Q6600 Replacement (Temp)

I'm looking for a CHEAP replacement for my Q6600 machine, something that could hold me over till i7-6700K.

Currently I've been shopping around to build a new system, which will completely replace my Q6600. It's main purpose is mostly for CAD operations, perhaps some gaming. However, I just came across an ad "coming soon" for the i7-6700K (forgot skylake was q3 this year) and changed my mind about purchasing a new improved system today.


I'd like to read what others may have to say, else perhaps someone has a suggestion on CHEAP system components (or complete prebuilt system) that will out perform my Q6600 until the I7-6700K is released.



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CAD - what video card do you have/are you going to get?

For CAD, the video card and the RAM are more important then raw processor speed.

You could always just overclock the Q6600 for now. 3.2Ghz is super easy and 3.6Ghz is usually just about as easy from my experience.

GPU is fairly weak atm, GTX 460 and the upgrade is listed within my shopping list I provided. As for overclocking the Q6600 is at 3.0 and stable, yet annoyingly slow with current autodesk products, especially while running under W8.1/10, in a W7 environment everything is solid and fast, but care less to reimage.

I'm aware CAD is heavily dependent on ram and gpu, but also depends on the cpu, ssd, and bus. If upgrading to a GTX 960 the cpu will cause the bottlenecks, not only the gpu will throttle down to match the 755 pci lane speeds. Either way upgrading to a newer system will eliminate most of the issues that I'm experiencing with the Q6600 and newer applications, though.. I could hold off a few more months until skylake releases. Just looking for options, since I'm becoming impatient.

valis1 said:

GPU is fairly weak atm, GTX 460 and the upgrade is listed within my shopping list I provided. As for overclocking the Q6600 is at 3.0 and stable, yet annoyingly slow with current autodesk products, especially while running under W8.1/10, in a W7 environment everything is solid and fast, but care less to reimage.

I'm aware CAD is heavily dependent on ram and gpu, but also depends on the cpu, ssd, and bus. If upgrading to a GTX 960 the cpu will cause the bottlenecks, not only the gpu will throttle down to match the 755 pci lane speeds. Either way upgrading to a newer system will eliminate most of the issues that I'm experiencing with the Q6600 and newer applications, though.. I could hold off a few more months until skylake releases. Just looking for options, since I'm becoming impatient.

Click to expand...

Why would a GPU throttle down to match a PCIe lane speed? GPU's throttle down to save power or because they overheat, not because they are on a slower bus.

Also, are you even sure a GPU like a 960 would fit in a 755? I'm assuming you mean Optiplex 755 by the way, since those were Core2 era and you're on a Q6600. Those run BTX style motherboards with a CPU shroud that loves to get in the way of dual slot GPU's.

How much memory do you have in the system?

I'm not very familiar with AutoCAD but a quick check shows that it can use hardware acceleration - is that working? How exactly is the Q6600 too slow, are you monitoring CPU usage, and is the autocad application pegging the processor at 100%?

If you're going to build a new system anyway, then getting a new video card right now couldn't hurt anything. Use it in the old system temporarily and plop it into your new build when ready. Hell, a new system is going to want an SSD too, so why not just buy yourself a new GPU + SSD, and then use both in the old system until you decide what primary motherboard/cpu platform you're going to upgrade to.

Maybe he was alluding to the socket (775)? Porno makes good questions/suggestions tho. As far as Skylake, it'd make sense to jump to that over older platforms since DDR4 isn't very expensive anymore... 6700K availability is still up in the air tho.

Hopefully it's not too much longer, at this point it was a total paper launch tho. (says the guy with a Z170 mobo sitting idle!)

valis1 said:

I'm looking for a CHEAP replacement for my Q6600 machine, something that could hold me over till i7-6700K.

Currently I've been shopping around to build a new system, which will completely replace my Q6600. It's main purpose is mostly for CAD operations, perhaps some gaming. However, I just came across an ad "coming soon" for the i7-6700K (forgot skylake was q3 this year) and changed my mind about purchasing a new improved system today.

Anyway, my shopping list (IF I were to buy today).

1. 2015-06-22_(i7-4790K), or
2. 2015-08-10_(i7-5820K), or
3. 2015-08-10_(i7-6700K), - Working on

I'd like to read what others may have to say, else perhaps someone has a suggestion on CHEAP system components (or complete prebuilt system) that will out perform my Q6600 until the I7-6700K is released.



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Click to expand...

What the heck are you talking about? You want a CPU faster than a Q6600 to last you a week or two until 6700Ks are in stock? And you didn;t post your motherboard specs or anything? Why the hell would you redo your PC for a few days/weeks of use? You've been using that slow system for years now, just keep using it and have more patience than a toddler.

PornoSatan said:

Also, are you even sure a GPU like a 960 would fit in a 755? I'm assuming you mean Optiplex 755 by the way, since those were Core2 era and you're on a Q6600. Those run BTX style motherboards with a CPU shroud that loves to get in the way of dual slot GPU's.

How much memory do you have in the system?

I'm not very familiar with AutoCAD but a quick check shows that it can use hardware acceleration - is that working? How exactly is the Q6600 too slow, are you monitoring CPU usage, and is the autocad application pegging the processor at 100%?

If you're going to build a new system anyway, then getting a new video card right now couldn't hurt anything. Use it in the old system temporarily and plop it into your new build when ready. Hell, a new system is going to want an SSD too, so why not just buy yourself a new GPU + SSD, and then use both in the old system until you decide what primary motherboard/cpu platform you're going to upgrade to.

Click to expand...

Q6600's run on BTX?! LOL, seriously. A Q6600 is a 775 socket, as well an ATX mainboard. If you don't know anything about rendering or autocad, then please step away. Clearly you don't know what you're talking about.

ocellaris said:

What the heck are you talking about? You want a CPU faster than a Q6600 to last you a week or two until 6700Ks are in stock? And you didn;t post your motherboard specs or anything? Why the hell would you redo your PC for a few days/weeks of use? You've been using that slow system for years now, just keep using it and have more patience than a toddler.

Click to expand...

LOL! I have the money derpboy, and more patience than you. Plus, I may just hold out till -E since there isn't any real performance gains.

As some have obviously missed, I am looking for BUILD (component) suggestions. I am not interested in immature and ignorant comments.

Look for a used 3930k system. Ram/cpu/board shouldn't be that much. Max the ram, and either get a

midrange quadro if this will be a moneymaker system, or look for midrange gamer card if it's a hobby and

want to game.

valis1 said:

As some have obviously missed, I am looking for BUILD (component) suggestions. I am not interested in immature and ignorant comments.

Click to expand...

Why are you going off on him? He got confused because of your own typo buddy boy, seemed to me he was just trying to help and he does know what he's talking about.

You typo'd the socket number originally which made him think of a Dell Optiplex model that matched your typo (755). There were actually ATX AND BTX s775 mobos, just as an fyi, including those that would've been inside an Optiplex 755 during the Q6600 era, hence the confusion.

Gonna be hard to garner a lot of suggestions with that attitude or the general ambiguity of your questions. The timeline of you build/logic in the original post didn't make any sense either, hence the other (admittedly immature) response you got.

I think you realize that, you just probably didn't read about Skylake's launch until halfway thru writing your post. What Porno said about starting with the GPU made some sense... Your last comment about waiting for -E made less sense.

-E what? There's no firm timeline for Broadwell-E yet, let alone Skylake-E... Haswell-E and Skylake would both be big jumps up from a C2Q so I dunno why you're griping about the jump in performance this generation not being that that great.

That's been the trend for the last 4 years and likely the next 4 unless AMD pulls a rabbit out of a hat.

Anyway, splitting my last post to not hit ya with a wall of text. If you're on a DDR2/C2Q system it wouldn't make any sense to invest in DDR3 now as it's fading, just pick between Skylake which should be out shortly (somewhat more modern mobos, cheaper, etc) or Haswell-E (more cores, possibly more lanes).

Your choice of RAM, PSU, GPU, and mobo all look solid and like stuff I'd buy myself; other than having an X99 board on the 6700K wishlist. Might wanna take a look at the Z170-A or the Hero if you need more ports. I've got a Z170-A, SM951 & 32GB DDR4 here waiting for 6700K stock.

Only cheaper route to a CAD workstation would be shopping for used gear I would think. Though if you're not adding a second GPU anytime soon you can easily drop down to a cheaper/lower wattage PSU model.* Also, for a cheap but high performance cooler look at the Thermalright TRUE Spirit 140 Rev A.

If you just want something that's better than stock go with a CM Hyper 212... The TRUE Spirit is well worth the extra $15-20 tho, specially if you're going HEDT. For an SSD: Lots of 850 EVO sales lately, but if the Crucial M500 sale is still going that's unbeatable price (check Hot Deals).

*(says the guy with a Seasonic X-1250W in his current rig... What can I say? It was actually cheaper than the Platinum 1000W at the time and the R9 290s are pretty power hungry, and my sig's really outdated...)

valis1 said:

Q6600's run on BTX?! LOL, seriously. A Q6600 is a 775 socket, as well an ATX mainboard. If you don't know anything about rendering or autocad, then please step away. Clearly you don't know what you're talking about.

Click to expand...

Dell OptiPlex 755 uses a BTX style motherboard and is LGA 775.

And, you can overclock a Q6600 in that board to 3.0Ghz via the pad mod to force the bus speed to run at 333(1333) instead of the default 266(1066).

I have also modded the fan shroud on that style of system to accept dual slot video cards.

Not a bad mid-range gaming system if set up properly.. at least the Optiplex 780 isn't... which runs DDR3 instead of DDR2.

I am guessing that the OP just had a typo and said 755 instead of 775.

Why not just pickup a used Q6600 to tide you over until the 6700k's are in stock? You can find one on ebay for $20.

Edit: I mistook the "TEMP" for "Temputure"

My bad...

Appreciate the feedback on upgrading. I decided to hold off till 6700.

Just to note, my Q6600 has been OC'd to 3.2Ghz, at 64-67c under load, 8Gb memory, 2xSamsung 840 pro at raid 0 for several years. The problem is with the new operating systems and applications often hang for a few seconds and the CPU spikes, while running with either Windows 8 or 10. If I need to get into autocad or tired of the new OS's I boot into a Windows 7 vhd image (I use to reimage), but then I'm working with outdated (2010-2011) autocad applications and horrible font scaling since I use hidpi settings. I've also updated autocad products to the current versions under Windows 7, but rendering and general operation of the applications become unstable. It's not a setup issue, is more or less application optimization for current CPU's.

If you want a little bit of a bump and can find one cheap, I upgraded my Q6600 for a Q9650 and OC'd it. It worked well with my CAD system.

valis1 said:

Appreciate the feedback on upgrading. I decided to hold off till 6700.

Just to note, my Q6600 has been OC'd to 3.2Ghz, at 64-67c under load, 8Gb memory, 2xSamsung 840 pro at raid 0 for several years. The problem is with the new operating systems and applications often hang for a few seconds and the CPU spikes, while running with either Windows 8 or 10. If I need to get into autocad or tired of the new OS's I boot into a Windows 7 vhd image (I use to reimage), but then I'm working with outdated (2010-2011) autocad applications and horrible font scaling since I use hidpi settings. I've also updated autocad products to the current versions under Windows 7, but rendering and general operation of the applications become unstable. It's not a setup issue, is more or less application optimization for current CPU's.

Click to expand...

8GB of RAM is not near enough for any current CAD programs.. even on Windows 7.

A couple years ago we ordered some new workstation laptops that only came stock with 8GB of RAM. The CAD users were complaining about stuff pausing and taking forever to do certain things.

I bumped those up to 20GB by adding 2x 8GB sticks and removing 2x 2GB sticks.

The systems were then very noticeably faster.

Now I get either 16GB or 32GB in CAD systems.. whichever at the time is available for the systems I am allowed to purchase.

I had the opportunity to run a Q9550 at 3.5 with 4 gigs of RAM at home and a 32nm i3 with 4 gigs of RAM at work. SSDs in both builds. Gradually, the former became overwhelmed with stuff like... firefox or PDFs.
The lowliest i3 on a cheapo board with a bunch of paperclips as system memory felt way snappier. And dirt cheap.

A cool thing I did to semi-update my LGA775 machine was sticker mod and install a LGA771 Xeon E5450. These things are highly overclockable as well and keep up with some non-K Haswell i3 and i5s.

If I had more time I'd dig up the threads for you, but you're a short google search away yourself. Here's a good resource for those interested: http://www.delidded.com/lga-771-to-775-adapter/

SPARTAN VI said:

A cool thing I did to semi-update my LGA775 machine was sticker mod and install a LGA771 Xeon E5450. These things are highly overclockable as well and keep up with some non-K Haswell i3 and i5s.

If I had more time I'd dig up the threads for you, but you're a short google search away from googling that yourself. Here's a good resource for those interested: http://www.delidded.com/lga-771-to-775-adapter/

Click to expand...

That, is really cool!!

Learn somethin' every day.... Thanks

PornoSatan said:

Why would a GPU throttle down to match a PCIe lane speed? GPU's throttle down to save power or because they overheat, not because they are on a slower bus.

Also, are you even sure a GPU like a 960 would fit in a 755? I'm assuming you mean Optiplex 755 by the way, since those were Core2 era and you're on a Q6600. Those run BTX style motherboards with a CPU shroud that loves to get in the way of dual slot GPU's.

How much memory do you have in the system?

I'm not very familiar with AutoCAD but a quick check shows that it can use hardware acceleration - is that working? How exactly is the Q6600 too slow, are you monitoring CPU usage, and is the autocad application pegging the processor at 100%?

If you're going to build a new system anyway, then getting a new video card right now couldn't hurt anything. Use it in the old system temporarily and plop it into your new build when ready. Hell, a new system is going to want an SSD too, so why not just buy yourself a new GPU + SSD, and then use both in the old system until you decide what primary motherboard/cpu platform you're going to upgrade to.

Click to expand...

My apologize dude, sometimes I get on edge.

cyclone3d said:

8GB of RAM is not near enough for any current CAD programs.. even on Windows 7.

A couple years ago we ordered some new workstation laptops that only came stock with 8GB of RAM. The CAD users were complaining about stuff pausing and taking forever to do certain things.

I bumped those up to 20GB by adding 2x 8GB sticks and removing 2x 2GB sticks.

The systems were then very noticeably faster.

Now I get either 16GB or 32GB in CAD systems.. whichever at the time is available for the systems I am allowed to purchase.

Click to expand...

Yes, I know this. That's why I've been trying to upgrade so I don't have to use school/work WS and be home instead. However, my Q6600 was far better than the WS at the college in 2010-2011, though rendering took twice the time as those Xeons/quadros in the lab. It was silly.

Now, I may just upgrade to 5820K. Just thinking about it... and reading from other forums and another individual in a similar position. Their thinking of the ASrock X99X Killer, which allows massive expandability to 128GB, ECC, and Xeon cores, and that would also hold until Skylake-E comes around. I suspect the 2011-v3 will work with Skylake-E? If not, I could upgrade to a cheap Xeon by then and obtain greater C/T over the 5820K, and drop all the slots with ECC memory at the point when it's really needed.

Though, they were also talking about the Asus Sabertooth X99, which seems to be another great board, however, lacks ECC and Xeon (maybe[?] supported, but not ECC) support, but max is 64GB. ..

SPARTAN VI said:

A cool thing I did to semi-update my LGA775 machine was sticker mod and install a LGA771 Xeon E5450. These things are highly overclockable as well and keep up with some non-K Haswell i3 and i5s.

If I had more time I'd dig up the threads for you, but you're a short google search away yourself. Here's a good resource for those interested: http://www.delidded.com/lga-771-to-775-adapter/

Click to expand...

Here's the topic on the LGA 771 to 775 mod: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1803792

Here we see how a Xeon E5450 @ 4.2GHz stacks up to Haswell i3s and i5s. The E5450 is the "this computer" on those graphs:
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g153/Conroe278/pm42.jpg~original

Honestly, looking at passmark scores as a very general rule here, your OC'd Core 2 Quad would be hugely upset by the performance of an Athlon 860K, which won't run you more than $80 here in the states, and it would sit on a $40 board. As far as upgrades go, that might be one of the best tide-me-over deals around.