Ok, Im thinking about upgrading my Stupid ECS motherboard because of the lack of OCing options and general crappiness. So, I was thinking, If I'm going to get a new mobo, why not a new CPU? I really want to get into this whole quad-core arena and these are the options i have come up with...
AMD
X4 9850 BE @ the egg for $205 (prolly be cheaper by the time i actually buy this stuff)
Mobo---http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138105
RAM--- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231166

My cooler is fine and my psu should handle this stuff so im not worried about that. Size does matter, id like to keep a M-ATX size. total about $380.

INTEL
Q6600 (Duh)
MOBO---http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128078
Ram--- some cheap ddr2 800 4gb kit.
probably around $340

I'm not exactly looking for the fastest system but something that i can have fun tinkering with. I'm the kind of guy who opens the hood of his car every day to see if there is something to mess with. I might have a problem. Oddly enough, performance isn't the first priority as i know both will smoke my little e4400 and shouldn't bottleneck my 8800gs like my e4400 does.
I know this is a weird post but please leave some feedback. I am not too knowledgeable with AMD.
thanks!

id say get a better set of ram if going with AMD. After MIR, 4GB of XMS2 from Corsair is $66.50, with a lower voltage and same timings. As I am a slight AMD fan, I'd recommend the AMD. But to be honest, if you plan on OC'ing, as you said you like to tinker (I like to tinker too. Its how i fried the HD on my last system, which made me by the one I'm on now.) go with the Intel, as for now the Intel will OC to past 3 GHz. But if you want something that is rock solid for years to come (I'm not saying the Intel isn't) and don't plan on OC'ing, go with the AMD.

With the 790GX motherboards coming for Phenom, either choice will give you 3.2GHz with basically unnoticeable differences in everyday use. Toss a coin.

lol

I would definitely stick with the Q6600.No offense,but AMD has been really disappointing me.Plus,you would be saving money.

If you enjoy overclocking at all I would consider the Q6600. It has a lot more overclocking potential..especially with the G0 revision it isn't impossible to reach 3.4 to 3.6ghz on air cooling.

According to Anand's recent review this kind of overclock is also easily attainable with a 9850 and an SB750 motherboard. http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipse [...] i=3360&p=4

yea go with the Q6600 definetly. Like u said, u like tinkering with your stuff, and the Q6600 is perfect for that. It is at 2.4 GHz, but it can be OCed to 3.2 easily. And its intel so u cant go wrong there.

I would strongly recommend reading the Anandtech article on the SB750 motherboards and Phenom overclocking. If you like tinkering with the settings then it definitely looks like the phenom rig with an SB750 motherboard will give you far more settings to play with. According to the review 3.0 Ghz is attainable on the 9850 with no voltage increase and the writers are still tinkering with the settings trying to get more out of it.

That may be the case, or they may have gotten lucky. No guarantees. The Q6600 on the other hand is an old, proven overclocker, which can get to 3.2 GHz with almost zero effort. I'd stick with the Q6600, at least until there is a larger sample size with the Phenom + SB750.

Q6600 all the way. Everyone seems to have missed this:

That means no SB750 for him. And besides even with the SB750 the Q6600 is still cheaper since the SB750 motherboards will most likely be pretty costly.

They aren't making a m-ATX size? That sure sucks...
O well, i guess my case is a little dumpy and could go. I just haven't found a case that i like yet that is also within my budget. $100+ for a box seems kind of unreasonable to me.

amd + ati for life

If you want to have fun Tinkering, go with the 9850/9950 on a 790fx+sb750, or 790gx+sb750 board. If you get a board to has p-states settings in the bios, there is no end of tinkering with the Core clocks, and nb/IMC speeds on the phenom black editions. You can get a good mid tower for around $60, even at retail brick and mortar shops. And if you go that way, I can tell you how the p-states options work.

If you just want an easy OC, then go with the q6600, though from what I've seen there are no guarantee's there either, see too many people complaining of not being able to get past 3.0 even with g0.

There will be m-ATX versions. People suggesting otherwise don't know what they're talking about. There were some m-ATX versions of the 790GX motherboards with SB750 shown at Computex from the likes of DFI. http://www.tweaktown.com/news/9640 [...] index.html Check out the DFI LANPARTY JR discussed at the bottom of the page. IF DFI will be making an m-ATX version it is likely that other vendors will too.

I would definitely recommend Q6600. In the case that you DO overclock, Q6600 requires less voltage to achieve higher clockspeed, compared to Phenom. Not to mention that Q6600 is about on average 10% faster than Phenom at the same clock, and dissipates a lot less heat.

I have a GA-G33M-DS2R waiting for a new brain after putting the e6750 I had in a rig for my father. It has lots of OC options, but I did not use them much, because the NB got really hot. I have read that this can be a problem on the micro boards, but I otherwise really like this one.

I might also add that the Q6600 will beat the Phenom Clock for Clock.
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