which cpu better for OC+Gaming?

[Shadowmeph]

I haven't bought my cpu yet but I am curious which would be better for future OCing and Gaming quad or dual core? at first I was thinking of picking up a q6600 but I have read ( some where don't really remember where) that there isn't much difference for Gaming between the two ( quad dual cores) is this true

[Delavan]

For just gaming, the fastest C2Ds are a little faster than the Quads. That's for NOW. Quads have a promising future tho! They'll stay strong longer when "Quad optimized" applications will come out.
Plus, retailers like NCIX are selling the Quad for $285 and Free ground shipping for entire order. It might be irrelevent to you cause you live in BC (might be living close to an NCIX branch...). To me, free shipping for entire order is money in my pocket, me living down east...

But I personally would build around a Q6600 (overclocked of course).

[Shadowmeph]

That was what I was leaning towards because I usually am multitasking while gaming I usually have irc and team speak . I just did some more research and found out that the new Q9450 is coming out will be in Jan now I am wondering about the pricing vs performance between these two lol

[MacJunky]

For IRC/other IM/webbrowsing/music/etc I highly advise an old laptop/notebook sitting beside your gaming rig. It does not have to be that powerful, just capable enough to do what you need.
I find this setup extremely convenient if I am organizing a game via IRC or just hanging out in channels.

I use a somewhat upgraded PowerBook G3 Series Rev 2 (introduced 1998) running Mac OS X 10.4.10.
300Mhz G3 (XPC750, PRX300RB) w/ 1MB L2, 384MB RAM, 40GB HD, stock 20x CD-ROM hotswap module, stock floppy hotswap module, Linksys WPC54G v3, Macally CardBus FireWire 400.
Just connect that sucker up to the second input of the speaker set above my desk and it is a great IRC/browsing/whatever machine while I am gaming. Need extra storage for music or some fast networking? FireWire! Want to have an audio chat with someone? Great mic in the top of the display housing!

I do not doubt that if other users here did this they would use an x86 based computer but it is just an example. You can use whatever you have. Portables are nice though as they generally have trackpads and small keyboards so you can get them close to your gaming machine with minimal consumption of desk space.

[Scratch]

Quadcore = essentially 4 pc's working concurrently
No games on the market optimize dualcore/quadcore technology at this time. Hence they all run on 1 core.
If you run a dualcore 1 core runs the game 1 core runs whatever other software you are using including background programs
If you run a quadcore 1 core runs the game 3 cores run whatever other softaware you are using including background programs
For speed you can OC an E6850 to 3.6/4.ghz
For performance you can OC a Q6600 GO to 3/3.6ghz if you're extremely lucky
If you put a fast cpu on a crap board you will get crap performance so for gaming...
Good MB
Dualcore/Quadcore
8000 series Graphics
Sata HD
2ghz PC6400 high performance ram

[Delavan]

No games on the market optimize dualcore/quadcore technology at this time. Hence they all run on 1 core.

Excuse me? Quake4 has Dual-Core optimization, an option that you can turn on in "advanced settings".
Ok.

Some games that have dual core support...

Age of Empires III

Black & White 2

Call of Duty 2

City of Villains by NCSoft

Doom3 by IDsoftware

F.E.A.R. by Vivendi (allegedly enabled, but real world no real performance increase to FPS, tho it still performs)

Peter Jackson’s King Kong

Prey 1.2 & 1.3 by Take2

Quake 4 by IDsoftware

Quake 5 (promised when released)

Serious Sam 2 by Croteam

Splinter Cell by Tom Clancy

Supreme Commander by Gas Powered Games Corp.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (on pre-order)

The Movies

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3

Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland

Unreal Engine 3

Vangauard Saga of Heros

World of Warcraft

[MacJunky]

Don't forget Quake 3!
Quake 3, OS X, and Power Mac G4/800MP
"r_smp 1 (on 800MP to active dual cpu mode; left at default 0 for solo cpu Macs)"
(At the bottom of the page.)

[3.0charlie]

For now, best bang-for-the-buck is a Q6600 G0. But if you can wait until Intel releases their new line of CPUs, the Q9450 looks very promising.

[Amon]

Yup. Quad hands down. I can't tell you how valuable quad-core can be when you're constantly locking up even a Core2Duo doing mundane tasks.