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Video Card Upgrade + Bottleneck?

G

goombatommy

n00b
Joined
Jun 21, 2010
Messages
16
Hey all. I'm new here, so please be easy on me. :) My current system specs are as follows:

RAM: 8GB Kingston HyperX PC2-6400
VIDEO: nVidia GTX 260 (core 216)
HD: WD Raptor 10,000RPM HD (150GB)
MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX
PSU: Corsair 650W
CPU: Intel Q6600 Quad Core

Now my questions are - I just purchased the SAMSUNG B2430H 24" monitor (which is amazing btw). Everything is running at 1080p and have noticed my games running a little sluggish being im running at its native resolution. I was contemplating on upgrading my graphics card to a GTX 470, but two things concern me:

1. Would there be a bottleneck? If so, what would it possible be?
2. Is it a big enough upgrade to a GTX 470 coming from a GTX 260 (core 215) to justify the purchase?

I've been so out of the Hardware loop for a couple years now, been trying to find an answer to these two questions but I'm having difficulties. Any suggestions or tips would be appreciated, thank you :).
 
1) Yes there will be a bottleneck. Your Q6600.
2) There is a significant difference between the two cards, but at the 470's current cost im not sure it is entirely worth it.

Step number 1 at the moment: Overclocking that Q6600 will net you some significant FPS. It actually depends on the game, but in general it will be the most cost effective thing you can do right now.
After you OC your processor (if you are even going to) , then make the decision of upgrading your graphics card.

edit: assuming your processor is @ stock speeds
 
Hello! Thank you for your quick response. Yes, my clock speeds are currently at stock. I'll contemplate OC'ing; only because I've had bad luck with it in the past. One idea I had was to purchase a new motherboard which supports Core i7 and just upgrade to an i7.

Thank you again!
 
goombatommy said:
Hello! Thank you for your quick response. Yes, my clock speeds are currently at stock. I'll contemplate OC'ing; only because I've had bad luck with it in the past. One idea I had was to purchase a new motherboard which supports Core i7 and just upgrade to an i7.

Thank you again!
Click to expand...

Well if you have the $485 (Core i7 860) to $670 (Core i7 930) budget, then yeah upgrade to the i7 CPU, new mobo and new DDR3 RAM. If your budget is less than $350, then your best bet would be an AMD setup since it will allow you to reuse your DDR2 RAM.
 
Thank you both very much for your help with this! I think I may take the dare and go ahead and OC my CPU. Would the stock CPU Cooling fan be sufficient or should I upgrade something to a little more...beefier? All I know is that for the Intel CPU's its a pain in the rear to get the fans on and off without feeling as though as if your going to break something. Thanks! :)
 
The stock cooling for the q6600 is good up to around 2.8ghz, but what you really want is the processor to hit at least 3-3.2ghz- and that would require an aftermarket heatsink for long terms of high heat.
I would recommend a Xigmatek HDT-S1283 or a Xigmatek Dark Knight because i own one. But you are welcome to spend more money for something like a TRUE120 or less money (i'm not sure what to recommend on the lower end).

And something else you might do is grab CPU-Z and check out weather your q6600 is a B3 or a G0 revision. G0's generally overclock easier, but there is still some factor of luck in there...go take a look at an overclocking guide and good luck :D
 
Danny Bui said:
Well if you have the $485 (Core i7 860) to $670 (Core i7 930) budget, then yeah upgrade to the i7 CPU, new mobo and new DDR3 RAM. If your budget is less than $350, then your best bet would be an AMD setup since it will allow you to reuse your DDR2 RAM.
Click to expand...

No it wouldn't. That's a P45 chipset board, so it supports later 45nm quad cores. This isn't a case of people being held hostage on an older chipset, he just reused the Q6600 in the current build.

He could just buy this, and be done.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115130

Also, a Phenom II would be a poor purchase for someone not overclocking, since at 3.0 GHz, it's only %10 faster than the Q6600. The 3.0 GHz Core 2 Quad will be %25 faster at the least (could be even faster in some benchmarks thanks to the much improved I/O).

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-ii-940,2114-10.html

Yeah, I know LGA 775 is a dead-end platform, but if you already have a motherboard with support, the 45nm Core 2 Quad is still the better buy.
 
Last edited:
defaultluser said:
No it wouldn't. That's a P45 chipset board, so it supports later 45nm quad cores. This isn't a case of people being held hostage on an older chipset, he just reused the Q6600 in the current build.

He could just buy this, and be done.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115130

Also, a Phenom II would be a poor purchase for someone not overclocking, since at 3.0 GHz, it's only %10 faster than the Q6600. The 3.0 GHz Core 2 Quad will be %25 faster at the least (could be even faster in some benchmarks thanks to the much improved I/O).

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-ii-940,2114-10.html

Yeah, I know LGA 775 is a dead-end platform, but if you already have a motherboard with support, the 45nm Core 2 Quad is still the better buy.
Click to expand...

It's $330 for a dead platform as you noted. Yes the Q9650 would still be able to handle most games today. Yes the Q9650 is faster than some AMD CPUs at stock speeds. However the performance increase isn't that high in games at least with the Q9550:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/phenom-ii-x4-965.html

At most 5-6& faster. So the Q9650 will probably be about 6-7% faster than the Phenom II 965 or Phenom II 955. However note the prices: You can easily upgrade to the following:
$230 - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition CPU + MSI 790XT-G45 AM2+ AMD 790X Motherboard Combo

I highly doubt that the Q9650 is worth the $100 increase over the above Phenom II combo.

It's a dead end CPU upgrade. Once you upgrade to the Q9650, thats it. At least with the AMD Phenom II route, there will be a CPU upgrade path for at least a year or two.
 
I have to agree with Danny on this one. I see defaultusers point though. Just get a faster cpu and drop it in and be done with it. Less hassle this way. But, it's not the most cost effective route though. The cheapest route would be to just get an aftermarket cooler and O/C the Q6600 cpu. But, if you have no intentions of O/C the cpu then get the AMD Phenom II X4 955 with a mobo combo. $330 for a Q9650 is alot. It's $100 more than the AMD combo that Danny listed. You can sell the Q6600 cpu and P45 mobo. This should help offset the cost. I do agree that it's not worth paying $100 more on the Q9650 cpu over the AMD X4 955 cpu + mobo. The performance of the X4 955 cpu is pretty good and is certainly better than a stock Q6600 at 2.4ghz. The $100 can be used to invest in a new graphics card.
 
Thanks for all the replies folks! I apologize for my long absence. An update to the situation:

1. I've managed to overlock my Q6600 to 2.77 ghz using Stock cooling. The revision is G0.
2. I've purchased the GTX 470 and the difference is INCREDIBLE.

Thank you so much everyone for your help with this :). And again I apologize for my long absence, had alot of stuff going on at home and work.
 
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