people are getting >3.2GHz on the Q6600 with G0 stepping on just air cooling.

I couldn't recommend the X2 6000 at this time. At stock speeds it competes quite nicely with the E6750, but it has more limited OCing headroom (at least from what I have read, as I don't currently have one).

 

[JSK07]

Thanks for the replies! It looks like I will be ordering the Q6600 as soon as I decide on the motherboard and cooling.

 

[The-Noid]

P5K-E or P5K-Deluxe will be the best motherboard choice.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: sdsdv10
You did know that at stock the Q6600 is 2.4GHz and the E6750 is 2.66GHz...
So most benchmarks at stock speed (which don't take advantage of the 2 extra cores) will favor the E6750.

Check out this thread at xtremesystems on quad core overclocking. http://www.xtremesystems.org/f...howthread.php?t=157690

A number of people are getting >3.2GHz on the Q6600 with G0 stepping on just air cooling.

I couldn't recommend the X2 6000 at this time. At stock speeds it competes quite nicely with the E6750, but it has more limited OCing headroom (at least from what I have read, as I don't currently have one).

The difference between 266mhz on the cores is negligible at best in apps that only use 1-2 cores. However, the jump for applications that use all 4 cores is enormous.

 

[Roy2001]

PS-CS3 and MP3, game a little bit. Then Q6600.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Yoxxy
P5K-E or P5K-Deluxe will be the best motherboard choice.

actually yoxxy, i felt that the gigabyte p35-ds3p or DQ6 if you can add a bit more is a much easier board to play with.

Dont know if u tried the gigabyte series.

:T

 

[Gikaseixas]

Q6600 no doubt

very appealing cpu for the price

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: sdsdv10
You did know that at stock the Q6600 is 2.4GHz and the E6750 is 2.66GHz...
So most benchmarks at stock speed (which don't take advantage of the 2 extra cores) will favor the E6750.

Check out this thread at xtremesystems on quad core overclocking. http://www.xtremesystems.org/f...howthread.php?t=157690

A number of people are getting >3.2GHz on the Q6600 with G0 stepping on just air cooling.

I couldn't recommend the X2 6000 at this time. At stock speeds it competes quite nicely with the E6600, but it has more limited OCing headroom (at least from what I have read, as I don't currently have one).

fixed

 

[nyker96]

Q6600 hands down, it beats the dual core in almost every major apps of the day esp. in video+graphics processing types.