Q8300 or Q6600?

[philpem]

Hi guys,
I think I've finally got my PC (the one mentioned in my "help!" thread) working... Main fault was that the P5N72T-Deluxe motherboard had died; thankfully it didn't kill the Q6600 CPU.

So anyway, I swapped the motherboard for another Asus with an Intel chipset -- the Rampage Formula -- which comes with a nifty little BIOS POST code display. I tried various combinations of PSU, RAM, no RAM, graphics card, no graphics card, on the table, in the case, and so on, and got nowhere. I even bought a new Q8300 CPU (sSPEC SLGUR) on the off-chance my Q6600 (sSPEC SLACR) had died (at a cost of £130 and change from a local computer shop).

All came to nought until I pulled the board out of the case and forgot to reconnect the "LCD POSTer" POST code display. Now the board boots fine -- for reference, the voltage status lights on the Rampage Formula go RYG, then green only, then a brief RYG flash on a successful boot. The other giveaway is that if the boot fails, you'll have to hold the on-board power switch down for ~5 seconds to switch the board off. If it booted OK, you'll just have to give it a brief ~0.5sec tap.

Besides overclockability, I can't see much difference between the two chips -- the 8300 has the advantage of a higher FSB, but less cache and a lower multiplier. It's also got a faster 'base' clock rate (2.5GHz vs 2.4 on the '6600). I'm using DDR2-1066 RAM, so AIUI the higher frontside isn't going to do me much good. From what I've read the 8300 is slightly faster per clock but less overclockable. I only want to go to 3GHz though (or maybe a little further if I can keep the machine stable).

Which brings me to my question: if you had the choice of using a Q8300 or a Q6600 in this motherboard, which would you pick, and why?

Thanks,
Phil.

[Terbinator]

Q6600 - more cache, may hit 4Ghz.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Q8300 has lower power consumption but has a lower multiplier making it harder to overclock!
I would overclock both the Q8300 and Q6600 to 3GHZ and see which one is faster for the applications you use.

[Grey M@a]

Get a Q6600 with the G0 stepping and you will easily see 3.2GHz+ Highest mine got to was 3.2Ghz but that's due to the shuttle being a little oven, even in winter xD

[shadowmaster]

Get a Q6600 with the G0 stepping and you will easily see 3.2GHz+ Highest mine got to was 3.2Ghz but that's due to the shuttle being a little oven, even in winter xD

I've got a B3 and it easily hits 3ghz

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Get a Q6600 with the G0 stepping and you will easily see 3.2GHz+ Highest mine got to was 3.2Ghz but that's due to the shuttle being a little oven, even in winter xD

Is that on stock voltage?? I can overclock my Q6600 G0 in my Shuttle SD37P2 to 2.92GHZ on stock voltage.

[Grey M@a]

Is that on stock voltage?? I can overclock my Q6600 G0 in my Shuttle SD37P2 to 2.92GHZ on stock voltage.

Can't quite remember now I would have to check that, I might of raised the voltage by .25 just the SX38P2 Pro I have with the 8800GTS 512 card in there, the heatsink and card fight for all the spare air they can so the shuttle runs hot.

I just need to get around to sorting it all out again and it could probably do with a refresh and a rework of the fans and replaced with higher RPM ones.

The clock isn't the problem, the heat however in the shuttle is I may looking into completely butchering the chassis and go water cooling as in the summer the room gets the sun for 3/4 day so the temps in the room alone shoot through the roof but its the only spare room available.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Can't quite remember now I would have to check that, I might of raised the voltage by .25 just the SX38P2 Pro I have with the 8800GTS 512 card in there, the heatsink and card fight for all the spare air they can so the shuttle runs hot.

I just need to get around to sorting it all out again and it could probably do with a refresh and a rework of the fans and replaced with higher RPM ones.

The clock isn't the problem, the heat however in the shuttle is I may looking into completely butchering the chassis and go water cooling as in the summer the room gets the sun for 3/4 day so the temps in the room alone shoot through the roof but its the only spare room available.

I could get upto 3.1GHZ IIRC with a voltage boost but heat is a problem with Shuttles and also the high pitched noise of the cooling fans. In the end I modded the ICE cooler and used different fans. I would suggest reversing the fans and using the dual slot cooler on the 8800GTS 512MB to help exhaust the hot air out of the case.

[Grey M@a]

I could get upto 3.1GHZ IIRC with a voltage boost but heat is a problem with Shuttles and also the high pitched noise of the cooling fans. In the end I modded the ICE cooler and used different fans. I would suggest reversing the fans and using the dual slot cooler on the 8800GTS 512MB to help exhaust the hot air out of the case.

That's half the problem, the Asus 8800GTS 512 G92 core does have a dual slot to get the heat out the back, I am reversing the fans in the next few weeks. I have already had to replace most the stock shuttle fans though as the bearings went in them after a 3 month period of owning it :/ Good job I had an RS Electronics warehouse near by.

[ajones]

Another vote for the Q6600.

Some of the 8300s don't support virtualisation; The SLGUR (order code AT80580PJ0604ML looks like the pick of the bunch) is the version that does, whilst the SLB5W does not;

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=39107#specs

[Englander]

Very happy with my Q6600 so I'll vote for that one

[malfunction]

I *almost* have a Q6600 (1 multiplier less Xeon version) and it has been running at 3.2GHz since day 1 without issue. Would have thought the 8MB cache would make the Q6600 better than a Q8300 for most tasks. Will the shop take the Q8300 back (assuming it's a recent purchase)? If not you'll have to flog it (though you need 100 posts to be able to use the for sale forum here...)

[philpem]

OK, looks like I'll be sticking with the Q6600 then. I've just enabled overclocking on the Rampage and it seems stable at 3GHz (FSB 333MHz) at stock voltage.

Blasted thing won't run the RAM at 1066MHz though -- I've switched the RAM timings to manual, set DDR-1066, entered the timings (interestingly there's nowhere to enter tRC) and bumped the DRAM voltage to 2.1V (per the SPD data). No dice -- Linux (Ubuntu 9.10) locks solid with a Kernel Panic before it even starts booting. For reference, timings are:
800MHz -- 5-5-5-18-23, 1.8V
1066MHz -- 5-5-5-15-22-2T, 2.1V
RAM is 4 sticks of 1GB Corsair XMS2 Dominator from two separate "TWINX" kits (when I originally built the machine, 4GB TWINX kits were on a long lead time from Scan).

I will say one thing about the Rampage -- the rear-panel CMOS Clear switch is dead handy... Also, somewhat interestingly, the BIOS is claiming to be version 0904. This is somewhat more recent than the latest version on the ASUS website (0902)...

As for the Q8300, I think I'll probably keep it around for a bit. Little brother wants to play World of Warcraft, and he reckons his January pay packet might help him achieve that goal. New motherboard (depending on what happens with the dead P5N72T -- I'm hoping Scan will replace it), new PCIe GPU, some RAM, and my spare quadcore chip (if he can afford it! )...

As has been pointed out, I'm nowhere near the 100 posts necessary to sell something on the Buy and Sell boards...

[Terbinator]

Try increasing North-bridge voltage as using 4 sticks can be demanding, especially when there 1066 ones!

[philpem]

Try increasing North-bridge voltage as using 4 sticks can be demanding, especially when there 1066 ones!

Aye, sounds like a good idea. Problem is, the Rampage Formula's default NB voltage option is "Auto". Although you can type an NB voltage in and it'll use that, the manual doesn't specify what "Auto" actually means.

I've got these ranges to play with:
"Green" (aka Normal): 1.25 to 1.49V
"Yellow" (aka High): 1.51 to 1.73V
"Red" (aka "Crazy"): above 1.73V

Chipset is an Intel X48 / ICH9R.

Thanks,
Phil.

[daveyhue]

I'm happy with the Q6600 two machines running them..