Sager 9261: Q6600 Vs. E6850?

Hi Everyone,

So I'm going to be ordering a new Sager 9261 in early November and I'm torn between the Q6600 and E6850 since they're virtually the same price. I'm going to be doing some serious gaming with this rig and was wondering what the better processor will be?

Do you think the faster FSB and clock speed of the E6850 or the extra cores and 8mb cache of the Q6600 will serve me better? I understand that both processors have their strong points - but looking down the road for the next 3 years - which will be the better choice?

Some points to consider: I plan on keeping this system for the next 3 years and I am also open to overclocking - so perhaps the lower clock speed of the Q6600 might be remedied with some careful OC'ing?

 

Here's a perfect response to your question:

http://hardwarelogic.com/Reviews/Processors/283.html

Probably better than soliciting everyone's opinion... always google around a bit too.

 

For gaming, go with the Q6600 or Q6700
For Productivity, go for the E6850
Do not overclock the system, it may be on the edge already

 

I think i finally found a distributor!

www.cyber-systems.de

What do you think about it?
They will build in 7200rpm hdd's if i wish.....

 

I would think the Q6600/Q6700 are more future proof.

 

i agree "Q" is the furture i will buy soon also

 

Quick question if I run Win XP x64 will it be able to address all the cores and if I get 4GB of RAM can it also address all the RAM too. I have Win XP x64 and use it and love it for my needs and if I do not have to change my OS I would love it even better. I realize that if I want to get the DX 10 stuff I will eventually have to upgrade but I figure if I do a dual boot with Vista I should get the best of both worlds.

 

i was going to dual boot(vista/xp) but i think in the future u are NOT going to be happy with xp. all the tec is going into vista. u wont have problems with vista soon (sp1) but u will have problems with xp eventually.being compatible with new games/programs u know. so i am going with vista ulta. 64

 

i think you got it mixed up, its the other way around for sure.

 

Read this mix then:

As INTEL switched the Q6600 from the B3 Stepping to the G0 stepping, lower voltages and performance enhancements only made the Q6600 an even better option. Easily overclocked to QX6850 levels (by simply bumping the FSB to 333, effectively making it a 1333FSB processor), the Q6600 is a fantastic option for those who want an elite processor, without the elite price tag. Though several people have managed 4GHz with the new G0 stepping, we were able to hit 3.49GHz with our B3 stepping, which is more than acceptable, and another reason the sub-$300 processor should be at the top of your upgrade list.

Negatives? Well, few programs are capable of utilizing all four cores, unless you set the affinity in the task manager. While the Q6600 kicked butt in synthetic benchmarks, in real world usage there was no discernible difference between the Q6600 and the E6600 (the Q6600's dual core brethren), and it lagged slightly behind the E6850 during our testing. The included heat sink sucks, as usual, and the Q6600 does run a little warm compared to the newer E6X50 Dual Core processors.

 

cant u do the o/c to the Q6700 also for even more?

 

you guys may want to check if the new 9261 runs at 1066 fsb or 1300. i think it runs the original 1066 fsb but has the ability to support the new e6850 chips while reducing their fsb to match the motherboards.

 

Looks like only 1066 fsb. The P35 chipset is required for the 1333 FSB. The Clevo website still shows the D901C with the P965 chipset.

 

Wow...that's disappointing if that's truly the case

Although I'm getting the Q6600 which is only 1066 anyway, I was hoping to have all options open for a 1333 chip in future or overclocking if the right BIOS or software came along.

Finding it somewhat deceptive on Clevo and the resellers' parts if their cripppling the 1333 CPU's by actually running them at 1066

 

Of course the 9261 may have the P35 chipset and it's just not listed on the clevo website. We can always keep our fingers crossed.

I was hoping for the 1333 capability just so I could overclock the Q6600 up into extreme land (333 MHz base freq == 1333 FSB and 3GHZ core .

 

No, the P965 does support 1333MHz. Take a look at this thread:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?p=4923644

 

It's an overclocking thread. The spec sheet from intel does not state 1333.

 

A list of Asus motherboards that support 1333MHz CPUs, not because they are overlocked, but because they have the proper BIOS installed.

Next time, read the thread Kozi, don't discredit it because of the title.

 

Dude I did read it. I can also find other websites that say otherwise (including Intel's which I already posted). Lol, you are assuming the BIOS update doesn't overclock the P965?

http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2991

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/77909774/m/771003116831/r/578006316831

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/244869-28-yorkfield-1333-1600

Next time read more than the first article that pops up in google .

 

Understood, but what you are trying to say is far from what is coming from your mouth. You want to say that the P965 is capable of 333MHz, but only after clocking it. In your posts, you said that the P35 is needed for 333MHz funcationality, and that the P965 will only run 1066. I understand, but next time be careful of the wording. I was fighting you to avoid confusion and mass hysteria.

Maybe I am a member of that forum board :O

 

Fair enough. I wasn't very clear. My point is the P965 is not spec'd for 1333. I wouldn't expect a manufacturer to say "we support 1333" and then do it by overclocking.

 

here is another bench of those proc :
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2quad-q6600.html
Resume : wanna o/c(eg : for longer lifetime) go for Q6600

 

The Q6600 has the highest benchmark score on a test of the program that I use called Archicad, see Archicad 10 results @ link below. and were also faster than both my Sager notebooks my old unit the 9860's results are on the Archicad 9 results on the same page and it was the fastest score recorded for the earlier version of archicad.
My 9890 w/ a 3.8GHz P4 scores 5th place (total score 134) on the archicad 10 results w/ the Q6600 machine scoring 1st


http://www.aaarchitect.com/archicad_benchmarks.htm

 

Well, it seems everybody is right!

I am not going to overclock my system and am using a lot of conventional, not multithreaded applications. Tests show that the E6850 is an absolute winner, in my case. For now...

But I have a lot of voices in my head telling me that a Quad is the real thing. It sure is sexy! And the future may bring those multithreaded games and apps.

If that is the case I will upgrade to a Q6700 or whatever Quad (Penrynn?) is available at that time.

 

I know that when I go to purchase my Sager NP9261 I'm going to go with the Quad Core over the E6850, just because it is a better process for the long run. Since the Quad Core came out, manufacturers will, slowly but surely, start to create multi-threaded applications and games that will utilize the extra cores.

Anyways, as far as overclocking goes, I don't think you can overclock the NP9261. I'm pretty sure they have it locked down in BIOS, so unless you have a software application that will allow you to do it, I don't think you can overclock a NP9261 system.

 

i think u are right u can not oc the Q6600/6700's