Q6600 + ?

[Caveman]

My MB is : http://www.foxconnchannel.com/produc...d=en-us0000193

[Salazaar]

Just FYI, I can easily get over 3.2Ghz from my Q6600 on the same 965 based Asus P5B Deluxe that I've had for years!

[scaryjim]

I was given for free a q6600.

Which you could sell to help pay for a Phenom II. You'll get more for that than for a 6000+ and motherboard, I'd wager. And of course, once you'd got the Phenom II you could sell the 6000+ as well to recoup more of your expenses: you could easily come out even on the deal...

I have a AM2 motherboard and it needs to be AM2+/3 to work?

Depends on the motherboard and chipset. All Phenom processors will "work" in AM2 motherboards, but they may not be correctly recognised or run at full speed if the BIOS has not been updated to work with them. Could be worth checking. EDIT: having checked the links you provided it looks like ASRock have no intention of support AM2+ / AM3 CPUs on your motherboard *sigh*

A bit cheap so im not too sure bout this one. ASROCK P45DE

ASRock motherboards aren't too bad at all. ASRock is a daughter company of ASUS, intended to compete with ECS / Foxconn in the OEM market (according to Wikipedia ).

[Caveman]

You mean Foxconn have no intention? Even if it did would it be worth selling the Q66 (a really good chip) for a Phenom II X4/6 for it not to be fully working because of the wrong motherboard socket? I think the performance from the q66 would be greater.

I know you're trying to save me money and I appreciate that.

Well ive been reading around and that ASUS P5Q SE2+ is a really good board so I think i'll get that one. I couldnt find out what is exactly different from the SE2 and the SE2+..

Edit:

After more reading apparently the P5Q * have some serious problems with HDD transfer rates, problems with LAN. I think i'll be looking for another motherboard.

[Bugbait]

The P43 chipset is a VERY watered down version of the P45 chipset and can barely overclock from what I've read. I'd advise you to look at second hand P35/P45 boards, or from clearance websites as they aren't worth much nowadays.

Really? My "cheapo" Asus P5QL-E (P43) ran a Q6600 at 3.1GHz (9x345) with everything except the FSB on default/auto and it never crashed or caused any problems. I would've gone higher except it was using the stock, retail cooler in an old, low airflow case so CPU temps weren't great. The P43 chipset definitely isn't for the enthusiast or anyone who needs more than one GPU but for entry level stuff it's perfectly fine.

[scaryjim]

... I think the performance from the q66 would be greater. ...

The top end Phenom IIs can just about keep pace with the Q9550 / Q9650, so I don't think they'd suffer in performance terms compared to a Q6600. However, your motherboard won't support a Phenom II anyway, so that entire debate is pretty much moot. Your best bet with the components you already have is to buy a S775 mobo then sell your 6000+ and Foxconn mobo to help make some of your money back.

[rkingb]

I agree re a P43/45 motherboard - I have used both and overclocked my Q6600 to 3.2Ghz on both.

I really think you should keep an eye on Scan's "Today Only".

e.g. today a variety of Asus motherboards - P43/45 from £58.74 upwards.

[Skulltrail]

As I see it, you have two options:

1. Grand total of about £175

An ASUS P5P43TD PRO for £73.64, which is P43 rather than P45, but for what you are trying to do it will be more than adequate. Interestingly, it uses DDR3 RAM, and for £100 you could get 4GB @ 1600MHz, representing a very worthwhile speed increase over the DDR2 you would otherwise use. However, if you only wanted to OC to 3.0GHz, instead of just increasing the FSB from 1066MHz to 1333MHz, you would need to drop the multiplier from 9 to either 8 or 7.5 if the BIOS let you. This is because to run the RAM at 1600MHz, the FSB would need to be at least that.

2. Grand Total of about £150

A Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3P for £86.90 (including P&P), which gives you the full P45 chipset, but uses DDR2 so you use your existing 2GB and add another 4GB for about £65. I have owned this board for a couple of years and I have nothing but praise for it; it will happily handle a 1800MHz FSB OC with all other settings apart from RAM speeds and latency set to auto.

Links:

I'm not allowed to post any but: search Scan for LN28192, Novatech for GSK-4G1675, and do a Google product search for the Gigabyte.

Hope this helps.