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Q6600 or I7?

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xellos2099alpha

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Nov 16, 2008
Messages
1,733
I am currently using a Gigabyte DS3 c2, not sure what version it is, not even cpuz say and I am using a E6400 oced to 3.2 ghz pretty easily. What would be the best processor my mobo can handle? I know DS3 ver 2 can use 1333mhz processor but I am not sure what is mine. I build my system at around october or november of 06 if it would help. Another thing, Any idea on how much more performance will an it-920 have over a q6600?

I figure i can score a q6600 pretty cheap here or buy them at microcenter for around 170-180. Or I can take the go all the way and spend 600 dollar on a i7 setup and recycle all my current parts and to have a pretty beefy system for a while.
 
well when you say "go all the way" do you mean get a whole new MOBO and Chip and memory? because you would have to. im not sure wether you meant get the i7 chip thats 600 bucks or a whole new setup
 
Yeah, i mean the mobo, ram and i7 for 600. I wish to kow how different si the performance wise, between q6600 and i7. Naturally I7 is going to win since Q6600 is like the first Quad core processor by intel and I7 is the newest technology by intel. but how much is the difference? I most game and wtachin video and I use a 22 inch and 19 ich monitor in dual view setup.
 
well because most games arent that cpu intensive... i mean that in a sense that they arent anything a q6600 cant handle... i would say you are ok with it.

but on the other hand... taking that extra 400 bucks and pushing your machine towards the top of that never ending technology curve isnt a bad idea either.

you should post the links to what you are thinking about buying for what would be your "new" rig. aka... the chip, ram, and mobo...
 
If you have to ask, that means you can afford the i7, right? Then there's no doubt: get the i7. I don't think there's anything that combines value-for-money and future proofing as the i7 920 currently does.

However, if your board can handle the Q9xxx series, that may be an option.
My Asus P5B Deluxe (P965 chipset) can run all of them, except for the QX models. So I'm thinking of getting a Q9550 or Q9650 now, and move to i7 or whatever is next some years from now. But a Q6600 is not quite a Q9650, neither in performance nor in overclocking.
 
i7 cpu is going for 229 @ micro. U can score a mobo/cpu/ram pretty cheaply all things considered.
 
I'm assuming you mean a Gigabyte 965P-DS3 motherboard. I have one with a Q6600 running 3.4Ghz. However, that's probably close to the upper end of the range you'll get to with a quad on that motherboard as the 965P chipset is nowhere near as friendly overclocking quads as the P35 or P45. My two Q6600s I have on P35 boards have no trouble hitting 3.6Ghz. Also, if you run 4 sticks of RAM on the 965P-DS3, the overclocking potential with quads is going to go down some more as quads put a lot more stress on the chipset.

If you have the money to put together a good i7 system, I would go for it over trying to upgrade to a Q6600 in your current setup.

 
I moved from a Q6600 and am currently running an i7 2.66 at about 3.05 ghz right now - it has a somewhat faster "feel" to it.....boot times are about the same but switching between open programs and most programs themselves just feel faster....i think the switch is worth it IMO
 
The i7 just screams with a GTX 280 in SLI.

The SLI framerates we're seeing are staggering right across the board. I'm not saying you're going to rush out and buy two GTX 280 cards right now, but the prices on those cards are going to drop rapidly, and when they do you'll be good to go.

I hope to buy a sinlge GTX 280 with my i7 this week. I'll buy another GTX 280 in the summer. I don't foresee myself needing to upgrade my system for a long, long time after that. As far as I'm concerned, if, like myself, you're buying a whole new system, then you'd be a bloody fool not to buy an i7 build.

Core i7 is going to be a golden age of personal computing. This platform is going to make a lot people really happy.
 
QTF ^ if you have the money for a i7, go for it. dont bloody waste that kind of money on a dead end socket. i guarantee you that when nvidia releases a 380gtx or whatever its called and is as powerful as a 280gtx sli, your core 2 quad is going to be crying and sweating its ass off trying to keep up with the card whilst the cheapest i7 cpu will stil be running on idle alongside a single GPU card of that power :).

i was playing crysis the other day and my cpu was only using no more then 10% of its power and thats on a vista 64bit dx10 mode son :)

i7 is definetly the CPU to buy now and buying it now will make your pc last a good while before the i7 becomes a bottleneck for a GPU card
 
hmmm, as a counterpoint

you can probably score a q6600 and its accoutrement for less than an i series mobo would cost

it's one thing to upgrade because you need to, it's another just to spend money on the newness and the hotness just because

id say to reuse your memory and get a q6600 and oc the thing past 3ghz

there isnt a person here that will argue that that wont be money well spent

by the time you need the width of the i series:

1. there will be newer hotter faster whatever options out there

2. it wont cost you close to $1000 for the holy trinity [cpu, mobo, ram]

but again, it's just a counterpoint

check my sig, that setup has been pieced together over the ages and for gaming in hd it's all i need

sure i can drop mad money on 280s and i7s and such, but is my gaming experience going to match... price to performance? no... it wont

just m2c - fwiw
 
jamhamm said:
hmmm, as a counterpoint

you can probably score a q6600 and its accoutrement for less than an i series mobo would cost

it's one thing to upgrade because you need to, it's another just to spend money on the newness and the hotness just because

id say to reuse your memory and get a q6600 and oc the thing past 3ghz

there isnt a person here that will argue that that wont be money well spent

by the time you need the width of the i series:

1. there will be newer hotter faster whatever options out there

2. it wont cost you close to $1000 for the holy trinity [cpu, mobo, ram]

but again, it's just a counterpoint

check my sig, that setup has been pieced together over the ages and for gaming in hd it's all i need

sure i can drop mad money on 280s and i7s and such, but is my gaming experience going to match... price to performance? no... it wont

just m2c - fwiw
Click to expand...
if your coming from a pentium 4 , i say go for a i7.
 
Yes, I am using the 965P-DS3. I was thinking of getting those upper end quad core but I am worry my mobo is version 1.3, thus won't suppose anything over a q6600.
 
Ya thats a good choice in parts, and for $600 that would be a killer setup.
 
One of the main reason why I want to upgrade to i7 is because that I seriously doubt that my current mobo, Ds3 can use the higher end quad core processor. I believe mine is the original 1.4 version which mean I can;t go any higher than a q6600.
 
If you want a quad that bad, go with a Q6600. By the time the i7 is worth it for the basic stuff you do, it will be a whole lot cheaper.

With the $450 you will save, you could get a backlight keyboard, some nice speakers, a nice video card, etc... If you already have all of that stuff, and can't think of anything else you would want, then get an i7.
 
xellos2099alpha said:
One of the main reason why I want to upgrade to i7 is because that I seriously doubt that my current mobo, Ds3 can use the higher end quad core processor. I believe mine is the original 1.4 version which mean I can;t go any higher than a q6600.
Click to expand...

I don't think you're going to do any better than a Kentsfield core quad on a 965P-DS3. I wouldn't even think of trying a 45nm quad on the board no matter what revision. I haven't bothered to look at compatibility for the 45nm CPUs on that board but it wouldn't surprise me if they weren't compatible. As I said, the 965P chipset is not very friendly with regards to overclocking quads as it has trouble keeping up with all four cores and it's only going to get worse if you have 4 sticks of RAM.

You do have the option of a new motherboard and 45nm Core2Quad but if you're going to be spending the money on a new motherboard as well as a new processor, you're probably better off with the i7 as long as you have the money for the i7 setup. Figure out your budget and if an i7 system is in that price range, I'd go with the i7.
 
I would say go with the Q6600 if it's a G0, and you can get a good deal on it. If you can get a Q6600
for $150...don't hesitate to buy it. There really aren't any advantages of an i7 set up, especially when
were talking about gaming.

And a Q6600 will last you a few years...I mean I get mine to 3.8 with ease prime 95 stable...this
is on water though...but 3.6 to 3.8 on air isn't uncommon on a TRUE.

You can pick up a good p45 board, 4GB of ddr2800, 4850, and Q6600, for about the
cost of an x58 motherboard.
 
I used to have 4 x 1 gig of ddr 2 667 but after thanksgiving i jumped into newegg deal of 2 x 2 gig ddr2 800 for 15 AR. And I already have a 8800GT so no real need to upgrade the hgraphic card yet. Well, the way I figure is that if I am going to get a new mobo and processor, I might as well jump into I7.

O another thing, IF I do jump into I7, Is there a way to do it without formatting my hdd. I remember once I did it with a repair window installation and it was fine with a new mobo and new cpu. Is that a sure thing?

Haha, it is kind fo funny when I got the DS3, it got raving review on how it is a good oc motherboard, but of course, that was back in 06.
 
An i7 with a GTX 280 sli setup is blowing away all competitors - so I'm not exactly certain why people are saying that 'the i7 is not good for gaming'.

I do agree though.

The i7 isn't good for gaming.

It's great for gaming.
 
Ok, what would give me more performance at the end?

Get a Q6600 $150-160, and a GTX 260 around $200 used + a new psu around $50.00 to support my power need or

Get the I7 $250, New ram 140-150 and mobo 200+ and keep using my 8800gt for now?
 
sli performance is where the i7 shines - go with that. You will see much better sli performance with it over the q6600
 
xellos2099alpha said:
Ok, what would give me more performance at the end?

Get a Q6600 $150-160, and a GTX 260 around $200 used + a new psu around $50.00 to support my power need or

Get the I7 $250, New ram 140-150 and mobo 200+ and keep using my 8800gt for now?
Click to expand...

The Q6600 and GTX 260 will best the i7 and 8800gt at any meaningful resolution. The Q6600 is plenty of CPU power for games - the i7 only starts making a difference at very high resolutions, before that the GPU is the limiting factor and the GTX 260 blows the 8800gt away.
 
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