Q6600 with new videocard

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videodrone83

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As I have read through millions of posts, yet I havent seen any benchmarks are results, I still have my failthful Q6600 G0 as well and have been debating going i5 or i7 or just upgrading my videocard, I know the q6600 is yet to be utilized to the fullest in games, does anyone here have a q6600 with an ati 4870/4890 or ati 5000 series gpu or nvidia 275-295 graphics card and run any current games out with ease? right now if I play modern warfare 2 with a 8800 gts 640mb and 4gb of ram it stutters while playing at 1680x1050. im just wondering if upgrading the gpu will help or if I should just get a new system all together
 
Really it is going to come down to what speed you are running the processor at. The Q6600, especially a G0, is an awesome chip, but the stock speed is 2.4Ghz... The stock speed is just plain slow and if you can't overclock much if at all past that then the chip isn't doing you any favors.

Get it up to 3.3+ if you can and you will have a very solid performing chip. At that speed it should be equal if not faster than a stock i7 and if you can get it up to 3.6 or so that's even better. It shouldn't hold you back.
 
+1000.

Get a good cooler and OC your Q6600 and then get a new video card. I had one with a GTX 260 and it handled almost every game with ease, especially on a 22" monitor.

Your GPU is getting a little dated. Even if you built a i5 or i7 system you'd want to upgrade that too. So, you might as well just start by getting a good GPU and seeing how your system does before you spend a ton on a new CPU, mobo, and RAM.
 
I just got a TRUE heatsink and OC'd my q6600 to 3.6 stable. I'm running an 8800GTS right now, but i'm about to upgrade to a 5850 I think, then in a couple months im going to add a second one.
 
Hey, im running a Q6600 and a 4870. I play codmw2 1680x1050 4xaa all settings on extra. It runs smooth, never goes below 35fps.
 
GotNoRice said:
Really it is going to come down to what speed you are running the processor at. The Q6600, especially a G0, is an awesome chip, but the stock speed is 2.4Ghz... The stock speed is just plain slow and if you can't overclock much if at all past that then the chip isn't doing you any favors.
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Ok... I have my chip overclocked massively... but for a while my overclock actually reset (not sure how long) and I didn't notice a difference. And before someone asks why overclock: because I can.
 
My two year old Q6600 is still going strong. I've had the GTX 9800, 280, 285, 295 and now an XFX 5870 in my PC. All have run flawlessly with my old CPU. :)
 
UberPooner said:
Hey, im running a Q6600 and a 4870. I play codmw2 1680x1050 4xaa all settings on extra. It runs smooth, never goes below 35fps.
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agree here, i have same setup with same res. and same game. Everything i throw at it is just great, Left for dead 2, dirt 2, to name a few, i max it out and have no problems, no stutter. My card is a 512 also. All settings stock. I dont see the need to shell out all the money when all is well.
Maybe just try to get ahold of one to see if you like yourself?
 
blade52x said:
Ok... I have my chip overclocked massively... but for a while my overclock actually reset (not sure how long) and I didn't notice a difference. And before someone asks why overclock: because I can.
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Well whatever game you are playing must not be CPU limited. My main game is World of Warcraft and stock vs. 3.6 is pretty significant. More significant I'd say than when I upgraded from the Q6600 @3.6 to my current CPU.
 
My Q6600 @ 3Ghz runs just fine with a 5850, driving 3 x 24" monitors (5760 x 1200) Eyefinity setup. After a load of research I concluded the newer chips just don't provide enough increase in performance to make the cost worth it. There's a lot of life in the Q6600 yet I reckon. Modern Warfare 2 looks & plays fantastic :)
 
videodrone83 said:
As I have read through millions of posts, yet I havent seen any benchmarks are results, I still have my failthful Q6600 G0 as well and have been debating going i5 or i7 or just upgrading my videocard, I know the q6600 is yet to be utilized to the fullest in games, does anyone here have a q6600 with an ati 4870/4890 or ati 5000 series gpu or nvidia 275-295 graphics card and run any current games out with ease? right now if I play modern warfare 2 with a 8800 gts 640mb and 4gb of ram it stutters while playing at 1680x1050. im just wondering if upgrading the gpu will help or if I should just get a new system all together
Click to expand...

I have a computer for my son.....ASUS P5N32E-SLI, 4 GB DDR2 8500,[email protected],
and a BFG GTX 285 OC version and he plays everything you can name on a Dell 2408 monitor. He has yet to complain about speed or other factors, and he plays every newly released game you can imagine.

The stutter isn't due to the Q6600............it's the GPU.
 
I was running my Q6600 at 3.6 24/7 for a long time. Decided recently to drop it back down to 3.0 at stock volts. I can't tell a difference in games or day to day crap. Maybe lost a few FPS in some games, nothing that's caused any lag or stuttering.

But my electric bill will definitely go down.
 
So from what i read on this post, just upgrade the video card. Itll save you a couple hundred bucks and a lot of work. Even though building is half of the fun for me. Also what windows do you have? have you tried out 7 yet? I run 7 on my gamer and it has no real problems that i have seen.
 
I have a q6600 running stock with a gtx285 and it handles everything I throw at it at, but I am gaming at 1680*1050. Not sure what would happen at a higher res...well in my case, I do...the monitor would give me the finger and probably go blank. I think the Q6600 is still a solid cpu.
 
and i was in the same spot a few weeks ago. i upgraded my 8800gt oc to an ati 5850, and i game at 1680x1050. the vid card is what's slowing you down.
 
I am running q6600 g0 slacr @ 3.4 ghz right now, I am probably going to get a 5850 and go from that. Thanks for all the input guys
 
I have a Q6600 running at 3.5ghz and just upgraded to a 5870, I run crysis at Enthusiast settings across the board, 4X AA at 1680x1050.

It's awesome.
 
+1 for blaming the video card. Games are only starting to use the full power of four cores. IMO the Q6600 is going to go down in history as one of the best value chips ever created.
 
GotNoRice said:
Really it is going to come down to what speed you are running the processor at. The Q6600, especially a G0, is an awesome chip, but the stock speed is 2.4Ghz... The stock speed is just plain slow and if you can't overclock much if at all past that then the chip isn't doing you any favors.

Get it up to 3.3+ if you can and you will have a very solid performing chip. At that speed it should be equal if not faster than a stock i7 and if you can get it up to 3.6 or so that's even better. It shouldn't hold you back.
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I couldn't agree more :)

overclock your processor if you plan on going with a high end GPU. My setup (in sig), with a GTX260, ran great... a few months ago I decided to sell the 260 and upgrade to a 295 and was a little disappointed with the improvments I was seeing.

I started overclocking the processor some more and saw the min. frame rates jump along with the max and average. So with that said, that CPU is more than enough for games (and to feed a highend GPU) with a decent overclock :)
 
The Q6600 is a great cpu, I had the Q6600 B3 OC to 2.8 with dual 9800GTX's in SLI and never really had much of an issue with anything. I recently upgraded to an i7 920 with the same video card setup and am just waiting to see how the new Battlefield game will beat it up. Might have an excuse to go buy a 5870.
 
I have a Q6600 @ 3.0. Went from a 8800 GTS 320mb to a 5870. I play MW2 pretty much exclusively. 5760 x 1200 everything maxed in single player (little bit of slow down in some parts). 1920 x 1200 in multiplayer maxed no problem.

8800 gts is a few generations old. You will notice a huge difference upgrading to a 5xxxx.
 
I am running a Xeon x3230 (q6700) and it's a beast of chip really as i bought it use for $105 and it's G0 stepping .. first try at overclocking was 3.4Ghz (10x340) and 1.3875v bios /1.344v cpu-z report it's paired with a HD5850 and i play everything at 1920 x 1080 or 5760 x 1080 eyefinity ..
 
I agree. Get a new video card. The 8800GTS 320/640 *were* good cards (I bought a 640 the week they came out), but were quickly rendered obsolete when the GTS512 and 8800GT's came out =D
 
I've got a q6600@3GHz and 2x 8800GT's (waiting to at least see what fermi does to pricing).

I'm having issues running BC2 -- I've dropped everything down to medium with low shadows and my resolution to 1449x900 (native 1920x1200) -- getting pretty poor performance averaging in the mid 30's to low 40's.

Any recommendations to tide me over for a month or so at least?

Should I OC my video cards or try to get my cpu up towards 3.6? What would you all do?
 
-Sn1PeR- said:
I've got a q6600@3GHz and 2x 8800GT's (waiting to at least see what fermi does to pricing).

I'm having issues running BC2 -- I've dropped everything down to medium with low shadows and my resolution to 1449x900 (native 1920x1200) -- getting pretty poor performance averaging in the mid 30's to low 40's.

Any recommendations to tide me over for a month or so at least?

Should I OC my video cards or try to get my cpu up towards 3.6? What would you all do?
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My Q6600 @ 3.6GHz and a SINGLE 7900 GT (main card on RMA) is playable with medium with low shadows @ 1449x900 as well with 30s in FPS.

Your SLI 8800 GTs should utterly smash this combination beyond any reasonable doubt but it doesn't appear to do so. Somehow I am getting the same performance you are with a card that is probably 33% the power of your GPU setup.

Makes me think perhaps this game likes CPU power and you should definetely overclock that Q6600 to 3.6!
 
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I did notice that when I turn on the SLI load sharing graph it rarely goes above 50% usage.... indicating a cpu limitation.
 
q6600 is the shit
i have mine @3ghz with 4870, runs every game at high including new Bad Company 2 on my 42" 1080p monitor/tv :)
 
I didn't think it was worth it to spend the money on a new CPU, motherboard and ram as my Q6600 at 3.6ghz, 4gb of DDR2-800 and Gigabyte P45-UD3R are still quite the combo.
So instead I bought a 5850 during christmas to upgrade from my 8800gt, and I am very happy with my purchase as I spent $299 canadian when they were still going for $350+ US. :D
All my games now are buttery smooth at 1680x1050... (I also just ordered the Dell 2209WA eIPS panel for $209 canadian so I can't wait for that... it's on it's way to Canada from the US now!)

And with the rest of the money that would have went towards an upgrade to i7 I spent on an Intel 80gb X25m G2 SSD which I am very impressed with!

I have no doubts now that my system is much better rounded now if I would have bought say an Intel i7 920/X58 and 6gb of DDR3-1600 and stuck with my 8800gt and 2x500gb Seagate 7200.12 raid-0 array.
 
Hell yeah man! That rig sounds sick now.

I overclocked my 8800GT's and am able to run BF2 smooth enough at 1680x1050 with medium quality and textures, low everything else. I'm happy for now until I see what nvidia has to offer next.
 
Q6600 @ 3.2GHz paired with a 5870. I don't anticipate I'll need an upgrade until sometime between thanksgiving and Christmas... Of 2011
 
my Q6600 and XFX 5870 runs BFBC2 superbly on high detail. Just OC to at least 3.2ghz and you should be golden.
 
Glad to see a lot of Q6600 love around here still. I get the upgrade bug every now and then, but it's threads like this that keep me from spending money on something I don't need yet.
 
I have a Q9550 with 12mb cache running at 3.4 gighertz .. 1333mhz ddr 2.

Have a GTX 285 running stock speed

8gig ram , just recently upgraded to 8gb from 4gb
Vista 64
Asus p5w delux


Running games at 1920x1200 no problem

If i were you i would get a core I7 with a 5870 and 8gig ram , overclock it to 3.6 with a good heatsink +fan.
That will give you the most bang right now until new video cards come out. You could always upgrade to SLI ..

What is your budget?

I paid about 1200 for this setup May 2009, I will be going core I7 and DDR3 with the nivdia cards in 6 months. I am sure you will have to upgrade by jan 2011 for the newer games. Video card is the best bang for you buck

Also look into getting the western digital black version hard drive. Running raid also makes a difference.. Although until recently last year i stopped doing the raid deal.. Its a whole lot easier to reimage back
 
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UnrealCpu said:
I am sure you will have to upgrade by jan 2011 for the newer games.
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Doubtful, BC2 is currently one of the most CPU intensive games out and an OCed Q6600 handles it without an issue. I don't see any games coming in the next 9 months that are going to require more CPU power than BC2. Of course, a more powerful CPU will be even better, but that doesn't mean you HAVE to upgrade.
 
Well if you want to run your games 1920x1200 or higher .. you want something better than Q6600 and 5870. Games improve every year.. I do not believe anyone can run GTA 4 at a constant 60 FPS at 1920x1200 . You would need a core i7 at 4gighertz and a ATI 5970. What ever he is buying now will be obsolete by 2011 if not already.

Personally i am waiting for the new ferma nivida card. Like me i am holding off until late 2010 to upgrade mobo and ram+cpu or until the next generation of i7 comes out. My experience is extreme air cooling, watercooling, vapochill Ls etc.
Built several overclocked computers since 2002,

If you want to be hardcorp watercool your vid cards +cpu or vapochill. Thats the only way you will be ahead several months.. Video card is the biggest bottle neck

anyway thread starter, just stick with your processor unless you can get it to 3.4 gigertz + , upgrade to 8 gig ram..
If you have 350-375 to spend get the 5870 when it goes on sale.. Upgrading to a core i7 will make your windows experience slightly better as well as gamming.. It definitly wont be a huge improvement over what you have unless its at 3.4 gighertz. I have 12 mb cache running at 3.4 with a Geforce 285 stock.. I have a NEC 2690 at 1920x1200 and have no issues runnings games. Am i getting a constant 60 FPS in games ./... yes i am for 95 percent of the games out there. The other 5 percent like GTA IV, Crysis and future games coming out BC2 or whatever definitly "No" ..at 1920x1200 maxed out antialising etc.
Wait until intel moves to a new core something better than the i7 and then move over to DDR3 new mobo etc.
Go out and get yourself the 5870
 
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