Core2Duo - upgrade to Core2Quad?

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steakman1971

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I have an older Core2Duo system I'm still using as a Linux server. It runs Apache, MySQL, stores files, and several Python apps (sickbeard, couch potato, etc).
Every now and then, the number of cores bogs the system down. So, I took a peak on Ebay about upgrading to a Core2Quad. Anything I should consider?
I'm eyeing this auction right now for about $26:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...088?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item339bdb0080

It would give me system 2 additional cores. The price is pretty low. Before I pull the trigger, just curious on any feedback.

I'm not wanting to put a lot into the system. For the price above, seems like a no brainer to me.
 
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Are you sure your motherboard even supports that CPU?
Are you sure that it's not your storage that's bogging down the system?
What C2D CPU do you have now?
 
These cpu's love cache, how well that translates into server performance I don't know but I'd honestly consider Q9450 at a minimum.

I'm using 9450 (stock) for a plex server, no problems.
 
I've been monitoring the processes, using uptime, etc to observe the system. I've had several times showing a load average of 4+ value for uptime - so the extra cores should speed up some operations. (Of course, this is not constant - a lot of times the system is probably idle. When I'm doing searches, running database queries (dev test server for me), - these are when it poops out.
I moved Plex from this system to a stand-alone server. It was not reliable with everything I was doing. If I go quad core, I could probably move it back and save some power by turning off my other computer.
Disk IO is not doing too bad as long as I keep number of concurrent operations to a minimum. If I am copying a lot of files (mostly 3gb or larger), downloading, and doing other stuff - my system will bog down.
I'll check into the 9450. I have an Asus mobo that I believe supports the one I listed and might support a few others. Will definitely check into that.
 
Definitely check the motherboard to make sure it supports it. My old 975X board did not support it, or even most C2Ds in general.
 
The motherboard is an Asus P5Q Pro. The manual says it supports Core 2 Extreme/Core 2 Quad/Core 2 Duo in the LGA775 package. Their web site more or less says the same:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5Q_PRO/

Ebay has this 9450 for $55:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...047?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d53f3535f

This does have a larger cache (12M). I can get a Q8300 for about $30 delivered vs $55. It's only $25 difference. However, I'm not sure I'll notice a lot of difference.

The two extra cores will help me sometimes - but will largely not be doing much. I'm kind of leaning towards the cheaper one.

One reason for me not putting much else into this system is that I'm planning on getting a used rack mount server in the summer to replace this system.
 
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steakman1971 said:
The motherboard is an Asus P5Q Pro. The manual says it supports Core 2 Extreme/Core 2 Quad/Core 2 Duo in the LGA775 package. Their web site more or less says the same:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5Q_PRO/
Click to expand...
For future referenece, check the CPU support list first. The "Core 2 Extreme/Core 2 Quad/Core 2 Duo in the LGA775 package" bit and other similar statements are not quite accurate sometimes.

steakman1971 said:
Ebay has this 9450 for $55:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...047?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d53f3535f

This does have a larger cache (12M). I can get a Q8300 for about $30 delivered vs $55. It's only $25 difference. However, I'm not sure I'll notice a lot of difference.

The two extra cores will help me sometimes - but will largely not be doing much. I'm kind of leaning towards the cheaper one.

One reason for me not putting much else into this system is that I'm planning on getting a used rack mount server in the summer to replace this system.
Click to expand...
I definitely would not go with the C2Q Q9450 at that price.
 
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Price for Q9450 is $84 @ amazon so $55 is not a bad price, both are used.

Q9550 is the same price so might as well go with the speed bump
 
steakman1971 said:
The motherboard is an Asus P5Q Pro. The manual says it supports Core 2 Extreme/Core 2 Quad/Core 2 Duo in the LGA775 package. Their web site more or less says the same:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5Q_PRO/

Ebay has this 9450 for $55:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...047?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d53f3535f

This does have a larger cache (12M). I can get a Q8300 for about $30 delivered vs $55. It's only $25 difference. However, I'm not sure I'll notice a lot of difference.

The two extra cores will help me sometimes - but will largely not be doing much. I'm kind of leaning towards the cheaper one.

One reason for me not putting much else into this system is that I'm planning on getting a used rack mount server in the summer to replace this system.
Click to expand...

I use the P5Q Deluxe, which makes for a great little make shift server, despite lack of ECC. Love having dual RJ45.

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5Q_Deluxe/

I'm a bit surprised the Q9450 still goes for that much, but its not entirely too shocking, they were great overclockers. If this is only a stop gap I wouldn't even bother with the 8300.
 
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I don't know if you've seen the 771->775 hack/tricks, but if you're comfortable doing that you can get a chip pretty cheap as well

Search eBay for LGA771 xeons, like the E5472, and most of the sellers include adapter kits to make it work in an LGA775 socket. Just stay away from the 150W models :)
 
OP, you're not missing a whole lot going with the 8300 over. the 9450. Now, that link has a Q8400..but the 8300 is obviously only a tick slower, so it's still right there with a 9450.

In the end, you're basically spending just about twice as much for <10% performance bump. Go with the Q8300!
 
You likely would not see the benefit of a Q94/5/6 over the Q8 series for your application, price aside. I would go ahead and make sure your board supports the Q8 series. Even though they are a smaller number, the series came out well after the Q94/5/6 series.
 
why bother with this? you stated earlier that one benefit you were seeking was lower power consumption. you're better off getting a haswell...you can get a combo G3258 and MB for under $100 bucks. if you don't want to spend that then don't spend $60 on an ancient platform that won't net you much of anything if anything at all...just wait until the summer.
 
mope54 said:
why bother with this? you stated earlier that one benefit you were seeking was lower power consumption. you're better off getting a haswell...you can get a combo G3258 and MB for under $100 bucks. if you don't want to spend that then don't spend $60 on an ancient platform that won't net you much of anything if anything at all...just wait until the summer.
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I guess I missed the bit about power efficiency. Yea the C2Q's are power hogs. I have a G3258/Gigabyte B85 combo that sips power even overclocked at over 4 ghz.
 
mope54 said:
why bother with this? you stated earlier that one benefit you were seeking was lower power consumption. you're better off getting a haswell...you can get a combo G3258 and MB for under $100 bucks. if you don't want to spend that then don't spend $60 on an ancient platform that won't net you much of anything if anything at all...just wait until the summer.
Click to expand...

Need to add another $35-40 for the DDR3. Oh and if he already has a good generic cooler with an LGA775 bracket, need to add whatever the adapter cost for the new socket would be, so maybe $5-10.

He'll need a good overclock on the G3258 to outperform a Q9550 though.
 
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The OP said in his first post:
I'm not wanting to put a lot into the system. For the price above, seems like a no brainer to me.
Click to expand...
...which is why he was looking at the Q8300 upgrade for $30 shipped. He doesn't want to spend a whole lot. Going the LGA1150 route is easily $100 (would definitely be worth it), but the OP has low aspirations for this old box and doesn't appear to want to give it a full platform update.
 
Make sure you have the latest bios on that board and then grab a Q8300. Not as power hungry as the Q9XXX and will give you a boost over your dual core.
 
Again, the system I'm probably upgrading is not overly demanding. It runs Sabnzbd, CouchPotato, Sickbeard, Apache, MySQL, Webmin, and SnapRAID. Other systems are using the RAID for a large storage array - pictures, videos, and backups. Soon, I'll put CrashPlan on this computer to back up certain folders.
If you look at usage patterns, most of these do not take a lot of CPU. CouchPotato/Sickbeard will occasionally query looking for something. If found, they talk to SAB and it will download the content. There is not much going on here.
Webmin, MySQL - these are basically not using resources unless I'm actively using them.
SnapRAID is used sporadically with random file access. It also does a parity operation once a day. The parity operation should be fast as there are very few changes, if any.
Regarding power consumption - I know the Q8300 or QXXXX takes more power than my current CPU. By saving power, I was referring to shutting down an Athlon X2 computer that only runs Plex. It has a harddrive, CPU, low power video card, etc. It would make sense to move Plex to the quad core and turn this guy off. I don't think Plex is too intensive. (Before SnapRAID - Plex was running on my Core2Duo. I'm not blaming SnapRAID for being a CPU hog - I was also recovering from a failed Drobo doing a crazy amount of file copying for a week period).
Long story short - the $30 is a cheap upgrade that will buy me a little more performance. I don't think the extra cache or speed of the $55 will be noticeable. I also realize a more modern system offers a lot of benefits - but it's not on the table right now.
 
The Core2Quad's are beasts, especially if it's your first intro Quad part like it was mine. You'll definitely feel the extra cores in just about everything you do. After 5 years I had no real reason to upgrade other than I wanted to, so it should last you for along time. If the MOBO supports it then don't hesitate. You can probably find them pretty darn cheap out there now.
 
Alright - I just ordered the Q8300 for $30. Thanks a lot for the discussion/advice/comments.
I should have it in a week or two and will swap out my Core2Duo chip with this one.

Now, what the heck do I do with the Core2Duo? I have a hardware heap already - need to find a home for some of this stuff besides my storage room :)
 
I'd keep that chip as a spare, steakman1971. Never know when stuff goes kablooey!
 
LightningCrash said:
Need to add another $35-40 for the DDR3. Oh and if he already has a good generic cooler with an LGA775 bracket, need to add whatever the adapter cost for the new socket would be, so maybe $5-10.
Click to expand...
True, I was forgetting how many generations back a core2duo was :(
 
steakman1971 said:
Alright - I just ordered the Q8300 for $30. Thanks a lot for the discussion/advice/comments.
I should have it in a week or two and will swap out my Core2Duo chip with this one.

Now, what the heck do I do with the Core2Duo? I have a hardware heap already - need to find a home for some of this stuff besides my storage room :)
Click to expand...

The only real minus of the Q-series is lack of EPT support - which is what is driving my upgrade plans. (While I'm able to make do currently by using Windows Server 2012R2 as a development platform, the upgrade from that will, unfortunately, require EPT for Hyper-V, which the desktop versions of Windows 8 and later do already.)

If you are willing to consider a NEW (as opposed to pre-owned) motherboard that supports LGA775, there is the MSI G41M-P33 (http://www.msi.com/product/mb/G41M-P33-Combo.html). Not much in the way of expansion possibilities (one of each sort of slot), and the LAN is only 100 mbps, not gigabit; however, it does support DDR3 (not exactly commonplace for G41) - also, like other G41-based boards, it will swallow any LGA775 Core 2 CPU Intel ever turned out. This motherboard is also mATX - which therefore makes it ideal for smaller cases.
 
I'm running a Q8300S in my OMV Nas with the plex plugin and I have 0 issues.
 
Got the Q8300 today. Flashed my bios, switched CPU's - up and running. Of course, my system is not doing much tonight so I haven't noticed a bit of difference yet :)

Bad news - when I powered back on, one of my hard disks failed its SMART tests. This is not related to the CPU upgrade or BIOS flash - damn! I swear I am a magnet for disk problems. This was an older Seagate 2gb that used to be in my Drobo. Guess I'm making a trip to Microcenter this weekend...
 
I second the Seagate drives sucking. Instead of buying a Seagate hard drive I'd like to tell you about an alternative, it's called "Anything Else". The way it works is instead of buying a Seagate hard drive you literally buy anything else. Buy some crack. Buy a new wife. Bribe a politician. The point is, no decision in your life will be worse than buying a Seagate hard drive. So if you're thinking about getting a Seagate hard drive, just simply get out of your car, go back inside, and do literally anything else.
 
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I just upgraded from a C2D E6750 to a Xeon E5440 on a P5NE-SLI using a 771-775 adapter. I flashed to a modded BIOS (not sure if it was necessary) and it's working great. Haven't tried it in a game yet, but I picked up quite a bit of performance in LuxRender. I use it as a slave and the shorter render times will be nice.
 
canna said:
I second the Seagate drives sucking. Instead of buying a Seagate hard drive I'd like to tell you about an alternative, it's called "Anything Else". The way it works is instead of buying a Seagate hard drive you literally buy anything else. Buy some crack. Buy a new wife. Bribe a politician. The point is, no decision in your life will be worse than buying a Seagate hard drive. So if you're thinking about getting a Seagate hard drive, just simply get out of your car, go back inside, and do literally anything else.
Click to expand...

Hehe, but I am tempted from time to time based on their prices...
 
Man people are still on 775?

On a side note wtf am I talking about, my HTPC rig is still running a Q6600 @ 3.0 on a GB G31-ES2L mobo.
 
Matthew Kane said:
Man people are still on 775?

On a side note wtf am I talking about, my HTPC rig is still running a Q6600 @ 3.0 on a GB G31-ES2L mobo.
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A C2Q still does pretty well, surprisingly. I think because of the linear progression, you'll see more people with 10yr old C2Qs and i5/i7s than you ever did 10yr old P4s.
 
Matthew Kane said:
Man people are still on 775?

On a side note wtf am I talking about, my HTPC rig is still running a Q6600 @ 3.0 on a GB G31-ES2L mobo.
Click to expand...

Zero reason to pay for upgrades on my server as it provides enough performance for my needs. Which it may not require upgrading for some time. If that ever becomes the case I have an almost un-used i7-950 system here I'll throw in first before I pay to upgrade.
 
My 775 system was originally my main rig I bought about 6-7 years ago. When I upgraded to a new system, I put the old one to work. It gets the job done and the price was right :)
I dropped another $30 on it to upgrade to Quad core - so this guy should still put up a decent fight for what it does.
 
Matthew Kane said:
Man people are still on 775?

On a side note wtf am I talking about, my HTPC rig is still running a Q6600 @ 3.0 on a GB G31-ES2L mobo.
Click to expand...

Core2's are nice processors. They're old, and have low IPC compared to new processors, but they still have multithreaded muscles to make up for it. They lose drag races but they still can pull heavy loads.
 
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