I'm in a situation where I will be swapping parts between two computers and am wondering which setup will work out better.

My computer is used for gaming but more importantly sourcesdk, (a level designing editor)


So I need to make up my mind between an e8500 (4gb) ,q6600 (8gb), q9300 (4gb)


I know the 8500 will be faster for gaming (not by much right?), but which one will perform better for editing type work. Taking the RAM consideration as well that I will be able to afford 4 more gb of ram for the q6600 setup.

Also the quad cores don't perform much more poorly in games than their c2d counterparts do they?

Once you start gaming at above 1280x1024, the CPU doesn't matter too much. There is a performance difference but it's hardly noticeable. You start to become more GPU limited at those higher resolutions. Hit up this article:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/cpu-sc...re-processors/

For 3D rendering, editing, producing, a quad-core CPU is the better choice.

Also, if you do go with a dual-core CPU, ditch the E8500. It's only 166Mhz faster than the E8400 yet costs $70 more. Total waste of money. So get the E8400 if you go dual-core.

Also note that the Q9300 is only 7% faster than the Q6600. Note the price difference as well.

Thanks for the read, interesting stuff. Definitely going with a quad then.

I'm still wondering though whether I should go for the q9300 with 4gb of ram or a q6600 with 8gb of ram from a complete non gaming perspective.

I've heard good things about being able to run vista with 8gb and no page file, but would that be better or worse compared to that 7% gain I would get from the q9300.


thanks for the help
cheers