best approach to 10 year Core 2 Quad Q6600 upgrade

[pawel007]

Hello,

I was wondering if it makes sense/possible to slowly do an upgrade on my current system;
I used to build by own, 1996-2006 but didn't have time so my next was a full buy - HP Pavilion Elite m9150f.
I've do slight slight upgrades in 10 years (OS, RAM, Vid, HD), but here is the current setup;

Win 10 Pro - x64
Core 2 Quad Q6600
8GB DDR2
Geforce 8400GS 1GB
PSU - 500W, but old, need a new one.
Mid size ATX
SSD
24" HP w2408h

Looking to play better games (mostly playing Steam - Goldeneye5.0) and I know I will eventually need a a total upgrade including new case so I can upgrade to ATX MB and current doesn't have an intake fan, just exhaust.

Overall, looking to stay under $1k, but not everything right away, so....

Could I get a new PSU and Video card to start? I'd like to go at least 4GB on video.
Or will by CPU just be too slow? I believe the only thing that is too slow for GTA5 in my setup is Video.
I know I'm not playing any rich games yet, but the ones I am, CPU only shows at 30% during play which is why I ask.

Video - 4GB? I am using HDMI, how come most of them still come with DVI? There is so many out there...

PSU - current CPU is 105 W, plus adding a new Video, do I want to be in the 500+W?

Eventually, I would like to go AMD for CPU (I used to have one before this one).
Maybe Ryzen 7 1700/1700x?

MB, that I am not as up to date on..... but I'd like to get a socket that can handle the next Ryzen, AM4?. Is 16GB of RAM max enough? Could I start with two sticks of 4GB initially and add 8GB later on or should I look for max of 32GB+ and start with 16GB?
I believe PCIe 3.0 x16 slot, SATA 6GB/s, USB 3.1, type C, those are pretty standard...

RAM, DDR4 3000?

Case - no need for LED fans or flashy, I'd prefer quiet and cool.

Please let me know on the PSU/video first, would like to get that ASAP unless that won't work with my MB.

Thanks in advance,
Pawel

 

[urbancamper]

Hmmm ten years old says it all. Time for a makeover. I like the Ryzen idea. However if you really want to stretch out this dinosaur, get a gtx 1050ti, or maybe a gtx1060. Any new 500w power supply will run that. Also if your not overclocking, the q6600 is great at doing so. I had one sometime in the distant past, and I overclocked it to 3200mhz. You may want to also get a new case since the current power supply may be proprietary(not really sure about that though).

Personally I would relegate the entire thing to a museum and build a new system.

Oh and all the references I made will work with a Ryzen system. Also I am sure you can build it for a lot less then $1000 depending on the cpu and gpu you choose.

 

[urbancamper]

Here is a part list idea. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/jkgw6s
You could also add an ssd and still come in under 1000 dollars. Oh and assuming your Windows 10 is legit it would transfer to the new build as long as you have it registered.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

The build above isn't bad. 2 changes I'd make though. Drop the R7 1700 and get the R5 1600 instead. You'll get most of the performance for gaming etc unless you're doing workstation rope tasks on it. With the money you save, get the GTX 1060.

 

[pawel007]

Here is a part list idea. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/F8ZLJ8

You could also add an ssd and still come in under 1000 dollars. Oh and assuming your Windows 10 is legit it would transfer to the new build as long as you have it registered.

Windows 10 I bought a while back, so no worries there.
The mobo is HP stock, so no way to overwrite bios and OC the CPU.

That case and fan, since the PSU shows a fan on top, it blows hot air into the case, since the case specifies that the PSU mount is on the bottom? Or is the PSU fan an intake fan and it pushes air through the PSU? Am I missing something here?

Could I run this PSU and GTX 1050 Ti with my current setup for a few months?

Thanks again,
Pawel

 

[pawel007]

The build above isn't bad. 2 changes I'd make though. Drop the R7 1700 and get the R5 1600 instead. You'll get most of the performance for gaming etc unless you're doing workstation rope tasks on it. With the money you save, get the GTX 1060.

For the GTX, which is best, MSI, EVGA, Gigabyte, and/or which to stay away from?

If I could just switch out for the PSU and GTX now, getting a R7 a few months down the road, should come down some more with the new ones coming out, since graphic cards aren't dropping as much, no?

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

You can get it, but your old CPU will likely bottleneck, so just be aware of that. As far as brand, evga is good. I'd say evga or gigabyte. Whichever you can get the cheapest price and longest warranty.

Next generation ryzen should come out next month. But I don't think for only gaming you'll see much difference between the 1600, especially with a little overclock, vs the 1700.

 

[urbancamper]

No matter what you get that old cpu is going to bottleneck the gpu. As far as the gpu brand goes. Stay away from Gigabyte gpus. Evga is ok. However I live and die by MSI. I have never had a problem with an MSI video card. Best thing you can do is read customer feedback on the cards you are looking at.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

What is bad about Gigabyte cards? I have one in my system right now lol. Granted just a 1050 ti with single fan, but seems to top around 60-62 degrees C. Have used a bunch of their motherboards. Mostly have used sapphire, powercolor cards in the past. I think I used a galaxy brand card once also. Never any issues with any of them really. But haven't heard anything specifically about gigabyte cards

 

[zyh1987]

Here is a part list idea. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/F8ZLJ8

You could also add an ssd and still come in under 1000 dollars. Oh and assuming your Windows 10 is legit it would transfer to the new build as long as you have it registered.

Windows 10 I bought a while back, so no worries there.
The mobo is HP stock, so no way to overwrite bios and OC the CPU.

That case and fan, since the PSU shows a fan on top, it blows hot air into the case, since the case specifies that the PSU mount is on the bottom? Or is the PSU fan an intake fan and it pushes air through the PSU? Am I missing something here?

Could I run this PSU and GTX 1050 Ti with my current setup for a few months?

Thanks again,
Pawel

if you keep the q6600, there will be a heavy bottleneck on your CPU, i use to have a q9550 (similar to yours, with similar IPC, but better thermal and overclock-ability)

You will definitely need to OC your CPU to get decent frame rates in games. i noticed a difference going from 2.83 to 3.4, but many suggests to push it to 3.6 or higher,

i eventually swapped my cpu to a r5 1600, and it boosted the fps by almost 100% with the same video card (i was using a rx580)

if you want to get a ryzen7 and overclock it, i would suggest to you get a x370 motherboard instead of a b350,
sure it's more expensive, but the VRM on X370 are much better. else if you are going with ryzen 5 oc or a stock r7, then b350 is enough. Value wise, r5 1600 has the best value right now, but you may want to wait for 1 month for ryzen 2.

memory: The sweet spot is 16 (2x8) at the moment. Ryzen loves fast memories, however don't go too crazy as most MB are capped at 3200 speed.

gpu: evga is a good brand for nvidia with decent parts and great customer service and warranty)
not sure where you live, but in NA, there are only 6 company selling NVidia cards.
i'm not too familar with PNY so i won't comment on it.

performance wise, especially high end cards, middle tier card they don't differ as much. EVGA and ASUS offers best performance, more expensive too. GIGABYTE and MSI offers great value.
Zotac offers some interest and excellent value products, but their product usually has some sort of design flaws.
overheating being one of them.

warranty wise, EVGA is the best, ASUS/GIGABYTE/MSI are very similar, and ZOTAC is bottom tier.

if you are very budget limited, zotac is definitely worth trying, but if you can spare a bit more, i would recommend other brands.

 

[urbancamper]

What is bad about Gigabyte cards? I have one in my system right now lol. Granted just a 1050 ti with single fan, but seems to top around 60-62 degrees C. Have used a bunch of their motherboards. Mostly have used sapphire, powercolor cards in the past. I think I used a galaxy brand card once also. Never any issues with any of them really. But haven't heard anything specifically about gigabyte cards

Had a gigabyte card go bad on me. It was under warranty. It took me 3 months of arguing with them to replace a card I had for 6 months. Lucky for me I had an older FX card to use in the mean time. Finally got a card back and immediately got rid of it and bought my first MSI gpu. That was 10 years ago. I have never had an MSI card go bad. I have never had an MSI motherboard go bad.

 

[urbancamper]

There is a reason I picked that MB. Though I did post the micro by mistake(fixed that). That AsRock mb is a very good overclocker. Look up reviews.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Wow. I've had 1 or 2 gigabyte boards go bad on me. But I've installed quite a few in the past. However, they should not fight you like that. I'm hoping my current card is a placeholder until newer ones come out. Maybe will upgrade when prices go down. I know sometimes in game though the fan does not even run because it's running relatively cool. Though I do have a slot cooler fan directly under it forcing cool air into the card also.

 

[Vic 40]

Think he could do well enough with a Ryzen 1600,spend the leftover money on something else.

And i didn't refresh.:lol:

 

[pawel007]

I'm in the US.

I've updated to R5 1600 and the GTX 1060.
Amazon has the R5 1600 with the Wraith Spire Cooler for $149. Since that is from AMD, am I good here, or should I get a better cooler? Please advise.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XNRQHG4/?tag=pcpapi-20&th=1


The motherboard on that list still shows as ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard, should I change it to?
ASRock AB350 Pro4 AM4 AMD Promontory B350 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

I also want to go with 16GB (2x8), please help with that as well. I'm thinking DDR4 3200 unless 3200 is unnecessary?

Here is the link

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/dJzMZR


Thank you all again,
Pawel

 

[urbancamper]

Sorry about that I meant to change it to the atx board. Also the the heatsink that comes with it is fine. I did however change the 1060 to this. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127963&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker,%20LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
True a little more expense, but still under your budget by a couple hundred dollars.

Updated list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/wstgw6

 

[zyh1987]

I'm in the US.

I've updated to R5 1600 and the GTX 1060.
Amazon has the R5 1600 with the Wraith Spire Cooler for $149. Since that is from AMD, am I good here, or should I get a better cooler? Please advise.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XNRQHG4/?tag=pcpapi-20&th=1


The motherboard on that list still shows as ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard, should I change it to?
ASRock AB350 Pro4 AM4 AMD Promontory B350 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

I also want to go with 16GB (2x8), please help with that as well. I'm thinking DDR4 3200 unless 3200 is unnecessary?

Here is the link

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/dJzMZR


Thank you all again,
Pawel

build looks fine, default cooler is fine for 1600 oc, up to 3.8~3.9 range. (it's a cooler rated for 95w, where your 1600 is a 65w cpu)

one thing i would like to mention is that ryzen only support 2 dimm runing at 2666+ or higher, so later one, you can't just add another 2x4 3200 mhz and expected to run, i think maximum speed for 4 dimm is 2666+, 2 dimm is somewhere 3000~3200 (with selected memories)

 

[pawel007]

I ended up pulling the trigger! Can't wait to put it all together. Will be in touch, hopefully not with more questions. Thanks to all who helped out.

Here is the list

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/pawel007/saved/yshzMp

 

[zyh1987]

I ended up pulling the trigger! Can't wait to put it all together. Will be in touch, hopefully not with more questions. Thanks to all who helped out.

Here is the list

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/pawel007/saved/yshzMp

congratz, enjoy your new toy.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

You ordered the same board I have. I think I'm running right at 3.7ghz on it. That is a micro atx board so keep that in mind when trying to add to it, but keep good airflow in your case and it should be a good setup for you for a while. Especially vs your old core 2 quad it should be a huge upgrade for you. Even coming from the FX 6300 I had before was a nice bump.

 

[BFG-9000]

If you are re-using nothing but the SSD, why not get either another SSD, or else a cheap HDD to use in the old system?

It's still a perfectly adequate backup PC for checking emails or looking up any questions you may run into while setting up the new system. And a whole lot more pleasant to use for that than trying to type into a phone.

 

[pawel007]

If you are re-using nothing but the SSD, why not get either another SSD, or else a cheap HDD to use in the old system?

It's still a perfectly adequate backup PC for checking emails or looking up any questions you may run into while setting up the new system. And a whole lot more pleasant to use for that than trying to type into a phone.

That was exactly my idea, my parents have a dinosaur with a SSD, so I'll just throw in their SSD and it'll be like new to them.

 

[pawel007]

All the parts came in yesterday. It's been a while since I set up a system, plus I wanted to go slow and make sure I don't FSU. Fired up first try, all is well.
I ran PassMark on old right before and now again with totally new to compare.
Went from 913 to 3998, so from 16th percentile to 82nd percentile. Most notably 3D Graphics improving from 16% to 95%.
Just playing Goldeneye on MAX everything, old compy was at 60ish fps, new compy 200+/- fps. Amazing difference, even for directx9.

I do have a question though...
My RAM only shows 51% PassMark. I got the
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz C15
How can I tell if the sticks are running at 3000MHz?
in CPU-Z, for each slot, it shows Max Bandwidth - DDR4-2132 (1066 MHz)
I'm assuming I'm interpreting this incorrectly, but wanted to be sure.

Thanks again you guys!!!
Pawel

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Probably has to be set in the bios. May need to be sure your board is on the latest bios, and make sure your ram is on the qvl list.

 

[BFG-9000]

Yup, 2133 is default, and up to 2667 is officially supported so not overclocking.

Now you can tinker with the old HP while you set it up for the parents. You can BSEL padmod it like so and see if 3.0GHz is stable at default voltage (it nearly always is):

This is the bottom of the CPU. Just connect the two pads with defroster grid repair paint or a conductive pen so the Q6600 runs at the board's maximum 1333 FSB (BSEL 266-333 padmod). The G33 chipset does support this speed and all you need is at least DDR2-667 for it to work. I have verified that this does work in HPs but don't be in too big a hurry to re-do it if it appears to not work at first. Sometimes it takes a number of reboots and cold boots to get the new FSB to "take," but after the first time it then boots up at 3.0 every time. The extra 600MHz is quite helpful when browsing today's javascript-infested internet.