http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompa...N82E16819115027

The QX6700 Extreme has an UNLOCKED multiplier...The vanilla Q6700 does not.
The QX6700 costs $969 too...If you're going to spend $1000+ get the QX6850:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...5026&Tpk=QX6850

Even better..If you can find a G0 stepping Q6600 Like Merc has, even better, merc might chime in here, ask him where he got it from.

I got mine from Chuck. http://www.ClubIT.com has G0 Stepping guaranteed at no more than what Newegg charges for an unknown q6600. If you are running a game that is optimized for multicore processors, like Bioshock, then I think a q6600, overclocked to 3.0GHz is the much better deal at $270 and will give superb performance in Bioshock. It has the same amount of cache as the more expensive chips and overclocks very well.

That said, in a 6 series board you may want to stick with dual core as 680 chipsets seem to get along better with duals than quads. That e6850 that Paul has is a beast of a chip and overclocks like hell. With a 6 series I'd get the e6850, with a P35 chipset I'd get the q6600 G0 stepping.

Remeber that i don't like spending over $300 on a CPU so my advice is limited in that respect. If you won't be overclcoking and want the fas-*test*-('") possible quad then gyou'll need to spend the money.

The QX6700 Extreme is going in the Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus with water cooling on the cpu.
It's that or the Core 2 Duo E6600.

Not buying anymore expensive pc gear and I have both of those CPU's.


The QX6700 Extreme will OC to at least 3.47mhz in a very limited bios.

go with that i would think..

You are playing with fire putting a quad on a Plus. They DO NOT PAIR WELL -- been there, done that, NOT HAPPY. On the Plus, I'd get a dual core.

why what happens, maybe you had a bad mobo?

"A" bad mobo? Try MANY bad mobos. I think I've had 5 or 6 Plus boards now. Even with a good Plus, overclocking results with a quad were disappointing. You might get lucky and find a good pairing (Jason had decent luck), but I would not bet on it. The quad positively stuffs the NB and the Plus does not handle it well, even with the NB under water cooling and overvolted heavily.

or, what mobo would you recommend for The QX6700 Extreme?

ahh, ok tnx arlie

If you're going to run a quad and overclock it, you have two choices:

680i (if you want SLI) or
Intel P35

Given my luck with the Striker Extreme (on board #3), I'm sorely tempted to suggest a P5K and crossfire for you.

heh got a p35 by mistake, no sli...

http://asustech.15.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=3384

OOPs. Great chipset BTW. Best ever IMHO. Let me know if you'll be selling a GTX. Or maybe I'll go 2900XT

i have 2 gtx's. xfx xxx editions..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...:MESO:IT&ih=017

I agree with Arlie, in so far as the P5K Premium being the best motherboard out there for the quad processor -- and probably the best mobo out there, period right now.

I respectfully disagree that the 680i is a better choice than the Plus. Arlie had a horrid run of bad luck with the Plus boards, but they are still easier to work with using this CPU than the 680i by a good measure. The 680i FSB severely limits overclocking with the quad: there is a wall. Chuck (Vegas) and I both lived that party. The Plus has some limitations, but not as damning.

You have one gaming rig -- the Dell -- do you really need two SLI rigs? Ask yourself that first. If not, then ditch that second card and go for the P5K. It's such a joy to work with after four months of 680i hell.

IF i were to do that i would just keep the dfi i got by mistake.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813136037

thing is the tinker rig is basically for well, tinkering, which to me is high benchmark scores.

no way i would sell one of those MSi ultras, then the rig is IMHO useless to play with.