Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 review

Today Is July 22, ......!! Now What...?

I'm wondering if this new stuff will appear on Newegg's shelves in the overnight or remain legend for a time yet. Intel hasn't even updated their board/chipset compatibility charts for the 1333 FSB CPUs, or for that matter the new E4500 which is only 800Mhz FSB. Just a bunch of N/As next to where it tells you what board to use with the new processors. Sort of frustrating actually, Intel is saying the processors do/will exist but won't tell you what you can do with them. (Other than buy them eventually). I sort of don't do waiting real well, and have gotten used to the rhythm of "New Release Tuesday", which always seems to happen on Tuesdays. You go to bed Monday night, and when you get up, eat breakfast, and go to Blockbuster, lo and behold the new movies are on the shelf. Now there's tangible, immediate infantile gratification. Some of us are at least as rabid as Harry Potter fans. Shouldn't we be provided with the opportunity to dress up like Best Buy Geek Squad Reps, sleep next to our computers, mouse in hand, waiting for the product to drop?

Any nForce 600 series board or Intel P35 board will support the new 1333MHz FSB processors.

Are They.....

Backwards compatible to run in the 1066FSB boards? Obviously at the lower FSB speed. Or are all our 965/975 chipsets now obsolete?

most Asus boards have bios updates to support 1333, but the problem I see is that overclocking will be a pain. For instance my mobo can get 1420 fsb at most. Not a very good overclock, maybe 35% boost from the native settings. So if the bios updates come, will my board still only overclock to 1420. That would suck right? I'd get what? Maybe 5-10% boost.

Slightly Off Topic, But Pertinent......

The latest price for the Q6600 at Newegg is $375.00. This seems more than a little opportunistic, since 24 hours (or so) ago it was $299.95.

Lot of games next year will work best with quads so its definately the best buy right now.

Very true. I see quad cores being main stream in a year, and being dirt cheap. I dont recommend getting it if it doesnt mean anything to you as far as needing it.

If the Core 2 Duo's went from $299 to $99 (for some models), then yes, I see prices dropping for any new products as well .

You Don't Say......

I really haven't seen any price drops on this order of magnitude. In fact Newegg just "dropped" the Price of the Q6600 to $320.00 USD, now a mere $20.00 MORE than before the "price drops" were announced. The new 1333FSB CPU seem to be a better value clock for clock than the older C2ds, the prices of which haven't changed at all, (thus far).

Signed: Confused in the Colonies.

I got this nagging feeling that you're buying the same chip, whether its one of those new 1066mhz processors, or 1333mhz processors. The only difference is probably the packaging.

If this is true, you're essentially getting exactly the same chip with its jumpers configured to run at a lower multiplier but higher FSB. Which means less value for consumers, since this limits overclocking, which I'm willing to bet that its what Intel wants.

Same S***, Different Day......

Since everybody got wise to the clock speed scam, Intel probably jacked up the FSB speed to divert everybody's attention to a different clock speed paradigm.
Besides, Intel does the warranties, why wouldn't they want to limit overclocking. Then, if you want a faster processor you have to buy it, and the clock speed race is back on.

Can you see if a chip's been overclocked or not?

I swear, one of these days Intel/AMD is going to realise that the best way to sell their chips is to package the chip soldered on the motherboard, with no overclocking options. Probably have the graphics card soldered on as well. And the HDDs... And the RAM.... wait. Maybe not the RAM.

Asus has one with the memory on it.
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=534&l4=0&model=1729&modelmenu=1
It will coat a fortune, and it's stuck with 2gig forever.

What I"m trying to find out, is which one of these boards allow the best overcl**** on a quad

I just read a review on that P5K3 Premium motherboard. That motherboard is just INSANELY expensive.

But yeah, I don't see why its not the way of the future. Maybe not for all computers, but I really can see all workstations having everything, including RAM, integrated.

so why is it so expensive again?

Probably has something to do with its insane cooling features.

Or maybe it has something to do with the on board features.

Possibly... Just possibly.... it has something to do with its on board 2Gb DDR3 RAM.