Buy now or wait? E6750, Q6600, Confusion sets in.

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xazraelx

Weaksauce
Joined
Sep 17, 2007
Messages
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Well, I'm building a new computer. Finally. I have a thread in here that I need to update shortly, but I just wanted some opinions based chiefly on the processor, which is why I'm here.

I'm using my girlfriend's laptop, which is about to drive me insane due to the little things that drive everyone used to a fast computer insane. I'm basically asking for, I guess, financial advise as to when to buy.

I know that right now, it would be better for me to get the E6750, in my opinion. I do some light gaming, but I want it to be able to handle Starcraft II, WoW, Warhammer Online, Bioshock type games comfortably. Other than that, I do some _light_ photoshop, programming, and basic school stuff. I also plan on running Vista when I get around to it.

However, some say that in the future, the more processors, the better. So is the $100 difference between the E6750 and the Q6600 worth it now? Which should I side with? Or should I side with neither and wait for the new processors to come out (given that I might purchase a newer one, or that I might purchase an older one for a discounted price because the newer ones are pushing the price down...).

Of course, I could always make the argument of purchasing the E6750 now, and a year down the road purchasing a new Quad-core since the mobo is compatible...or does that sound like a terrible idea? I'm so confused :)

My reason for asking this, is, well, here is my current processor-related (it will be air-cooled) items:
Gigabyte Board
Crucial DDR2 800 RAM
Corsair 520HX PSU

So, I'm chiefly asking for financial to performance advise. I'm so indecisive it's not even funny.
 
Just grab the E6750 now, put a slight overclock on it and you're set for the moment. If you need the power of a quad or they become so ridiculously cheap, you can grab one of the penryn's in january or beyond.
 
azuldenial said:
Just grab the E6750 now, put a slight overclock on it and you're set for the moment. If you need the power of a quad or they become so ridiculously cheap, you can grab one of the penryn's in january or beyond.
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Obviously you can't answer this but I'm seriously wondering if the price/performance of the Penryns over the Q6600 will be that drastic? If it isn't it might be prudent to just grab the Q6600 now. But I guess with tech constantly updating and prices changing, it might be best to grab the E6750 for now. Great now I'm just as confused as before, hah!

I'm in the same boat as the OP, trying to decide between the E6750 and the Q6600, and I haven't upgraded in well over 4 years. Being a poor college student and all I don't have the advantage of constantly upgrading to the newest tech.
 
Here's the estimates of Intel's pricing next January:
QUADS
QX9650 - 9x333=3000MHz- 2x6MB $999 Nov 11 07
Q9550 - 8.5x333=2833MHz - 2x6MB $530 Jan 08
Q9450 - 8x333=2667MHz - 2x6MB $316 Jan 08
Q9300 - 7.5x333=2500MHz - 2x3MB $266 Jan 08

DUALS
E8500 - 9.5x333=3167MHz - 6MB $266 Jan 08
E8400 - 9x333=3000MHz - 6MB $183 Jan 08
E8300 - 8.5x333=2833MHz - 6MB ?? ??
E8200 - 8x333=2667MHz - 6MB $163 Jan 0
 
If you upgrade often, get the dual core and upgrade to quad sometime next year. Since I upgrade quite frequently, this is the route I chose.

If you don't upgrade often, get the quadcore now and don't upgrade for a few years.

m0rn said:
I'm seriously wondering if the price/performance of the Penryns over the Q6600 will be that drastic
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IMO, no, it won't be... but this is still a subjective question, lol. You can push a Q6600 to 3.6Ghz, but you'll most likely reach 4Ghz with the Yorkfield chip. Is that extra 400Mhz worth it to you? What are you doing that requires so much processing power? lol. If you're not doing much, then I don't think its worth it. If you're actually in need of such processing power, then wait for the Yorkfield.
 
enginurd said:
IMO, no, it won't be... but this is still a subjective question, lol. You can push a Q6600 to 3.6Ghz, but you'll most likely reach 4Ghz with the Yorkfield chip. Is that extra 400Mhz worth it to you? What are you doing that requires so much processing power? lol. If you're not doing much, then I don't think its worth it. If you're actually in need of such processing power, then wait for the Yorkfield.
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Keep in my mind I'm not the most tech savvy person out there but shouldn't a bigger cache, less power consumption/heat, offer a significant boost in performance as well as just straight Mhz?
 
Penryn chips are just better than the C2D, clock for clock, due to technical improvements such as SSE4, the bigger L2 caches, etc. It's supposed to be launched on the 12th of November. On top of that 3.2 ghz is rumored for the launch, plus whatever you can squeeze out of the overclock which, in itself, should be fairly impressive with the 45 nm die shrink. This is worth waiting for! Two weeks.

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/10/26/intel-penryn-architect-speaks

No way I would be buying a C2D today, if only for the reason that the prices on those chips will go into free fall after Penryn comes out in volume. And if I was buying, it'd be a quad core, for what they cost, and also for the fact that (though not commonplace now) certainly within a year or so games and other applications will be utilizing quad cores on a regular basis.

Finally, you can overclock a Q6600 pretty damn far but you can't add cores to an E6750.
 
m0rn said:
Keep in my mind I'm not the most tech savvy person out there but shouldn't a bigger cache, less power consumption/heat, offer a significant boost in performance as well as just straight Mhz?
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Sure, but the question was whether or not it would be worth the price... its a subjective answer, depending on who you ask. My reasoning is if you need the system now, you'll still get good performance for your money. So, it really depends on how valuable your time is, along with your personal needs.

Jalidi said:
No way I would be buying a C2D today, if only for the reason that the prices on those chips will go into free fall after Penryn comes out in volume. And if I was buying, it'd be a quad core, for what they cost, and also for the fact that (though not commonplace now) certainly within a year or so games and other applications will be utilizing quad cores on a regular basis.
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Intel's trend hasn't been so much to lower prices on older chips... but rather, intro newer, better chips at the same price as the older chips... so you basically get more for your money. They do that more than they drop prices... but they still drop some prices -- just not a free fall like AMD's pricing. Since I like to upgrade often, I went with a dual core for now, but plan on getting a quadcore within a year or so. Since I would most likely not need a quadcore for a while, a dual core just made more sense to me, especially with the E6750. Sure, I probably didn't need the upgrade, but the person I hand down my old machine to actually does need such an upgrade, lol. So, as you can see, it really depends on your personal needs. I agree, a quadcore will be much more useful within the next year or so.
 
i recently bought a e6750 and p35 board since my amd platform just crapped out and i needed a replacement to get be by. I opted for the p35 and E6x50 series since they've both had a fair amount of time on the market and have been proven reliable.

I kind of regret not being able to wait til Penryn's or Phenom's release but compared to my AMD setup this C2D is like a breath of fresh air...I'll just wait to see how these Penryn chips perform before i decide to upgrade again (probably to a quad core when its cost effective).

In my personal case, the e6750 came out on top because I mainly play video games. To me the q6600 seems like overkill since there are few practical uses for it atm and its not really a true quad core so to speak. This has been discussed ad nauseam in countless threads here on [h] and my take is for the average user (gamer/slacker) a dual core is sufficient.

If you need something ASAP (like in my case because the alternative is no computer at all) then yeah go with whats on the market. Just my .02.
 
At the end of the day, your purchase should be determined by financial possibilities and practicality. If you won't feel spending the extra $100, go for the Q6600 (with G0 stepping) and that way, you can at least ensure future performance for newer applications, games, etc. If you realistically do not need the additional performance offered by the Q6600, why spend the extra money to get it? For today's average computing needs, the E6750 is more than enough and can be easily overclocked to about 3.6 GHz on air alone. Unless you actually have a true need for 4 cores, I would go with the E6750. Just my .02
 
PC_User said:
At the end of the day, your purchase should be determined by financial possibilities and practicality. If you won't feel spending the extra $100, go for the Q6600 (with G0 stepping) and that way, you can at least ensure future performance for newer applications, games, etc. If you realistically do not need the additional performance offered by the Q6600, why spend the extra money to get it? For today's average computing needs, the E6750 is more than enough and can be easily overclocked to about 3.6 GHz on air alone. Unless you actually have a true need for 4 cores, I would go with the E6750. Just my .02
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This seems to be the consensus so far, I guess I'm just worried about real world differences in future games and how that will play out between Penryn and the current offerings. And considering what I use my computer for I mostly surf and game, so I might just drop for a e6750 and wait for a price drop in the Penryns. It's just tough not being able to upgrade often knowing a lot about how this industry works. Sometimes I envy the average PC user.
 
I decided to go q6600 and not wait. I have it running 3Ghz 333fsb (1333) stock voltage. It was great to see x264 humming along at over 70fps on the second pass of a dvd re-encode. Took 4min to re-encode 2 episodes of robot chicken to my zune too :)

I am sure I can push more out of it if I want.

Build is:
Q6600 G0 stepping
Asus P5E-VM (matx)
2GB OCZ ram (PC-5300)
eVGA 7600GS
 
Here's my general rule of thumb.....The best price/performance ratio can be found 1 step from the top(not counting Extreme CPUs). The top quad proc now is Q6700 @ $539, 1 step down would be Q6600 @ $279. The top dual proc is E6850 @ $279, 1 step down is E6750 @ $195. Of course it depends on how you use it. I personally think the E6750 will fit most people fine. I just bought one myself.
 
wolfofsin said:
Here's my general rule of thumb.....The best price/performance ratio can be found 1 step from the top(not counting Extreme CPUs). The top quad proc now is Q6700 @ $539, 1 step down would be Q6600 @ $279. The top dual proc is E6850 @ $279, 1 step down is E6750 @ $195. Of course it depends on how you use it. I personally think the E6750 will fit most people fine. I just bought one myself.
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I agree, but you have to take into consideration the budget.

If you don't have $200 for a CPU, then the E6750 is out, leaving your choices between the E4000 series, E2000 series, and AMDs. While the E4400 is one step lower than the E4500, the E4500 is actually cheaper ($120) than the E4400 ($130), so it would be a better buy. Yah, I know you said "general rule," but I just felt like mentioning this. ;)
 
No doubt. With a limited budget, you buy the best you can afford.
 
Did you decide yet? I'm in a similar upgrade "situation" and was set on the E6750 until I saw this thread. That $100 isn't much if you ask me so it might be worth it to get the Q6600. It will put your next upgrade further away.
 
CRXican said:
Did you decide yet? I'm in a similar upgrade "situation" and was set on the E6750 until I saw this thread. That $100 isn't much if you ask me so it might be worth it to get the Q6600. It will put your next upgrade further away.
Click to expand...

I haven't decided yet since I'm waiting for the ATI GPU offerings to make a decision, since that's only a couple weeks away. I'm kinda pressed into upgrading since I can't play the games i want. For example, I just finished HL2 Ep. 1, but I get a measly 15 FPS in Ep. 2, I'd just rather not play it.

I'm strongly leaning towards the E6750. My situation dictates that I can't spend a large chunk at one time, but saving up for something good later is not out of question. So I figure this will old me over until the Penryns drop in price and I'll upgrade to that.
 
m0rn said:
I haven't decided yet since I'm waiting for the ATI GPU offerings to make a decision, since that's only a couple weeks away. I'm kinda pressed into upgrading since I can't play the games i want. For example, I just finished HL2 Ep. 1, but I get a measly 15 FPS in Ep. 2, I'd just rather not play it.

I'm strongly leaning towards the E6750. My situation dictates that I can't spend a large chunk at one time, but saving up for something good later is not out of question. So I figure this will old me over until the Penryns drop in price and I'll upgrade to that.
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I'm so bad a making decisions like this, I always get a bad case of buyers remorse lol.

The 6750 is at such a good price vs. performance point that it's hard to pass up. I really don't think I need quad cores for my usage.
 
CRXican said:
I'm so bad a making decisions like this, I always get a bad case of buyers remorse lol.

The 6750 is at such a good price vs. performance point that it's hard to pass up. I really don't think I need quad cores for my usage.
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I know what you mean lol. I just bought the Corsair 520 psu with the buy.com deal going on (it's in the hot deals section) and immediately I started getting anxiety over it!

But honestly, if you or I (anyone in general) can get 6+ months out of the E6750, it's worth it at this price point. And in those 6 months it won't be hard for me to save up for another processor, it's the complete overhauls that hurt the wallet the most.
 
LOL, I just got the Corsair 520w PSU from buy.com and I am also deciding E6750 or Q6600.

m0rn said:
I know what you mean lol. I just bought the Corsair 520 psu with the buy.com deal going on (it's in the hot deals section) and immediately I started getting anxiety over it!

But honestly, if you or I (anyone in general) can get 6+ months out of the E6750, it's worth it at this price point. And in those 6 months it won't be hard for me to save up for another processor, it's the complete overhauls that hurt the wallet the most.
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I do have a question related to this topic though. Let's say if I decided that I am going to upgrading to a quad in about a year with the new Penryn. will it make any sense to actually buy a even more cheaper cpu such as E4500 just to save some cash? And how slow is the E4500 compared to E6750. (E4500 will probably be an interesting OC toy?)
 
pkkevin said:
Let's say if I decided that I am going to upgrading to a quad in about a year with the new Penryn. will it make any sense to actually buy a even more cheaper cpu such as E4500 just to save some cash? And how slow is the E4500 compared to E6750. (E4500 will probably be an interesting OC toy?)
Click to expand...

The E4500 can reach around 3.4Ghz, IIRC. The E6750 can reach around 3.8-4Ghz. I went with the E6750 because I could get good use out of it after I upgrade to a Yorkfield within a year. If you don't have a hand-me-down chain like I do, then go with the E4500 for $120.

Read benchmarks if you want to know how they compare. It also depends on what you're usign the system for other than gaming. Here, play with this:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=882&model2=873&chart=419
 
enginurd said:
The E4500 can reach around 3.4Ghz, IIRC. The E6750 can reach around 3.8-4Ghz. I went with the E6750 because I could get good use out of it after I upgrade to a Yorkfield within a year. If you don't have a hand-me-down chain like I do, then go with the E4500 for $120.

Read benchmarks if you want to know how they compare. It also depends on what you're usign the system for other than gaming. Here, play with this:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=882&model2=873&chart=419
Click to expand...

Hum... interesting findings after looking around that chart.

Well, E4500 is best price/peformance(the best C2D is E2160 however)
Q6600 performance wise is not that different from E6750

it sounds like it is probably best to just get a duo now and wait for more software to support quad and also wait for Penryn quads

Thanks for the information.
 
Well this thread gave me pause, with the new processors just around the corner I think I will wait. The new C2Ds that are coming look very good.

Are the new quads true quads or more of what we already have now?
 
I myself just got rid of my e6700. one because the value of it is slowly dropping, making its resale even harder by the time I wanted to go q9550 in january/feb.

So I chose between the q6600 and the e6850. Like mentioned, the G0's can hit upwards of 3.6, and you cant add cores to the e6850. Im not the worlds biggest overclocker, but I know I can hit above and beyond the clocks of the 6850 without too much effort. Plus I get two more cores, I multitask a lot, and by that i dont mean firefox and outlook, i mean big file compression, encoding, plus all the day to day stuff.

Then I thought what was going to hold its value more when I go to Yorkfield, and to me it seemed the q6600 would.

Hence my decision
 
I'm making the switch from amd to intel in jan 08 when the q9450 is released. Your best bet now is just to wait, the 8800gt is out, the 780i is coming out in two weeks, so just wait.
 
A great alternative to waiting until Jan is E2160 oem for 70 dollars. Mine should be here shortly
 
I just got the e6750.

My logic is this:

1) Most games do not support quad core yet or for at least 6 months-1 year.
2) Most games do not even need a e6750 dual core for max performance right now
3) Video card upgrade = more speed for games
4) In 2008-2009 I will get a Nehelem
 
I also picked up the 6750 along with an 8800GT. Should last me just fine.
 
I bought a Q6600 + mobo that supports 45nm so I'm thinkin' my upgrade path will go something like this.

Another 2 GB of DDR2 memory --> Intel Q9450 --> new mobo with PCIe 2.0 / DDR3 --> 2 or 4 GB of DDR3 memory --> new video card.

By the time I've got all that done Nehalem or whatever it's called will probably be out which = new PC for me if I decide I need one.
 
lordsegan said:
I just got the e6750.

My logic is this:

1) Most games do not support quad core yet or for at least 6 months-1 year.
2) Most games do not even need a e6750 dual core for max performance right now
3) Video card upgrade = more speed for games
4) In 2008-2009 I will get a Nehelem
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Completely agree, that's what I'm in the process of doing now. And checking the hot deals forum a few times a day to see any good deals while I wait for the new ATI cards.
 
If I was buying today, E6750 would be my choice. I feel that is the best for me and could upgrade to Quad down the road (year or two). Thankfully I have a 1-2 months before I am actually shopping and can watch the market as time goes on.
 
m0rn said:
Obviously you can't answer this but I'm seriously wondering if the price/performance of the Penryns over the Q6600 will be that drastic? If it isn't it might be prudent to just grab the Q6600 now. But I guess with tech constantly updating and prices changing, it might be best to grab the E6750 for now. Great now I'm just as confused as before, hah!

I'm in the same boat as the OP, trying to decide between the E6750 and the Q6600, and I haven't upgraded in well over 4 years. Being a poor college student and all I don't have the advantage of constantly upgrading to the newest tech.
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so get a job.... I have 16 hours, and still manage to work 3 nights a week. Ends up around 600-700 a month. Which is more than enough to fund both my heroin and computer addictions:D
 
zmjone2992 said:
so get a job.... I have 16 hours, and still manage to work 3 nights a week. Ends up around 600-700 a month. Which is more than enough to fund both my heroin and computer addictions:D
Click to expand...

When do you find the time to use the computer you worked so hard for :p
 
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