Q6600 upgrade advice.

R

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Limp Gawd
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Nov 1, 2008
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With Sandy Bridge close approaching, I'm considering upgrading my Q6600 to a Q9x50, before they disappear. I figure It'll give me at least another one or two years before it becomes a bottleneck. Right now it's hooked up to my 60" Sharp Quattron HDTV, so resolution is 1920x1080. I'll likely be buying a Nvidia GTX 500 series card in the spring. Haven't been gaming much, and I'm not to concerned about having all IQ settings on high.
 
I'm definitely biased as I just moved from an E6400 to a Q9450 and I am digging it, a lot.

And the Q9x50's are disappearing.. the place I just bought my new OEM Q9450 is out of stock already and I don't expect them to carry them again.

Don't count on stuff getting cheap before it disappears. I've been trying for years to buy extreme Intel processors cheap before they disappeared and they tend to disappear before they get cheap. :( And by then you can get newer, faster, stuff for less money. :p
 
I'll sell you mine. :)

That being said, if budget allows definitely go with Sandy Bridge.
 
I have a Q6600 @ 3.0GHZ and a 3 year old motherboard (Abit IP35 Pro). I have been bitten by the upgrade bug myself. I'm going to wait until March or April and see what Sandy Bridge does to the market. Then either hop on the SB train or pick up a 1366 board/proc/ram setup

After reading your post, OP, I checked the prices on a Q9x50 procs on NewEgg. $275 for 9550, $330 for 9650. Personally, I would not spend money on another 775 socket proc. However, If you are trying to extend the life of your current rig a few more years, then maybe buying a Q9X50 would be the way to go. I don't think it will improve your performance much if any, but at least you'll know the proc is fresh.
 
I'm in the same boat. I've been trying to nab a Q9550 from craigs. They seem to be going for $80-$100 on mine which is a steal but I've been too slow every time. :(
 
I wouldn't do it unless you can get the chip for around $100 which would be very difficult. Spending more than that on 775 just to get a faster version of what you already have just isn't worth it. If you're willing to pay close to retail for one of those, you'd be much better off spending that money on a 120GB intel SSD that keep going on sale for $164-$200
 
Thanks for the reply's, sounds like I should try and catch a deal from those Q9x50 owners that are going to upgrade to Sandy Bridge, I'll try and sell or trade my Q6600. Likely a Q9x50 owner will be trying to sell the complete rig, Maybe I'll be able to trade my Q6600 + cash for their cpu.

As for the suggestion of getting a SSD, I totally agree about SSD's in general, but I'm waiting for the 256GB size to get a bit more affordable, then my Macbook is first in line (used more often), second is this rig.
 
hey guys just a quick question. i have the same q6600 oc to 3.2gig. i was planning on getting the gtx 580 card. will my oc cpu limit me on the potential of the card? i dont have the money to upgrade all my system just the vid card. tia.
 
Very interesting question...I use to have mine clocked to 3.2...when I got my 580 I overclocked it to a 3.6...dunno if I am bottlenecking tho..dunno if I was bottlenecking at 3.2 either..I just felt like getting it OC higher..
 
here are my specs
q6600 oc to 3.2gig
8gig of ram running 1:1 ratio, so 800 fsb
p5n-d asus mb.
500gig of hdd.
sli 8800gtx. showing its age though as i cant run bfbc2 at higher settings. settings at medium.
tried ocing to 3.6 but was not stable at that speed. had to lower it to 3.2 but im happy with that speed. yes i know its the holidays so i can wait. just wanted to know that im not wasting my money with 580gtx if i was to get that vid card. tia

hey silver did it run better with your new 580 running 3.2 or did it felt the same? noticed increase in frame rate?
 
No way should you drop that much on a 775 chip! After the launch of Sandy Microcenter will have processor and board combos for 300 with rebates and 350ish without. Unless you can buy from someone looking to upgrade that is a waste of money for the performance increase you will get.
 
What do you mean by that much? I'm assuming your suggesting I do not buy retail ($275 from newegg). I'm inclined to agree, the consensus recommendation is to sell my Q6600 and buy a Q9x50 both on the used market, so the difference should not be significant.

As for the bottleneck question for GTX 580's and Q6600 my thought is that if the GTX 580 were bottlenecked by such a popular processor as the Q6600 it would be big news, and not something you'd need to dig into forums to find out, and clearly stated in the more well done video card reviews.
 
After further play with my Q9450, I would not recommend upgrading from a Q6600 especially given it's use.

Although my new Q9450 is lots of fun, and brings my system less out of the dark ages, it's really not that much of an upgrade over my old golden E6400 at the same speeds. As sweet as it is, I am tempted to sell it as people on ebay are paying way more than I did and again, my old E6400 is a golden one running at 3.4Ghz stock voltage and cool.

Bottom line, the Q6600 is still a very capable processor.
 
YELL said:
Why is that? I've had this thing for years.
Click to expand...

When I make an upgrade, sometimes I don't realize how big the upgrade was. I just think you should try out the e6400 again before letting go of the quad core.
 
canmanone said:
here are my specs
q6600 oc to 3.2gig
8gig of ram running 1:1 ratio, so 800 fsb
p5n-d asus mb.
500gig of hdd.
sli 8800gtx. showing its age though as i cant run bfbc2 at higher settings. settings at medium.
tried ocing to 3.6 but was not stable at that speed. had to lower it to 3.2 but im happy with that speed. yes i know its the holidays so i can wait. just wanted to know that im not wasting my money with 580gtx if i was to get that vid card. tia

hey silver did it run better with your new 580 running 3.2 or did it felt the same? noticed increase in frame rate?
Click to expand...
hmm I had to reinstall my windows 7 so I didnt get to enjoy the gtx 580 with my current install. But with a fresh install of 7...I noticed a huge performance. When I OC'd to a 3.6....it pretty much breathed new life into my computer...580 and a OC'd Q6600 is a match made in heaven! Id also recomend getting a new 775 motherboard. I have the pro turbo asus...OMG.....OMG...u know? (if u havent already of course!)
 
Its not going to be a worthwhile upgrade IMO, it will probably be barely noticeable.
If you can somehow get a cheeeeep Q9xxx then go for it, otherwise save yourself the headache.

Just clock the Q6600 a tiny bit higher (3.4-6ghz should really not be that hard), and wait for the next gen intel chips to come out.
 
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