Lowest Sufficient C2Q CPU for GTX 650 Ti Boost

[Katon123]

As the title says! Which one is the lowest possible Core 2 Quad CPU to support a GTX 650 Ti Boost GPU without any issues?

 

[lazyboy947]

prob one around 2.5ghz ish, i think anything lower is not so great for almost anything lol i ran a 2.3ghz phenom with a 9800gt and i think anything higher gpu wise would be fine but not utilize the card well, for me id run that old phenom with one of my 6770s, and a ti boost with around 2.5ghz for a core 2 quad, but slightly lower would be fine

 

[Katon123]

prob one around 2.5ghz ish, i think anything lower is not so great for almost anything lol i ran a 2.3ghz phenom with a 9800gt and i think anything higher gpu wise would be fine but not utilize the card well, for me id run that old phenom with one of my 6770s, and a ti boost with around 2.5ghz for a core 2 quad, but slightly lower would be fine

So, a Core 2 Quad Q8300 would do for this GPU?

 

[lazyboy947]

Sure would, but i would look at what is available to you for the cheapest, just because that one specifically is the bare minimal, it may be not the cheapest compared to a higher clocked c2q

 

[ESKlassen]

A 2.50 GHz won't push it to its max. I'd recommend getting something 2.7 GHz or better to max it out.

 

[Katon123]

Sure would, but i would look at what is available to you for the cheapest, just because that one specifically is the bare minimal, it may be not the cheapest compared to a higher clocked c2q

I can get this CPU pretty low, around $90! Any bottlenecking?

 

[Katon123]

A 2.50 GHz won't push it to its max. I'd recommend getting something 2.7 GHz or better to max it out.

I guess I could overclock it a bit, eih?

 

[ESKlassen]

A 2.50 GHz won't push it to its max. I'd recommend getting something 2.7 GHz or better to max it out.

I guess I could overclock it a bit, eih?

Overclocking is always somewhat risky and doesn't provide noticeable improvement in performance unless you have a good cooling device.

For $90 I'd just get the AMD Phenom x4 965 which is around $95, a quad-core with 3.6 GHz.

 

[lazyboy947]

It prob would, but def still good, but yes always a higher clocked is better. maybe a 2.7ghz would be better as there is always the bottleneck and lower clock speed usually adds that, if u can look for the mentioned 2.7 to 3ghz range, there older cpus and i dont think there should be a huge price difference from the 2.5ghz to 2.8ghz. Also the core 2 quads didnt come often higher than 3ghz so the 2.6-2.8ghz is prob ur best performance for the cost as the 3ghz ones usually cost over $150

Just looked on ebay a core 2 extreme qx 6700 2.66ghz goes for like $90, and the 3ghz qx6850 for like $130

 

[Katon123]

A 2.50 GHz won't push it to its max. I'd recommend getting something 2.7 GHz or better to max it out.

I guess I could overclock it a bit, eih?

Overclocking is always somewhat risky and doesn't provide noticeable improvement in performance unless you have a good cooling device.

Got a Zalman CNPS9000 CPU Cooler.
For $90 I'd just get the AMD Phenom x4 965 which is around $95, a quad-core with 3.6 GHz.

 

[Katon123]

A 2.50 GHz won't push it to its max. I'd recommend getting something 2.7 GHz or better to max it out.

I guess I could overclock it a bit, eih?

Overclocking is always somewhat risky and doesn't provide noticeable improvement in performance unless you have a good cooling device.

For $90 I'd just get the AMD Phenom x4 965 which is around $95, a quad-core with 3.6 GHz.

Unfortunately my Mobo supports only Core 2 Quads and Extremes.

 

[lazyboy947]

Well if u were to spend the money over $100 for a core 2 quad/extreme, overclocking is prob the best way to get full use of it, or else a new board and cpu like the phenom x4 965, and decent overclocking board will run about $200

 

[ESKlassen]

Intel Core i3 I3-3220 3.3 GHz Dual-Core Processor is the way to go then.