Old Q6600 alternate uses

[bhuvanesh123]

I have an old Q6600 collecting dust for the past 1 year(since i bought me I5 3570k)...

It was my build, so i am a little sentimental to give it away for any free nor sell it....
Luckily i got the DDR3 motherboard too...

I want to breath new life into it, what are my soultions?

 

[bjaminnyc]

Re-purpose it into a killer HTPC/media server. If you don't has aspiration to play games on it underclock & undervolt and it will stay very cool and quiet. I downclocked my x6 from 3 ->2.5ghz for HTPC use.

 

[bhuvanesh123]

Re-purpose it into a killer HTPC/media server. If you don't has aspiration to play games on it underclock & undervolt and it will stay very cool and quiet. I downclocked my x6 from 3 ->2.5ghz for HTPC use.

what is the minimum GPU required for playing HD movies with no issues or stutter??

 

[bjaminnyc]

About the cheapest video card you can buy will be more than sufficient. I have a 5450 in a Pentum D box that can handle huge 1080p MKVs with zero shuttering and CPU @ 20-30% load.

It's surprising how little horsepower you need for a decent HTPC, your 6600 + any somewhat newer generation card will be pretty terrific for HD content playback. I recently bought a couple of 6570s for my other HTPCs, which is likely overkill due to not gaming on them.

 

[bhuvanesh123]

About the cheapest video card you can buy will be more than sufficient. I have a 5450 in a Pentum D box that can handle huge 1080p MKVs with zero shuttering and CPU @ 20-30% load.

It's surprising how little horsepower you need for a decent HTPC, your 6600 + any somewhat newer generation card will be pretty terrific for HD content playback. I recently bought a couple of 6570s for my other HTPCs, which is likely overkill due to not gaming on them.

Will it more appropriate to make it into dueal purpose NAS/HTPC? i dont want my q6600 be crippled in the corner for the rest of its life..... if it dies i want it to die in glory doing more than jus playing movies........

 

[jaguarskx]

A NAS does not really need that much processing power from what I have gathered. An Atom CPU can handle the task.

My Q9450 will go into my HPTC case when I upgrade. It will serve as a backup gaming and encoding rig.

 

[bjaminnyc]

+1^^^^

My main HTPC is also a media server for my other HTPCs. MY main HTPC is an PHx6, which is way overboard but was in a similar situation with a capable box but not as good as my main rig. Although with it having 6 cores I can stream, record HD tv via card tuner, and have flawless 1080p playback. Having content on your HTPC vs network improves overall experience quite a bit as well.

Again +1^

With a Q6600 if you were to buy a somewhat better card you'd have a decent gaming HTPC also.

 

[logainofhades]

My HTPC was a Phenom II x2 560 and an HD 3870 shoved into an old P4 emachines case. :lol: A friend of mine used his PhII 840 and GT 240 for one for awhile using the HDMI port on the gpu.

 

[genome852]

You could try cooking with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uBNCN6v_gk