I'm building up a new desktop on the Dell site, an Optiplex 755 w/RAID 1 running XP Pro. It's maxed out for my purposes, photo and video editing, not gaming.

The tough part is deciding on which chip to future-proof the box longest. One has higher duo-core speed and FSB, the other a lower quad-core and FSB speed.

Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Processor Q6600 (2.40GHz, 8M, 1066MHz FSB)

or

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor E6850 (3.0GHz, 4M, VT, 1333MHz FSB)

Here's a link to the site showing all the processors available for this box.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...=bpcw7tz&s=bsd

OK, IT pros here (and I do appreciate the great input), which chip would you suggest?

TIA...

 

I have the latter Bob, the 6850 and my new PC screams.

Sometimes when doing something on it I think that it did not do it when in reality it did it so fast my eyes missed it

I would go with the latter if it was me.
Ask Dell if down the road if you can upgrade (local mom and pop shop can do it) to a faster quad core when the prices fall.

That is what I am going to do since my Asus motherboard supports all the current crop of dual cores too.

 

Thanks Corey. Talk about screaming, I found a link to a review of the 6850 and it smokes the competition including Intel's own quad-core I was considering.

It also runs at a cool 65W, a consideration since the new box only has a smallish 305W power supply and I'll have two HDD's running all the time.

An interesting note is that the new box is EneryStar 4.0 compliant so I'll save $75/year off the electric bill offsetting the CoreyExtreme blazing gaming rig footprint! I have to order one of those keyboards this week too.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...2170928,00.asp

 

With the Asus mobo I have, I am sure I can get close to 4.0 or better overclocking this chip too, but I have not tried yet.

With my mobo it is as simple as selecting 5, 10, 20, or 30% from the BIOS menu.
I use to OC my old PC from a 2.c to 3.12 all the time via the 30% link in the BIOS.

Yes, the 6850 is indeed a good CPU.
Go for it.
Get at least 2 GB or RAM for it too.
That is what I am running in the new build and the laptop.

 

If the motherboard will support both you can buy it with the duo and upgrade to the quad later. If this isnt an option then I would say the quad is more future proof then the duo. The quad IS a faster processor but you cant tell with todays programs not taking advantage of all the cores. Most programs today still only use single thread technology and a few do take advantage of dual cores but I dont know of any that take advantage of four.

What this means is the duo outpreforms the quad on todays programs because of the higher clock speeds of the duo (the 6600 can be easily overclocked to 3.4-3.6 on air though so this really isnt a problem) Clock speed means everything and cores mean almost nothing in most software to date but in the FUTURE this will not be the case the more cores will easily out preform the duo and even with clock speed u can get the quad to match the duo or pass it with overclocking as i hear the Q6600 overclocks very well.

So as i say for future proof as quad will be better and if you overclock it will still preform just as well on todays programs as the duo.

 

First off if you are doing video editing with raid 1 you are going to get sick of loading times very quickly. I would run RAID 0 inside of the machine and backup to an external. RAID 0 makes video editing a different experience.

I agree in going with the 6850. quad cores will get better and cheaper soon enough.

get as much ram as you can buy (4GB), and good sound and video cards.

You should be able to pick up an external HDD for backup with 1tb of space for a decent cost. esata would be best, than firewire 800, firewire, usb 2

 

I was wondering about RAID 1 and write/render times. So does RAID 1 write to both HDD simultaneously or sequentially, lengthening process time? Not sure of my terminology, but the aim is to shorten process time.

The mobo in the Optiplex has an internal eSATA plug and external 1394. Would I run an eSATA cable out a slot to an external HDD?

 

Raid Levels explained
- http://www.sohoconsult.ch/raid/raid.html

 

Good stuff. So considering budget two independent 80 Gb 10K internal HDD (biggest Dell offers) with OS and apps on C:, photo/video on D: and all backed up to external HDD (and Google).

Is OC'd Corsair memory worth it? The 6850 has 1333 FSB that I'd like to get the most out of.

 

Bob, do you ever pick up Maximum PC mags at the grocers?
I consider it the best computer rag on the market right now.

Raid
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/raid_done_right

Overclocking
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/overclock_your_pc

I read both of them in the magazine, but the editor mentioned at the front of the mag all of their articles, basically each edition will be online for free as well.

The overclocking article is pretty good.
On my Asus mobo though, I do not have to mess with timings and numbers.
I just select how much % I want to OC and it does the rest.
Asus mobos have been that way for quite awhile.

 

Nice! I haven't read them in a couple years I think, but will now, thanks.

 

If you're going to be doing mainly photo and video editing, I'd opt for the quad core.

http://www.intel.com/performance/des...home/index.htm

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000942.html

Video and photo editing are one of the few areas that actually make use of all 4 cores, and one of the few areas where a slower quad core can perform better than a faster dual core. Simply because the rendering and encoding tasks lend themselves well to parallel processing. You'll notice even more of an improvement if you open up multiple apps while doing edits (eg photoshop to work on photos and dreamweaver to view your photoshop'd changes immediately).

I'd also have to disagree with 89macrunner's suggestion to get 4 GB of RAM. Unless you're running Vista (or XP) 64-bit the system will not be able to see all 4 GB of RAM, only slightly more than 3GB. Not much point in paying for that extra memory that you won't be able to use, and the difference in performance between 2 GB and 3 GB is not significant. If you are getting a 64-bit OS, then I'd change sides and suggest the 4 GB.

~Bill

 

Thanks Bill. I wound up ordering the E6850 dual-core chip mounted on the new X-50 mobo so I can upgrade to a quad-core and DDR3 down the road. I also skipped RAID but got dual 320 Gb w/NCQ, a compromise setup of HDD's, one for OS and apps, the other for photo/video that I'll back up to an eSATA HDD.

Dell is running 30% off on the Small Business side starting today through Wednesday and includes monitors. I got their high-end 24" 2407FPW-HC Widescreen for $480, the lowest I've seen, with free expedited assembly and shipping on everything.

 

That's an awesome price for that monitor - made me check my credit card to see if I had the available balance =)

Was that part of a package deal, or did you have a code for 30% off? I went to Dell's website but couldnt' find that display by itself for less than 599

 

It was a special one-shot coupon code sent with their Small Business e-newsletter, so it wouldn't do any good to post it here, I already used it.

I signed up about two weeks ago. They sent the first one this morning that was chock full of deals on everything in the SB area. They expire quickly, though. Most in about 48 hours.

The best deal was on complete systems either w/ or w/o a monitor @ 30% off. The monitor alone was less, I don't recall how much but think about 20% off.

https://dell.p.delivery.net/m/p/del/...gnup.asp?email

 

my bible: tom's hardware (NO! it's not bunch of plumbers talking 'puters, NO!)

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html

 

Great site, I'd forgotten about it. It was interesting comparing processor and mobo performance. I'm glad I spent extra for the X-38 mobo. I wanted an upgrade path for DDR3, PCI 2.0 and future quad-cores. Good to see how much faster it is than previous mobos.