[SOLVED] GTX 650 Ti - HD 7870

[Dubkiss]

Hello
currently using GTX 650 Ti on my setup which is Intel Core Quad Q6600 2.40Ghz and 6GB Ram
should i invest some € to HD7870 or just stay for a while on 650 Ti and then buy a new PC with better components

 

[hotaru.hino]

I'd argue you're pushing the limit at which the CPU can drive newer GPUs.

So yes, I'd say save your money and use it to buy a new PC.

 

[kerberos_20]

hd7870 is waste of eur.. r9 270x performs same and can be found cheaper
whats your budget?

 

[Dubkiss]

hd7870 is waste of eur.. r9 270x performs same and can be found cheaper
whats your budget?

about 80€

 

[cdrkf]

Hello
currently using GTX 650 Ti on my setup which is Intel Core Quad Q6600 2.40Ghz and 6GB Ram
should i invest some € to HD7870 or just stay for a while on 650 Ti and then buy a new PC with better components

I'd also say, Q6600 is going to limit you as it lacks SSE 4.1 / 4.2 instructions which are needed by many games... it might be worth it to boost games that you already play.

 

[Dubkiss]

I'd also say, Q6600 is going to limit you as it lacks SSE 4.1 / 4.2 instructions which are needed by many games... it might be worth it to boost games that you already play.

for this moment i play a lot of Euro Truck Simulator 2 / Far Cry 3 / Cities Skylines / CS:GO / Assetto Corsa

 

[cdrkf]

for this moment i play a lot of Euro Truck Simulator 2 / Far Cry 3 / Cities Skylines / CS:GO / Assetto Corsa

Well performance in Cities Skylines and CS:GO probably won't get better (those games are both heavily dependent on CPU). Far Cray 3 will probably get a boost, not sure about other two. You can do a quick test to see if a faster GPU will help, if you lower graphics settings do you get a performance boost? If not then it is the CPU that is the limit rather than the graphics card.

What motherboard do you have? There are faster processors available for socket 775 if it's one of the more recent boards - that might give you more of a boost than upgrading the graphics card. You may also be able to overclock the Q6600, most will do 3ghz fairly happily just by increasing the front side bus....

Edit: A recent vid on a method to overclock the Q6600 on locked motherboards using a bit of tape:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3kAGnVWPj0

 

[Dubkiss]

Well performance in Cities Skylines and CS:GO probably won't get better (those games are both heavily dependent on CPU). Far Cray 3 will probably get a boost, not sure about other two. You can do a quick test to see if a faster GPU will help, if you lower graphics settings do you get a performance boost? If not then it is the CPU that is the limit rather than the graphics card.

What motherboard do you have? There are faster processors available for socket 775 if it's one of the more recent boards - that might give you more of a boost than upgrading the graphics card. You may also be able to overclock the Q6600, most will do 3ghz fairly happily just by increasing the front side bus....

Edit: A recent vid on a method to overclock the Q6600 on locked motherboards using a bit of tape:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3kAGnVWPj0

Gigabyte Technology co. ltd. EP35-DS4

 

[cdrkf]

Gigabyte Technology co. ltd. EP35-DS4

That looks to support all socket 775 processors, here is the support list:
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-EP35-DS4-rev-21/support#support-cpu

You could potentially upgrade to any of the QX6000, Q8000 or Q9000 series parts for more cpu performance, I'd suggest taking a look on ebay as these shouldn't be expensive nowadays (and not in massive demand like graphics cards are at the moment). Also that board supports the higher 1333 mhz front side bus, so the 'tape' overclocking technique should work on your current Q6600 if you want to try that out.

I note you say you have 6gb of memory? I'm guessing you must have 3 memory modules then? Ideally get a 4th - that way you can run your memory in dual channel mode which will boost performance a bit (also another 2gb of ram should help in many games, Cities Skylines can use quite a bit of memory late game).

 

[Dubkiss]

That looks to support all socket 775 processors, here is the support list:
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-EP35-DS4-rev-21/support#support-cpu

You could potentially upgrade to any of the QX6000, Q8000 or Q9000 series parts for more cpu performance, I'd suggest taking a look on ebay as these shouldn't be expensive nowadays (and not in massive demand like graphics cards are at the moment). Also that board supports the higher 1333 mhz front side bus, so the 'tape' overclocking technique should work on your current Q6600 if you want to try that out.

I note you say you have 6gb of memory? I'm guessing you must have 3 memory modules then? Ideally get a 4th - that way you can run your memory in dual channel mode which will boost performance a bit (also another 2gb of ram should help in many games, Cities Skylines can use quite a bit of memory late game).

im using 3 of 4 slots with DDR2 @ 800MHz Adata Vitesta EXTREME EDITION

 

[cdrkf]

im using 3 of 4 slots with DDR2 @ 800MHz Adata Vitesta EXTREME EDITION

Ok - so I suggest getting 1 more stick of the same memory (if you can find it) although a different brand 2gb DDR2 800 stick should work if you can't.

 

[Dubkiss]

Ok - so I suggest getting 1 more stick of the same memory (if you can find it) although a different brand 2gb DDR2 800 stick should work if you can't.

so at this moment ill try to look at the Q8300 and later for some graphics card

 

[cdrkf]

so at this moment ill try to look at the Q8300 and later for some graphics card

I would suggest looking for a Q9550 - The Q8300 uses less power than a Q6600, but isn't really any faster and actually has a little less cache. The Q9550 is clocked higher than both, and also has 4mb more cache than the Q6600 (and looking online the you can pick up a Q9550 for ~ £20).

Edit: Also make sure to update your motherboard to the latest bios version when upgrading to the newer cpu.

 

[Dubkiss]

I would suggest looking for a Q9550 - The Q8300 uses less power than a Q6600, but isn't really any faster and actually has a little less cache. The Q9550 is clocked higher than both, and also has 4mb more cache than the Q6600 (and looking online the you can pick up a Q9550 for ~ £20).

Edit: Also make sure to update your motherboard to the latest bios version when upgrading to the newer cpu.

what about Q9300 ?

 

[cdrkf]

what about Q9300 ?

It's only clocked at 2.5ghz (same as Q8300) - the Q6600 you already have is clocked at 2.4ghz so it's not really much of a boost, unless you want to overclock it (although you could do that with the Q6600 - they tend to overclock pretty well). The CPU support table gives all specs of the different processors: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-EP35-DS4-rev-21/support#support-cpu

The things to look for are: Number of cores (you definitely want a Quad), the clock speed (higher is better) and the amount of cache memory (more is better). I would look at the Q9X50 parts with 12mb of cache (the lowest option being the 9450). I would see what is available though as sometimes you may find the faster models going cheap (these cpu's are all really old now so shouldn't be too expensive).

 

[Dubkiss]

It's only clocked at 2.5ghz (same as Q8300) - the Q6600 you already have is clocked at 2.4ghz so it's not really much of a boost, unless you want to overclock it (although you could do that with the Q6600 - they tend to overclock pretty well). The CPU support table gives all specs of the different processors: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-EP35-DS4-rev-21/support#support-cpu

The things to look for are: Number of cores (you definitely want a Quad), the clock speed (higher is better) and the amount of cache memory (more is better). I would look at the Q9X50 parts with 12mb of cache (the lowest option being the 9450). I would see what is available though as sometimes you may find the faster models going cheap (these cpu's are all really old now so shouldn't be too expensive).

i looked for some 9X50 Procesors but all asks for them more than 50€, its pretty expensive for old CPU

 

[cdrkf]

i looked for some 9X50 Procesors but all asks for them more than 50€, its pretty expensive for old CPU

Hmm ok, well in that case I suggest you try overclocking your current Q6600 - the method in the video I linked should work for your motherboard (just cover a pad on the cpu with a little tape - this will trick the motherboard to run the cpu at the higher 1333 mhz front side bus speed which will boost it up to ~ 3ghz).

That won't cost anything and should give you a nice boost in any cpu limited games.

 

[Dubkiss]

Hmm ok, well in that case I suggest you try overclocking your current Q6600 - the method in the video I linked should work for your motherboard (just cover a pad on the cpu with a little tape - this will trick the motherboard to run the cpu at the higher 1333 mhz front side bus speed which will boost it up to ~ 3ghz).

That won't cost anything and should give you a nice boost in any cpu limited games.

which tape should i use ? im worried it can be melted by heat and destroy motherboard

 

[cdrkf]

which tape should i use ? im worried it can be melted by heat and destroy motherboard

I would personally try a standard electrical insulation tape - those are rates to 70C typically, and the underside of the cpu shouldn't get too hot as it's insulated under the PCB. Just make sure the cpu is well cooled.

The other options is you could try a bios based overclock by adjusting the cpu settings (the motherboard you have should support that). That avoids the need for tape, but may require a bit of trial and error to get the best balance of settings and keep the cpu stable. Given it's a locked cpu, you need to adjust the front side bus speed to overclock, you will probably need to adjust the cpu core voltage a little to make sure the cpu is stable. Here is a thread discussing the settings required to overclock a Q6600 via the bios:

How to safely OC Core 2 Quad Q6600 to 3.0 GHz with ThrottleStop on Foxconn G31MXP mobo?

Hi to all! I would like to safely OC my Core 2 Quad Q6600 @2.40 GHz CPU to 3.00 GHz, on my Foxconn G31MXP mobo with ThrottleStop. Please help me to do the OC safely. Edit: BTW, I don't want to use a benchmarking stressing utility, because Prime95 made my PSU die once! Thanks to all in...

www.techpowerup.com

The Q6600 is well known to overclock really well, 3 ghz should be pretty easy to get working (there are vids online of people pushing them as high as 4ghz, which is insane for a 2.4ghz base clock chip).