What should I get?

S

Schonza

Member
I'm going to build a new rig soon and just wondering what would be better for me. I'm going to be gaming, DJing, and using it for CAD programs for my engineering course. Should I be getting a C2Q or a C2D? Practically either a Q6600 or Q8200, or a E8400 or E8500.
 
CAD programs can be very resource consuming programs. I took 4 years of CAD classes in high school. While working with complex 2D and 3D product designs, machines with high speed large amounts of RAM are recommended. When you start actually doing complex 3D designs with dozens of layers and multiple monitors...it will really work a dual core, might actually slow you down considerably.

I would recommend the Intel Q6600...this is easily the best choice in the line up.

I wrote an article on TechZine about how Quad Core processors are used during gaming...it should be published soon. It will actually show CPU usage while playing some popular game titles...they will use all 4 cores;)
http://www.techzine.com/
 
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get the quad, i have to use a pentium four at school for cad, and i get my ass kicked 7 ways to sunday on them, takes around 10 minutes just to start :rolleyes:
 
are you considering a core i7?

what is your price range on the total investment, and what components do you already have to use?
 
Well for CAD if it can use it I7 will do a better job if you don't have a budget.

If your on a tighter budget then a Q6600 with a after-market cooler you could OC to 3.2ghz or so for about 400 bucks less then I7. Then you could buy 4x2GB DDR2 sticks of ram for about 80 bucks.


Personally if your gonna buy a C2D then you should overclock your Intel C2D E6300 it should EASILY hit 3.2ghz with a good cooler.
 
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bomberboysk said:
Yeah, a C2Q kicks ass at anything cpu intensive like cad work. If you can, try to find a q6600 on ebay thats a little older because it seems like the older ones could pretty easily get 3.6 but the newer ones are struggling to get 3.2, weird... Possibly even something pre lapped such as:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Q6600-Qua...286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:2|65:15|39:1|240:1318
Click to expand...

Don't buy a processor from ebay with a lapping job already on it...as a veteran of lapping I can tell by the picture that's a garbage lapping job...at least the picture looks like it. I have maybe lapped a dozen processors and about as many coolers. There is a fine line between a quality lapping job and a junk lapping job. The top of that processor is not perfectly flat...that guy had absolutely no idea what he was doing.

He also states he had it running at 3.82GHz...you don't want a processor somebody already beat the crap out of. You know he ran it with a serious voltage bump.

And absolutely zero warranty...that thing might not even work and there will be nothing you can do about it. I would give him about $30 for it just to see what I could do with it.
 
If it helps, I just finished building up a Phenom 9950 on an ASUS A378Pro board. I generally like to get last year's technology. It usually performs well and costs a lot less than this year's technology.

The resulting computer is outstanding. The Vista performance rating puts it at 5.9 across the board with the help of an Nvidia 9800 graphics card. Can't recommend this combo more highly. While not quite as fast as the Intels, the 9950 is very quick and affordable. Check it out.

phenom.jpg
 
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