Upgrade e6550 to?

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Docnoq

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I've been running this e6550 for about two and a half years now, and I think it might be coming to the end of its gaming life. So, I have been wondering what is the most cost effective socket 775 upgrade for me? I would prefer to keep it cheap, but I see that most 775 processors have hit a price floor and probably will not be decreasing further.
 
Have you ever oced that e6550? You might consider that and limping to Sandy Bridge or Bulldozer (which for low-midrange may be launching before next year). My e6750 for instance does 400fsb (2.66-3.2ghz) with stock voltage and heatsink even using 4 dimms.
 
ya i agree just oc your dual and hold out, if you cant make sure your MB supports a q9300 and just grab one of them and drop it in, new for 200 bucks
 
I have not OCed it. I have been contemplating doing that for awhile, but the airflow in my case is not the best. My case only has 2x80mm fans for its airflow. I fear if I overclock it, it might get too hot. I know I need to build a completely new system eventually with better cooling, but I cannot afford to do that while in college :-P
 
RM_Bulldog said:
ya i agree just oc your dual and hold out, if you cant make sure your MB supports a q9300 and just grab one of them and drop it in, new for 200 bucks
Click to expand...

Or ~$100 to $120 US used for a Q9300.

I would not be putting $200 into socket 775 now.
 
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I was looking at the Q9550 since Microcenter has them new for $179 and I have a buddy that lives close to one, but I do not think I want to spend that much right now. I will look into OCing it.
 
Is this upgrade mainly due to SC2? (related to your post in the graphics section) If so, going to a Q9300 may not give you the speed upgrade you are looking for

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,705392/Starcraft-2-Beta-CPU-benchmarks-x-Core-i5/i7-leading/Practice/

If you compare the numbers for the e8400 and the q9650 and the e6600 and q6600, you can see that SC2 is likely not going to benefit from the extra 2 cores (like most current games still). You might be better off putting your money into a better Dual Core cpu, then going with the q9300. Although in general at this point I feel quad core is the way to go for longevity reasons.

Regarding OCing, you could always just give it a try and monitor your temperature. My case airflow is nothing extreme either, I have 2x92mm,1x120mm but they are low-mid speed fans further set to the lowest speed (sleep with the PC on a lot). Keep in mind if you put in a faster CPU or one with more cores, it will generate more heat as well.

Though I wonder if maybe 4gb of ram would help, as you mention loading times too. Wouldn't be able to tell you as I do not have the game yet (maybe next week)
 
Ya this upgrade is mainly concerning SC2, but also to help in the future as well. I play BC2 (which I know relies on CPU) and newer source games as well. My mobo is an MSI P35 Neo Combo.

I was looking into doubling my RAM if I could find a good set for ~$50 (which I did on the buy/sell/trade forums here), but I need to up my post count a bit to initiate that transaction :-P
 
My first vote is overclock.

If for some crazy reason you don't want to overclock then get a NEW board and cpu. AMD or Intel doesn't really matter.
 
Docnoq,

Consider getting a new case first even if you're going to end up overclocking your current E6550. This is because most of the newer CPUs run very hot even at stock speeds. And your current case with its paltry two 80mm fans is barely adequate for even a single-core Celeron CPU, let alone your current E6550 at stock.

And, if your current PSU is more than two to three years old or is a lower-quality unit, considering getting a new PSU as well.
 
I was concerned about my E6600 either. Sc2 runs smooth as butter, but the frames drop on some big tense fights. The cpu usage is under 30% though..
 
E4g1e said:
Docnoq,

Consider getting a new case first even if you're going to end up overclocking your current E6550. This is because most of the newer CPUs run very hot even at stock speeds. And your current case with its paltry two 80mm fans is barely adequate for even a single-core Celeron CPU, let alone your current E6550 at stock.

And, if your current PSU is more than two to three years old or is a lower-quality unit, considering getting a new PSU as well.
Click to expand...

I just bought a new power supply about two months ago. It is a 650w Corsair unit.

Oddly enough, my CPU temp never exceeded 55C when I was monitoring it. There was a time when it was running quite hot and my computer shut down to prevent damage, but I cleaned the processor and applied some new thermal paste and have not had issues.

As far as the new case is concerned, I have had my eye on the HAF932 for awhile, but have been waiting for a good price to jump on it. I am kind of sick of mid tower cases. I want a full tower with enough room for big cards and cable management. But if you can recommend a good full tower comparable to the HAF932 that is cheaper, I am all ears.

Also, what is the best way to go about overclocking my CPU? I know I can adjust the FSB and the voltage through the BIOS, but I am not sure when I need to up the voltage versus just raising the FSB by itself. Is there a good program to test the stability of an overclock?
 
Docnoq said:
I just bought a new power supply about two months ago. It is a 650w Corsair unit.

Oddly enough, my CPU temp never exceeded 55C when I was monitoring it. There was a time when it was running quite hot and my computer shut down to prevent damage, but I cleaned the processor and applied some new thermal paste and have not had issues.

As far as the new case is concerned, I have had my eye on the HAF932 for awhile, but have been waiting for a good price to jump on it. I am kind of sick of mid tower cases. I want a full tower with enough room for big cards and cable management. But if you can recommend a good full tower comparable to the HAF932 that is cheaper, I am all ears.

Also, what is the best way to go about overclocking my CPU? I know I can adjust the FSB and the voltage through the BIOS, but I am not sure when I need to up the voltage versus just raising the FSB by itself. Is there a good program to test the stability of an overclock?
Click to expand...

Prime95 and intel burn test are good tools to use. I'd just google overclocking e6550 and your board name. You will find people who have have stable overclocks with the same board and CPU to use as a guide line.
 
Grabbed both Prime95 and Intel Burn Test. I bumped my e6550 up to 2.45 Ghz and it appears to be stable, but I plan on testing it with Intel Burn Test when I leave for work.

Managed to find a good deal on a 4gb set of RAM as well, so looks like all that is left is to find a good deal on a full tower case. I may wait a bit on that one though :-P
 
I was in your shoes as well running a E6400 2.13 Conroe and did not want to migrate over to a Core i series so I bought a Q9550 and this bad boy is all I need.

It did not hurt I got it when it was $219 but still this is the one to get!!!!!
 
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