Core 2 Duo X6800 Still good?

[MD107866]

I posted this same question in the Home Built Systems forum, but I think that's the wrong place for it. 3 years ago I got a great deal on a Core 2 Duo x6800. I purchased the MSI platinum 975x and with 4 gb of 6400 Corsair RAM in Dual Channel mode 800, I was doing pretty good. Now things have changed, I notice some slow downs here and there.

I don't have a big monitor and its not wide screen, so my games are run at 1280x1024. My video card is about a year old, its the Nvidia GTS8800 320 MB.

So my question is, do I stick to my guns and upgrade around the 975x OR do I go for the whole sale change and get on board with the AMD phenom or a Quad core?

My Passmark test is 959, but that's at 2.9 Ghz. Suggestions or advice would be much appreciated!

thanks

MD

 

[Mousemonkey]

What are you getting slowdowns in?, please be a tad more specific 'cos I'm more than a little bit drunk.

 

[B-Unit]

Is 2.9Ghz as high as it will overclock? I wouldnt give up hope on your motherboard yet, assuming it will support 45nm Penryn processors, a step up to a faster dual core or even a Core2Quad wouldn't be too difficult or expensive.

 

[MD107866]

I'll give a for instance as far as slow downs....

I was playing COH: Tales of Valor, a RTS strategy....I had mostly medium settings at 1280x1024 and without any major background programs running, the game was chugging along.

 

[cjl]

I would hope 2.9GHz isn't as far as it will overclock, considering that 2.93 is the stock frequency...

I'd say try overclocking your CPU. It should hit at least 3.5GHz, unless you got a real dud. The Core 2 Duo line is really quite good, and I'd be surprised if that was what was holding you back.

 

[MD107866]

what's the best OCing MB for this CPU then?

 

[cjl]

A good P35 or P45 board would work quite well. You could even try to overclock it on your current board. Are you using the stock CPU cooler?

 

[Mousemonkey]

Is the 975x the Xfire version of the 965 chipset?, or am I just stewed.

 

[MD107866]

NOpe I have the KATANA Katana Scythe CPU cooler attached....my experience with OCing is embarrassing because I'm always afraid of frying something. I really only push by FSB up by a few, but i don't know what the core voltage and memory settings should be. Hopefully a MSI owner will read this an give me some ideas....its Xfire too

 

[bige420]

Just start upping the multiplier a bit, since yours is an extreme edition you have an unlocked multiplier. You should at least be able to get it to 3.4 possibly with a minor voltage increase.

 

[MD107866]

tried that and got it to 3.3, not sure how stable yet.


What are the recommendations for memory OCing on this board? I have 4 1 GB sticks of 6400 C2 - Corsair. Does anyone have good timings and an idea of what voltage?

Can you get the memory to run in Dual Channel mode at 1066 mhz?

Lots of questions....but I'm sure there's an expert out there!

 

[loneninja]

Your not specific as to what your having slow downs in, but the version of the 8800 you listed is one of the weakest ever made, my 4670 swaps blows with it performance wise which would explain problems in some newer games if your trying to run max settings.