Q6600 still a decent upgrade?

[Scottyyy]

I know they're getting on a bit now, but I've been looking into buying one to replace my even older E6320 which isn't so fast anymore. I don't think 2 cores is enough for me, for example playing a PC game and livestreaming makes either the game unplayable and a watchable stream or vice versa. I think extra cores and clock speed would help here. My mobo (Gigabyte S3 P965) can only do around 380 FSB with this CPU before it starts getting unstable, and with the E6320's low multiplier, the clock speed isn't great.

I could probably get a Q6600 for around £80. Think it'll be worth trying it out with this mobo at 380 FSB (should take me to 3.4GHz) or should I leave this obsolete socket, wait to get some money and move to LGA1156/1366? What would you do in this situation?

[moussekateer]

That's a toughie. I was in a similar boat, stuck with a 775 asrock motherboard that had no PCI-E ports I needed for a decent graphics card. I decided against just upgrading the motherboard and waited till I had enough money to upgrade to a 1156 system. Was pricey though, couldn't find a cheap decent 1156 motherboard.

[kellyharding]

Not sure much might make use of the extra cores, but the Q6600 has a faster default clock speed and IIRC faster default FSB? and more cache which would make a difference.

Your board might also limit you perhaps too though.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would go for the upgrade as a Q6600 at 3GHZ to 3.4GHZ is still quite a decent processor.

I upgraded my from an E4500 at around 2.9GHZ to a Q6600 at around the same speed and it was a noticeable improvement especially for encoding. The E6320 does have the same amount of L2 cache per core as the Q6600 but the higher clockspeed and additional two cores are a useful boost IMHO and also once you sell you E6320 the Q6600 should cost you under £60. On Ebay the E6320 sells for around £20 to £40 IIRC.

The motherboard in my main computer is a 975X and it is in a Shuttle SFF too.

Next year Intel Sandy Bridge and AMD Bulldozer are coming out so I would wait until these come out to do a full system upgrade TBH.

[matty-hodgson]

Next year Intel Sandy Bridge and AMD Bulldozer are coming out so I would wait until these come out to do a full system upgrade TBH.

Yes, next year. There's always something coming out next year!

The Q6600 is still more than enough for me. Doesn't bottleneck my games, that's still the graphics card. And I can happily run a virus scan, encode videos to the xbox and play a game at the same time with no slowdowns.
And they overclock nicely too .

Do you have a decent CPU cooler? Or are you still running the stock? Cos the Q6600 will run quite a bit hotter than your dual.

[Lee H]

I would say a Q6600 is a good CPU, but that is because I'm biased as hell at the moment as mine has been nothing but an absolute bargain since the day I purchased mine.

Mines been running at 450 Mhz * 8 for ages and shows no signs of slowdown at the moment. In fact, I feel my GPU is the thing holding back my system at the moment and this is getting changed in the near future.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Yes, next year. There's always something coming out next year!

Considering that next year that AMD is replacing the K10 architecture with a totally new one for its new generation performance processor and that next year Intel Sandy Bridge will be the next "tock"of course it is worth waiting for the new CPUs. The socket 1366 Core i7 was the last "tock" Intel had for their processors. Also they will be made on a 32NM process too.

[Syllopsium]

I've got a Q6700 (it wasn't much more than the Q6600 at the time) and remain very happy with it. I'm not upgrading until at least Sandy Bridge (but more probably when my system is simply too slow) owing to the extra speed and decreased power requirements.

The Q6700 is ok, but Conroe and associated memory does run hotter than most subsequent CPUs. I use the GeminII cooler for all over motherboard cooling (975X chipset runs hot too..), but in terms of purely the CPU the Freezer 7 Pro was cheap, quiet and cooled the CPU no problems.

The only note of caution I'd add is to be sure that the CPU is your bottleneck; if the problem is driver or graphics/soundcard based you're going to be a bit pissed off when you upgrade the CPU.

[matty-hodgson]

But then the year after that will their next "tick".. And so on.. You can't just keep waiting to upgrade .

When they do release these new CPUs and sockets and stuff.. How much are they going to be? The i7's were stupidly priced when they were first released. £200-ish for a motherboard then the same again for a CPU then about £100 for some DDR3 RAM cos no-one had any.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

But then the year after that will their next "tick".. And so on.. You can't just keep waiting to upgrade .

When they do release these new CPUs and sockets and stuff.. How much are they going to be? The i7's were stupidly priced when they were first released. £200-ish for a motherboard then the same again for a CPU then about £100 for some DDR3 RAM cos no-one had any.

It depends on how good AMD Bulldozer is! If it is priced well and has decent performance then the newer Intel processors will have to be priced lower.

BTW,each new Intel architecture is meant to last two to three years and if the 32NM 980X is anything to go by I would rather wait until both Intel and AMD transition to the 32NM process.

[Scottyyy]

Yes, next year. There's always something coming out next year!

The Q6600 is still more than enough for me. Doesn't bottleneck my games, that's still the graphics card. And I can happily run a virus scan, encode videos to the xbox and play a game at the same time with no slowdowns.
And they overclock nicely too .

Do you have a decent CPU cooler? Or are you still running the stock? Cos the Q6600 will run quite a bit hotter than your dual.

I have a AC Freezer 7 Pro. Keeps my E6320 at 1.4v at 52C when running Prime95 forever. I think it'll be OK with a Q6600 to be honest. I can't see it being more than 10 degrees hotter than a E6320, and even if it is it'll still be within the safe range.

I think I'll go with the Q6600 anyway. Thanks guys.

[arthurleung]

52'C with a dual won't be enough for a quad. You'll need to reduce your voltage considerably to keep the Q6600 in check. It is effective two E6320s stuffed together into 1 CPU and the heat is almost doubled. Say your case is 30'C, double the heat would give you a CPU temperature of 74'C

[matty-hodgson]

52'C with a dual won't be enough for a quad. You'll need to reduce your voltage considerably to keep the Q6600 in check. It is effective two E6320s stuffed together into 1 CPU and the heat is almost doubled. Say your case is 30'C, double the heat would give you a CPU temperature of 74'C

1.4v is high though. You don't need voltage that high on a Q6600.

[Scottyyy]

52'C with a dual won't be enough for a quad. You'll need to reduce your voltage considerably to keep the Q6600 in check. It is effective two E6320s stuffed together into 1 CPU and the heat is almost doubled. Say your case is 30'C, double the heat would give you a CPU temperature of 74'C

I don't think it will be double the heat. I've seen many posts of people with a decently overclocked Q6600 + ACF7P combo with OK temps.

[fuddam]

I could probably get a Q6600 for around £80.

where have you seen them for that price, or is it on ebay?

TIA

[Scottyyy]

where have you seen them for that price, or is it on ebay?

TIA

I just bought one from OcUK forums for £80 a few hours ago. G0 stepping too. They're way overpriced on eBay, rarely go for less than £100.