Upgrade Q6600 or Buy New i7 920?

[htoonthura]

All of this comes out to $181.97 and is much cheaper than spending $600+ for marginal gains.

It is not marginal gains. core i7 is a lot faster than q 6600. Performance limitation is on the user, not on the system. Of course you will see no performance gain between core i7 and q6600 when you are typing a letter.

 

[one-shot]

It is not marginal gains. core i7 is a lot faster than q 6600. Performance limitation is on the user, not on the system. Of course you will see no performance gain between core i7 and q6600 when you are typing a letter.

I was referring to the marginal gains for the difference in prices of both systems. He can spend ~$180 and have a great setup. The benefits of $400+ extra for an i7 would be marginal at best. Sure, i7 is faster in certain things. I'm actually getting an i7 system myself, but the extra cost isn't worth the benefit in this case.

 

[one-shot]

^ Nice CPU cooler...

But I would again say spending $140 over that mobo when a $80 mobo can do the job, is not a good option...
Am not saying that the mobo is bad ...actually it is one of the best P45 out there...but as you want a temporary solution, then you should get a good cheap stable component that could do the job...
And I have given the reason for the same on my previous post...

I would and will never recommend a P43 for overclocking. Remember, he wants to get the best value out of his system. He doesn't want a board that will give him a little overclock. He also has a 8800GT, and you are correct, he may not need the extra PCI-E slot.

The cheaper boards, such as the one you listed and the Gigabyte P45-UD3L, which is $94.99, only offer a 4 Pin CPU connector. I have a 4 pin CPU power connector on my P35-DS3L that is the predecessor to the P45-UD3L. It doesn't clock well with quad core CPUs and I can't imagine this being any different. The P45-UD3P has an 8 pin CPU Connector which can supply more current which will allow a higher overclock.

65nm Kentsfield CPUs are known to run very hot and in turn require more current than 45nm variations or dual core CPUs. The $80 board will not do what the $140 board will do so that argument is not valid

I stand by my previous suggestion. Anandtech.com tested the board and had awesome results. The facts don't lie and I respectfully disagree with you.

Edit*

Also, If you read his last post, he stated that he wants to try to wait until Sandy Bridge, which is due to be out Q4 of 2010. This is not temporary and the extra $60 is well worth it.

 

[boomhowar]

Ok kufan64, I read through all the comments and didn't see anyone really ask the important question...what app on your system needs an upgrade?

You only listed 3: games, internet, music.

The last two are obviously fine on your current rig.

So games then. What resolution do you play at? What games? Depending on this I would rec possibly a psu upgrade and a video card upgrade. Both of which can also go into a new rig (though vid card will prob be outdated by then).

Just something to think about. I love new parts as much as anyone, but if you're on a budget, like me, you might only need the two parts I listed.

Maybe a 4870, 4890, GTX260/280, or 4870x2 could hold you off for another 9-12 months and make you feel like you got more out of your system. <-This is what I will be doing soon to extend my q6600. I'm also oced to 3ghz and run on 1920x1200, so I'm not on your stock speed and my current vid card suffers before my cpu at that res(4850).

 

[gkay09]

I would and will never recommend a P43 for overclocking. Remember, he wants to get the best value out of his system. He doesn't want a board that will give him a little overclock. He also has a 8800GT, and you are correct, he may not need the extra PCI-E slot.

The cheaper boards, such as the one you listed and the Gigabyte P45-UD3L, which is $94.99, only offer a 4 Pin CPU connector. I have a 4 pin CPU power connector on my P35-DS3L that is the predecessor to the P45-UD3L. It doesn't clock well with quad core CPUs and I can't imagine this being any different. The P45-UD3P has an 8 pin CPU Connector which can supply more current which will allow a higher overclock.

65nm Kentsfield CPUs are known to run very hot and in turn require more current than 45nm variations or dual core CPUs. The $80 board will not do what the $140 board will do so that argument is not valid

I stand by my previous suggestion. Anandtech.com tested the board and had awesome results. The facts don't lie and I respectfully disagree with you.

Edit*

Also, If you read his last post, he stated that he wants to try to wait until Sandy Bridge, which is due to be out Q4 of 2010. This is not temporary and the extra $60 is well worth it.

^ Well I wont argues that the P43 mobo is better choice than the P45...

But I certainly cant agree with you on about the overclocking abilities of that P43 mobo...
If you check the customer reviews of that board, you can find users having overclocked their E5200 to 3.5GHz stable at 1.275v...
And in another forum, a member has his Q6600 overclocked @ 3.59GHz 1.39V
using Gigabyte P43 DS3L
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=600422

It is just how good you are with BIOS...It you get the settings right, then you can overclock stable on this board without problems...

And the about the power consumption, even the Q6600 has a 95W TDP, same as the Q9x00 and Q8X00 series...

And more over it will depend more on the stepping on his Q6600...If its not a GO stepping, even your $140 mobo cant do much to Oc that CPU...

And I feel that these arguments are pretty valid...
And I certainly don't feel $60 more cash is worth spending on that board for his NEEDS..., check that this is just a temporary solution for him...
If he was about to build totally new PC on the LGA 775 socket, even I would have suggested that P45 board...but not now...

 

[jalpaugh1978]

Here's my cpu cooler $39.99w/free shipping and already has the backplate with it

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029

The fan also has white LEDs that just look KEWL

 

[qubaki]

Q6600 is good enough after OC. So get a new motherboard and a good cooler.I7 doesn't seem much better than Core2

 

[AMD4Life]

Alright, even though my nick suggests that I am and will always be on the "green" side, I will try to help if you haven't already built the system . In the computer world, timing is everything. Even if you buy the top dog processor, it will already be old after six months. That is the reason why you should NEVER buy a processor that costs above 500$. At this time, an upgrade seems pointless because Intel is already whispering something about the new Nehalems. What could happen? You buy a processor for 300$ and the next day that same processor costs half the price. I would wait a little longer if I was in your skin. On the other side, your processor is very outdated, and although it achieves high overclock performance, that doesn't mean everything. You see, Intel's Core2Duo architecture is a bit messy. The greatest reason is that Core2's do not have L3 cache. Because of this, communication of the processor and the memory is a bit crippled on these, and that can sometimes cause stuttering in gaming even on the highest end processors. Intel has seen this and fixed it in the i7 architecture, so it shouldn't be a problem on i7's (although I didn't have a personal experience with these). Buying an Intel setup is always a gamble. Intel is very hard on innovations and, as I mentioned before, new tech can come out every day. But it seems that you can't go fully wrong with the i7 because the new platform should be future-proof. At last, have you considered buying and AMD system 😉? I will do that, because I have Intel E4600. Going with a Phenom 955 on an AM3 board will give you killer performance in gaming while the new AM3 boards will stay in play probably for a long time. Anyway, I think I mentioned this in another article, but here are the conclusions:

Q6600 choice: Bad choice. This processor is very outdated and you probably wouldn't want to spend money on some coolers when new processors are in the corner. The lowest end i7 will kill this quad core, maybe even when it is downclocked.

I7 choice: A total gamble. Could be a perfect solution, but could be outdated soon because of Intel's aggressive policy. This processor will end any stuttering in games but may have problems on high resolutions. It is a gamble for gaming, but for compressing, video encoding and 3D rendering a bogeyman.

(Alternative) Phenom II choice: Probably a good choice if you are a serious gamer who wants performance, and not to be praised at work for his i7. It will bring nearly the same performance as the i7 in gaming, so if gaming is the only thing you do, go with it. I7 beats it in other stuff, though...

Hope I helped and good luck with a computer!

 

[gkay09]

^ Hmm... Well he has the Q6600...

 

[geofelt]

If your most demanding application is gaming, I suggest that you sell your 8800GT, and replace it with something a couple of levels higher, such as a
GTS250/GTX260/GTX275.

If you feel that the Q6600 is holding you back, sell it on e-bay for about $150 and replace it with a E8500 for the higher clock speed. Very few games can make use of more than two cores.

Only go to the i7 if you will benefit from many cores.

 

[kufan64]

Alright... It would probably be too hard for me to address individual posts, so I'll just throw some stuff out there.

First of all I should clarify that the most intense thing I've probably put my computer through is playing Crytec games like Crysis or Far Cry 2 which demand a lot of out of both my CPU and my GPU. (they're very pretty afterall) I've been told before that my GPU isn't the problem, as my Q6600 at stock speeds is incapable of pushing the GPU to it's limit. Like I said before, I've recently become interested in SLI and multi-GPU configurations, but does multi-GPU even make a difference if a game isn't running with PhysX technology? I also have recently purchased a 24" Acer P243WAid LCD widescreen monitor that is capable of 1920x1200 resolution.

I should also remind everyone that I have an Antec P182 case, and it has a bottom chamber for the PSU. I check my temps every now and then just for curiosity's sake, and it seems to fluctuate between 50-60C depending on a lot of things, but I have all 3 of my fans set at their lowest settings. I have also had it recommended to me that I buy and install the optional 4th fan (an intake in front of the HDD's, I believe) to help keep everything cool.

I need to make it clear that I don't want to overclock my PC to it's breaking point. Sure, I want to push it, and make it work harder for me; but I don't want to stress it beyond it's capabilities. I've been told before that getting it to 3.0GHz carries nearly no risk if done correctly, and I assume it is safely capable of even more.

I realise that my quad core probably isn't much better for games than a dual core, but I didn't originally build this system. I have been personally making upgrades to it over the past few months, and then I hit the brick wall of realization that my board was incapable of OCing...

I now have 3 suggestions for HSF's: (in order of interest to me)
Mugen 2
XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283
(no one commented on the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro I linked to... does anyone have an opinion about it? Also my case doesn't have a window, so none of this has to look cool, as it won't be seen by anyone but me)

I also have 2 suggestions for a board: (in order of interest to me)
Gigabyte UD3P P45
Gigabyte UD3L P43
(I don't know which way to go here... You've both made very valid arguments... I hope with this added info we can all agree on what is best)

 

[AMD4Life]

^ Hmm... Well he has the Q6600...

I realize that. I just posted which choices are good and bad at this time. Either way, Q6600 is not my favorite...

 

[yomamafor1]

I7 choice: A total gamble. Could be a perfect solution, but could be outdated soon because of Intel's aggressive policy. This processor will end any stuttering in games but may have problems on high resolutions. It is a gamble for gaming, but for compressing, video encoding and 3D rendering a bogeyman.

Wanna explain that FUD?

 

[AMD4Life]

Alright... It would probably be too hard for me to address individual posts, so I'll just throw some stuff out there.

First of all I should clarify that the most intense thing I've probably put my computer through is playing Crytec games like Crysis or Far Cry 2 which demand a lot of out of both my CPU and my GPU. (they're very pretty afterall) I've been told before that my GPU isn't the problem, as my Q6600 at stock speeds is incapable of pushing the GPU to it's limit. Like I said before, I've recently become interested in SLI and multi-GPU configurations, but does multi-GPU even make a difference if a game isn't running with PhysX technology? I also have recently purchased a 24" Acer P243WAid LCD widescreen monitor that is capable of 1920x1200 resolution.

I should also remind everyone that I have an Antec P182 case, and it has a bottom chamber for the PSU. I check my temps every now and then just for curiosity's sake, and it seems to fluctuate between 50-60C depending on a lot of things, but I have all 3 of my fans set at their lowest settings. I have also had it recommended to me that I buy and install the optional 4th fan (an intake in front of the HDD's, I believe) to help keep everything cool.

I need to make it clear that I don't want to overclock my PC to it's breaking point. Sure, I want to push it, and make it work harder for me; but I don't want to stress it beyond it's capabilities. I've been told before that getting it to 3.0GHz carries nearly no risk if done correctly, and I assume it is safely capable of even more.

I realise that my quad core probably isn't much better for games than a dual core, but I didn't originally build this system. I have been personally making upgrades to it over the past few months, and then I hit the brick wall of realization that my board was incapable of OCing...

I now have 3 suggestions for HSF's: (in order of interest to me)
Mugen 2
XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283
(no one commented on the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro I linked to... does anyone have an opinion about it? Also my case doesn't have a window, so none of this has to look cool, as it won't be seen by anyone but me)

I also have 2 suggestions for a board: (in order of interest to me)
Gigabyte UD3P P45
Gigabyte UD3L P43
(I don't know which way to go here... You've both made very valid arguments... I hope with this added info we can all agree on what is best)

From what I read in your posts I guess that money is not such a problem to you. Well then why not go with the board that has nice overclocking capabilities for your old processor with an x48 chipset? Those boards are very good in overclocking, if you want that: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128332&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Motherboards+-+Intel-_-GIGABYTE-_-13128332

But seriously, wait for the new Nehalems. LGA775 is a socket that will soon be very outdated (even now there are no new boards), and you wouldn't see much difference anyway. You'll remember my words when you punch yourself for wasting precious money for nothing. So, buy an x58 chipset motherboard, and wait for stronger Nehalems (that is when the price of the current ones will drop). The maximum improvement you will see over your old board if you go with LGA775 is overclock (which can only cause you problems or minor increase in performance) and a bit smoother overall Windows performance. Please wait, I'm really trying to help and convince you that buying another LGA775 motherboard will lead you nowhere.

 

[AMD4Life]

Wanna explain that FUD?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/10/intel_westmere_update_february_09/

Yes, I never talk about something I am not sure of.

 

[yomamafor1]

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/899/2/

Yep, I'm pretty sure you're not sure of what you're talking about.

 

[AMD4Life]

I will ignore the post above. Anyway, it doesn't matter at all. I know very well what I am talking about and you can only convince me otherwise if you are an Intel employee. If you are, I am sorry sir, you know the best about your company. If you are not, chill up and shut up.

 

[AMD4Life]

I was just carefully reading my reply and the comment above, I choked while drinking coke and thought: "Who the hell am I proving my opinion to?" And I figured it out. A complete retard. I do not know what the hell are you trying to prove with that picture. You are not sure about what you are talking about, dude. I said, and for the damn last time: INTEL WILL SOON BE SHIPPING 32NM PROCESSORS IN THE END OF 2009 AND MAYBE IT WILL BE A WASTE TO BUY EARLY I7'S EVEN NOW. GET IT MAN. JUST GET IT.

PS: Or just get a cheap used brain in the nearest laboratory (I guess you Intel fans have money for everything).

 

[yomamafor1]

Oops, I thought you meant the 32nm chips will not be supported by the current infrastructure (which it will). But it looks like the LGA1366 Westmere part, the Gulftown, will be launched in 2010, rather than 2009.

With that being said, I still don't know why its too late to buy an i7. Afterall he does benefit greatly with Nehalem, and with the infrastructure in place, he can easily upgrade to Gulftown if he choose to.

 

[kufan64]

I think I'm learning more from this argument. lol

Core i7 and it's future replacement "Gulftown" both use LGA-1336 and they're considered the high-end CPU's for the Nehalem microarchitechture.

Core i5 and it's future replacement "Clarkdale" both use LGA-1156 and they're considered the mainstream CPU's for the Nehalem microarchitechture.

Is there any reason why a serious gamer shouldn't look into the i5/Clarkdale line? They have less cores, but modern games never take advantage of more than 2 right now anyway.

Information is hard to come by on the "Sandy Bridge" processor. I assume this is because Intel hasn't released a whole lot of information on it, but maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

 

[AMD4Life]

I think I'm learning more from this argument. lol

Core i7 and it's future replacement "Gulftown" both use LGA-1336 and they're considered the high-end CPU's for the Nehalem microarchitechture.

Core i5 and it's future replacement "Clarkdale" both use LGA-1156 and they're considered the mainstream CPU's for the Nehalem microarchitechture.

Is there any reason why a serious gamer shouldn't look into the i5/Clarkdale line? They have less cores, but modern games never take advantage of more than 2 right now anyway.

Information is hard to come by on the "Sandy Bridge" processor. I assume this is because Intel hasn't released a whole lot of information on it, but maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

Yeah ^^. Sorry for the language, both you and yomamafor1, but I get pissed off sometimes. Anyway, yes. It's sort of that as you said. Hope I helped in other comments though...

 

[AMD4Life]

Oops, I thought you meant the 32nm chips will not be supported by the current infrastructure (which it will). But it looks like the LGA1366 Westmere part, the Gulftown, will be launched in 2010, rather than 2009.

With that being said, I still don't know why its too late to buy an i7. Afterall he does benefit greatly with Nehalem, and with the infrastructure in place, he can easily upgrade to Gulftown if he choose to.

Alright, I guess it's settled then. Sorry man, I got pissed off just like I usually do ^^. But you didn't understand me. I know i5's will come in 2010, I just tried to recommend waiting for the new, improved process (32nm) in the last quarter of the year.

 

[kufan64]

So I've been doing research all day and have come to the following conclusion...

Upgrading to Core i7 is the way to go and here are my reasons for this decision:

1) The current technology my PC is running on is considered "dead." I am out of date as far as the world of technology goes. I cannot overclock my system, nor would it provide a great benefit anyway; simply delaying the inevitable upgrade, and making me spend more money.

2) Upgrading your critical components on the "tock" of Intel's development cycle ensures the longest lifespan of your core components. Since both the "tock" (new microarchitecture) and the following "tick" (new process tech) appear to fit the same socket, you may decide to upgrade your processor during the life of it's microarchitecture, (in this case Nehalem) while only spending money to replace the processor, and being able to keep the same mobo, and RAM (assuming you don't want to buy larger sticks)

3) Purchasing new technology at it's birth always ensures a sour experience. For example, you wouldn't want to buy a vanilla copy of Windows 7 the day it is made avaiable for purchase, as it likely will still have a number of issues and problems that were not spotted during development. This is not the fault of the maker, (Microsoft in this example) as they obviously cannot be expected to spot and fix every single bug and problem without actually making it available to the public. You would most likely wait until SP1 came out and the major problems have been addressed before you upgrade.

Money problems aside, I personally feel that I am in the perfect position to upgrade my PC to a Core i7 920. I strongly encourage anyone who disagrees with me to voice their opinion, as long as you can provide evidence and valid arguments as to why my reasoning is incorrect. I look forward to hearing what everyone thinks...

 

[AMD4Life]

So I've been doing research all day and have come to the following conclusion...

Upgrading to Core i7 is the way to go and here are my reasons for this decision:

1) The current technology my PC is running on is considered "dead." I am out of date as far as the world of technology goes. I cannot overclock my system, nor would it provide a great benefit anyway; simply delaying the inevitable upgrade, and making me spend more money.

2) Upgrading your critical components on the "tock" of Intel's development cycle ensures the longest lifespan of your core components. Since both the "tock" (new microarchitecture) and the following "tick" (new process tech) appear to fit the same socket, you may decide to upgrade your processor during the life of it's microarchitecture, (in this case Nehalem) while only spending money to replace the processor, and being able to keep the same mobo, and RAM (assuming you don't want to buy larger sticks)

3) Purchasing new technology at it's birth always ensures a sour experience. For example, you wouldn't want to buy a vanilla copy of Windows 7 the day it is made avaiable for purchase, as it likely will still have a number of issues and problems that were not spotted during development. This is not the fault of the maker, (Microsoft in this example) as they obviously cannot be expected to spot and fix every single bug and problem without actually making it available to the public. You would most likely wait until SP1 came out and the major problems have been addressed before you upgrade.

Money problems aside, I personally feel that I am in the perfect position to upgrade my PC to a Core i7 920. I strongly encourage anyone who disagrees with me to voice their opinion, as long as you can provide evidence and valid arguments as to why my reasoning is incorrect. I look forward to hearing what everyone thinks...

But I really do not get why did you post this topic when you see you are fully capable of thinking of it yourself... Besides that, I respect your opinion, and after doing some research myself, I must say I may have been a little wrong, but hey, it could happen. You buy it now, next day 100$ :0. Never mind, good luck with your build.

 

[boomhowar]

Sounds like you're not on a budget, so then I think an i7 is a good choice for an upgrade of your cpu.

Your 8800 at 1920x1200 isn't enough, especially if you like AA and HIgh Settings which I'm guessing you do.(just curious whats the mem on your card 512?)

I'm still surprised no one on these forums has been urging you to upgrade your vid card with your soon to be new cpu...usually most replies on here are from machines built for gaming, from what I've seen.

Anyway, I'd get a GTX295 if you can, or a 4870x2. Without a vid card upgrade you're not going to see any huge difference in your gaming.