Socket 775 Upgrade?

[PeterG81]

Hi All,

775?! Wow, that's an old one. I'm stuck in a bit of a dilemma at the moment. I have a 775 (I believe it's a conroe e6600) with 4 gig RAM home built computer from way back in 2006 that's done me quite well the last 5 years. It's the best computer I've ever owned. I love it. The past few months I've been seriously contemplating building a new PC. I held off building an X58 system because I figured I'd wait for Sandy Bridge to come around full-swing. In January I decided to hold off again for just a month or two to see if certain sets of software were going to upgrade to take full advantage of Sandy Bridge software, I figured I'd begin my build in March when this certain software would be released.

Then the infamous SATA issues came to light and everything with SB is on hold/getting fixed. Ok, no problem, but seeing that all of this has happened, I figured I'd do a few things. What do you all think/recommend for the options below?

1. Build a new SB system in a month or so when the fixed/replaced hardware is released. I'm thinking I'll build an ASUS P8P67 Evo with a 2600K, 8 gigs of RAM (Corsair XMS, my favorite) probably an AMD 58xxish video card, etc. Ideally, I'd like it to last nearly 5 years like my current build has lasted me.

2. Build an X58 system, probably with an i7 950 but I might cough up the dough for a 990X - then plan to use this build for at least 5 years (I personally think this might be the worst idea of the 3)

3. Buy perhaps a Q9505 or even a Q8400 to have as a intermediary. It's a 775 processor, a quad core, not too expensive, and maybe(?) be able to hold me over for a year, at which point I'll probably build a 2011-based system (one or so year from now). I wonder if I'd need to upgrade my Asus P5B-deluxe BIOS to recognize one of these processors (for OS reasons I'd rather not upgrade my BIOS at this time).

I'm leaning toward 3 since, as I've already waited a few months, perhaps it would be best to get a quad-core now to get the benefit of having one, and to curb my computer which is just now starting to get a bit sluggish, and wait until I can build a super-fast SB system that runs on the 2011 socket? I don't know if that's a good idea, so I suppose my main question is, is 3 a good idea?

Some more details on me: I'm not a big gamer, though I do on occasion. I am a big music, audio, photo and video editor and I like having a solid number of applications open. I use multiple operating systems but don't do much virturalization. I also use my computer, on occasion, as a file server and SSH server, in which case I occasionally "dial in" to work on various projects and begin video encodings.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice!

 

[king smp]

#3
If you have the budget then go with a Q8400 for now (as long as mobo supports it - check manafacturers website)
and wait till end of year for higher end sandybridge setup.
The C2Q are pricey but if the budget can handle it then waiting till end of year will be worth it.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

In my opinion wait a few weeks and go for an i5 2500K or i7 2600K and either should last you as well as that old E6600 ( I had one. Good chip). The 2600K with 8GB of good low cas DDR3 1600 is a beast. Even at stock this thing runs amazingly fast.

 

[jaguarskx]

I would just wait.

 

[jsc]

... as well as that old E6600 ( I had one. Good chip).

Still have mine. It's in an office computer running at 3.0 GHz.

 

[PeterG81]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the tips. I guess we don't know about the 2011 socket just yet to know if it would really be worth holding out to use that? I guess I'm asking because if I build an 1155-based system, I'm going to have no reason to want to upgrade to a 2011 even within 3 years or so, maybe more. Again, I guess we don't know about 2011-based systems yet to really know, so I guess I'm just trying to weigh the whole "build 1155 now or wait longer?"

I'll probably not get a C2Q, and will build an 1155 here shortly, as soon as I get my hands on a new Asus b3 (probably the P67 Evo).

Thanks again for all the help; any other ideas, I look forward to reading them. Best!
Pete

 

[PeterG81]

Well that's a good enough reason there, I suppose - I'm not wanting to spend much more than 1K on the new rig anyway.

How expensive is really expensive? I can only imagine that the 8 cores are going to be insanely expensive but I would have only (hah!: "only") picked up a six core anyway if I were to have built a 2011.

 

[buwish]

I'd go ahead and wait a bit on a completely new build for a couple of reasons. One, you can reassure yourself that the chipset issue is thoroughly resolved and two, you can save up a bit more to build what you want when the time comes.

In the meantime, if you can afford it, just go with a quad core 775 chip to hold you over. I have a Q9400 and it hasn't let me down yet in terms of performance.

 

[Toxxyc]

I've got the Core 2 Quad Q8400. It's the one running at 2.66GHz stock, but I overclocked mine to 3.2GHz (just as stable as at stock speeds) and I'm completely loving it. It's extremely powerful, there's nothing I cannot run with good loading times. It's a bit expensive, so if you're getting it now it might be worth waiting on the LGA2011's prices to drop. I got my CPU about three months ago, before I knew about Sandy Bridge and all that, and I spent so much money on it I'm keeping it for a while longer. I'll be getting myself a new LGA775 motherboard at the end of the month, just for a temporary upgrade. Also, I'll be getting DDR3 RAM with that 1.5v rating to fit Sandy Bridge well for the future. That's my plan, will save me the trouble of getting EVERYTHING at once due to a too lazy system.

I'll be looking out for specials. Probably purchase the CPU one month, motherboard the next, depending on how the prices fluctuate. I'm aiming for CPU first, motherboard later, as the CPU will stay more or less the same whilst the motherboard market changes when you blink your eyes.