Im planning a new system (overdue) with a Q6600 and high speed memory (4GB PC8500) on a P35 Motherboard that is rated for 1066mhz memory. I am wondering if the fast memory makes a difference in keeping the quad cores fed with data (versus somewhat slower memory). Even though the system will have a Nvidia 8800GTX (for games) I wanted the quadcore to explore heavy multicore programming for my game AI project (which will need high CPU utilization). I am not into overclocking, but a friend of mine said that a Q6600 should have no problem being pushed to 3.0Ghz without much difficulty (if I have one of those big radial CPU coolers). Since I want to maximize CPU I would not mind the extra Mhz if it wont stress the system. I am planning to use a 1000W power supply which possibly is overkill (750 or 850 ???). Im not certain how much power the other components will sink (MB memory ordinary SATA300 disk ontop of the Q6600 and 8800GTX, 20% ageing allowance etc..). Any comments ???? The gaming client aspect is secondary. My target is to maximize CPU (without undue cost, without kludgy hardware and with good stability). My long term plan is to use a cluster of similar configuration (less the fancy graphics card but adding alot of network traffic processing) and I want to know if quads are cost effective over dualcores for this use. Even with 2M per core cache, the AI programs do alot of constant scanning of a large data set and memory bandwidth into the CPUs will likley be the critical factor.

I did research on Motherboards and memory and found that 1066 (PC8500) generally isnt supported (PC 6400 is more common) or requires special options to be supported(like EPP). Some newer MBs say that they can run such fast memory 'native' but then require you to pick your PC8500 DDR2 from a limited QVL list.

I think I will give it a try, but am not sure if the Quad processor can be kept supplied with data for the type of application Im doing.

Don't get a 1k PS. 600 should be more than enough if you have one graphics card, even with overclocking. Perhaps 750 if you plan to both SLI and load it down with fans and disk drives and stuff.