Best under $200 quad s775 upgrade?

[MIDIman]

I currently have an aging e6300 (Conroe 1.86ghz) running at ~3.1ghz on an Asus P5K Deluxe. I've recently thrown in a Vertex 60gb and Windows7 64-bit and I'm thinking about moving to quad core for my music mixing/composing and photo editing/multimedia work.

I'm leaning towards a q6600 (g0 stepping?) which sounds like a guaranteed 3.4ghz or likely higher overclock. ICan't remember how far my ram will go, but I'm almost 100% sure it'll do 400mhz easy, which should start me at 3.6ghz.

Cheapest I can find one, guaranteed G0, is around $195 (smartbuy), maybe $20 or so cheaper if I wait around on ebay or used forums.

Since many of the newer quads around the same speed start around $150, is there a better post-overclocking alternative at the same cost?

 

[alyarb]

you'll probably want to get your 775 quads used. definitely go for a Q8000 or 9000 series processor. they are made on a newer, lower power manufacturing process and overclock better than the Q6600 while using less power. they are also faster per-clock.

if you want something brand new here's a Q9400 for $170

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=Q94...9233faba3c732a

also they have retail-boxed Q8400 for $168 shipped (they are the same but with 4MB L2 instead of 6MB). The retail CPU will have the longer warranty so that's something to consider for such an overpriced chip.

Also on newegg there are plenty of combos for Athlon II X4 + 785G AM2 boards. These combos cost the same as a 775 quad, so it's something to consider because you can use your 775 dual core parts for another machine if you wanted. Whether you get a Q9400 or Athlon II, you'll be looking at 3.3-3.6 GHz overclocks. so that'll be up to you.

if you want to just drop in a quad and be done with it, get this

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name...r-Q8400-2-66GHz-1333MHz-4MB-LGA775-CPU-Retail

8x multiplier, so you should get your 3.2 GHz without strapping down your RAM (feel free to do this though if you want a higher CPU clock. you're just doing audio).

 

[edplayer]

if you have a Microcenter near you, the Q9550 for $179

If you don't, ask someone to pick you one up (offer like $15 or so on top of it) and it will come out slightly over $200 with taxes and shipping.

That deal has been going on a long time so you can probably find used Q9550 at pretty good prices.

 

[KingerXI]

Or get an E8400 for $100-$110 and OC it to 4Ghz. It runs cooler and would still be a big bump over your current CPU.

 

[alfa147x]

Or get an E8400 for $100-$110 and OC it to 4Ghz. It runs cooler and would still be a big bump over your current CPU.

Depending on his need, I'm looking to bump up to a q6660

 

[soccerballtux]

Depending on his need, I'm looking to bump up to a q6660

that's going to be somewhat expensive for what you're getting (an old quad on a dead socket).

Look at Fry's and Microcenter's buy-processor-get-free-motherboard stuffs. $100 processor and overclock it/unlock it and free socket AM3 mobo.

 

[alfa147x]

that's going to be somewhat expensive for what you're getting (an old quad on a dead socket).

Look at Fry's and Microcenter's buy-processor-get-free-motherboard stuffs. $100 processor and overclock it/unlock it and free socket AM3 mobo.

After selling my E8400 it would cost me $25 to a quad

a new mobo is a no go, i like my hackintosh

 

[MIDIman]

I definitely want to go quad - I'll absolutely get the use out of it in music production.

My curiosity is how well the non q6600 chips overclock, or how they compare less overclocked to the q6600. Know what I mean? Because most of what I've been reading, the q6600 seemed to be one of those treasures that overclocked really well. Thus why I own a Conroe E6300!

i.e. will a q9550 at $180 overclocked, beat out a q6600 overclocked further for the same price?

I do have access to a microcenter btw!

 

[slightlyhuman]

went from e5200 at 3.0 to q9400 2 3.4 holy santa clause shit i'm happy with it.

 

[nyker96]

get a q9550 off ebay for under 200. best bang for buck.

 

[edplayer]

i.e. will a q9550 at $180 overclocked, beat out a q6600 overclocked further for the same price?

I do have access to a microcenter btw!

hard to say unless you give specific MHz.

I assume that you know that the Q9550 has an additional 4MB of L2 cache and some small architectural improvements vs the Q6600. It will also use less power. I think that a reasonable expectation for a minimum overclock in the Q9550 is in the 3.4~3.6GHz range. That would be using upgraded air cooling.

Since you live close to a MC, that is the best choice if sticking with S775

 

[EnzoLT]

best thing for you to do is snag that q9550 for $179 and be done with it.

 

[Dadofamunky]

Another vote for the q9550. In my case, that's the one I'd get (and may actually do in a few weeks, from Micro Center). The Yorkfields all have reps as good OCers. Also, 45nm > 65nm 100% of the time. Don't even THINK about getting a 65nm quad at this point. A dualie is also a waste of time. With music production, you can use all the cores you can get.

 

[Ben90]

My curiosity is how well the non q6600 chips overclock, or how they compare less overclocked to the q6600. Know what I mean? Because most of what I've been reading, the q6600 seemed to be one of those treasures that overclocked really well. Thus why I own a Conroe E6300!

i.e. will a q9550 at $180 overclocked, beat out a q6600 overclocked further for the same price?

I do have access to a microcenter btw!

The q9550 is the fastest processor (EE exempt) available for s775. It has more cache than a q6600 and will overclock further. It also uses less power than a q6600. Everything is a win except for price.

 

[faxon]

ben90 you forgot the Q9650. with that said, most Q9550s do 3.8-4.2 on air, with a sweet board. with the board and he has, it may still do a good 3.5-3.9 on air, idk how well his stuff will work with it, but the Q9xxx chips were champion OCers with my setup board/ram wise. havent had a chance to test my Q9550 yet but i have a liquid loop for it as soon as i feel like putting it together lol

 

[Binky]

Q6600 is a heat monster. You'd be crazy to get this over the Q9550.

Q9550/Q9650 is more modern, runs cooler, and will clock to the same or higher speeds. Make sure your board and bios supports it.

 

[RussianSensation]

I definitely want to go quad

My curiosity is how well the non q6600 chips overclock, or how they compare less overclocked to the q6600. Know what I mean?

Actually Q9550s overclock to 3.8-4.0ghz from 2.83ghz speed. However, everyone here that says Q9550s / or 45nms will overclock further has to consider what motherboard is being used to overclock the 45nm penryn. You really need a good P45 board, like Gigabyte P45 UD3R/ UD3P. Therefore, it is the board that you have that is most important. For example, my P35-DS3L wouldn't overclock beyond 420-425 FSB on a Quad. That required FSB termination voltage of +0.2V which is too high for Penryn 45nm quads. So for a P35 motherboard (unless it's an Abit IP35-E), you are likely looking at 400 FSB x 8.5 multi (Q955) = 3.4ghz as the max overclock on a 45nm quad core. At that speed, Q9550 is not much faster than a used Q6600 @ 3.4ghz. But yes, it will run cooler.

This bodes even worse for lower multi processors on nvidia 650/680i, or P35 platforms for CPUs such as Q8300, 9300 or 9400.

Q6600 @ 3.4-3.6ghz is still pretty fast: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2quad-q9300_8.html#sect1

I have seen these for sale for $140 CDN 12 months ago. I am sure you can find one used for $100.

Alternatively, I would honestly pick up Microcenter's Phenom II X4 965 Processor + Motherboard for $190. Or sell your mobo + cpu + ram and get a $200 6-core AMD Thuban and give yourself a really good upgrade!

 

[ElFenix]

the q6600 is on average slightly slower than the q8200, despite being slightly faster and having double the cache of the q8200. clock for clock the q6xxx series is slower than the q8xxx series, and the q8xxx series is slower, but by about half the margin, than a q9xxx series.

behardware has a giant series of charts with practically every processor from the last 5 years in it. the q6700, q8400, q9400, and q9450 all run at the same clock, for easy comparison.

 

[pjkenned]

behardware has a giant series of charts with practically every processor from the last 5 years in it. the q6700, q8400, q9400, and q9450 all run at the same clock, for easy comparison.

Just as a thought... I have two Q6600's with two motherboards, one Tuniq tower, one TRUE 120. Both are sitting in boxes... not being used.

My most CPU intensive task is x264 encoding/ transcoding. The new i5-650 is faster than either Q6600 was stock: http://www.servethehome.com/intel-core-i3-530-and-core-i5-650-in-the-windows-home-server-whs/ I was a huge Q6600 fan, so it was odd to see something with a tiny stock Intel cooler, and only two cores be faster. Less power consumption, less noise, integrated GPU, so the Q6600's were taken out of service.

The reason I would suggest getting a new motherboard/ CPU/ Memory, especially if you have a Fry's around, is that the new stuff is faster and uses much less power. The i3 and i5 both can get a few hundred MHz on the stock Intel CPU cooler... and remain super quiet. Price wise, if you have a Fry's around, a new motherboard + CPU will run you $150 including cooler. The Phenom II X4 955 w/ a 890 motherboard that has SATA 3 and USB 3 was under $200 with CA tax. I haven't used it yet (I may return) but I would be willing to bet it would run circles around my Q6600's.

Buying an LGA 775 CPU for $180+ is a tough sell. I'm sure that you could find a $200 Q6600 + big Cooler and probably 2GB of DDR2 or a motherboard thrown in at this point. I'm guessing there are people like me who have retired Q6600's that they actually take the time to craigslist or fleabay. If you really want to spend $150+ on a LGA 775 CPU at this point, I would suggest that you don't settle for just a CPU.

 

[Dadofamunky]

Russian has a point - the board is always a big factor if you want a max but stable OC. However, even with a mild OC (3.2-3.4 GHz) the Q9550 will still blow the doors off for MIDI/musical applications. It also has a much better cache than the Q6600. I personally think that $179 for a q9550 is barely justifiable now, but in your case with music being a factor it becomes a stronger move.

I sure wish Intel would just freakin' lighten up and cut the prices already on the Yorkies. It's overdue.

 

[RussianSensation]

Just as a thought... I'm sure that you could find a $200 Q6600 + big Cooler and probably 2GB of DDR2 or a motherboard thrown in at this point.

Ya good point. I sold my Q6600 + Gigabyte P35 + 2GB DDR2-800 OCZ Platinum for $230 (that's in August of 2009!).

 

[ElFenix]

Just as a thought... I have two Q6600's with two motherboards, one Tuniq tower, one TRUE 120. Both are sitting in boxes... not being used.

My most CPU intensive task is x264 encoding/ transcoding. The new i5-650 is faster than either Q6600 was stock: http://www.servethehome.com/intel-core-i3-530-and-core-i5-650-in-the-windows-home-server-whs/ I was a huge Q6600 fan, so it was odd to see something with a tiny stock Intel cooler, and only two cores be faster. Less power consumption, less noise, integrated GPU, so the Q6600's were taken out of service.

interesting findings. they disagree with what i've seen on the internets on the c2q's vs. the dual core nehalem offspring. a Q6600 overclocked by 50%+ should kill a stock clocked 600 series.

 

[pjkenned]

interesting findings. they disagree with what i've seen on the internets on the c2q's vs. the dual core nehalem offspring. a Q6600 overclocked by 50%+ should kill a stock clocked 600 series.

This was stock for stock. The other thing about any of the Q6xxx, Q8xxx, or Q9xxx is that by the time you have overclocked the chips, they suck power like CRAZY. The Q6xxx parts may be a bit worse in this area, but there is really not a comparison of either to the new 32nm duals with HT. If you aren't playing games, and can therefore do with the on-package GPU, the power consumption differences widen even more since that's a more efficient setup than a PCIe GPU.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The Q6600 is like an old Mustang. Not the best on gas, but boy does it have power.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

I'd go with the Q9550 if you live near a Microcenter. It's a no brainer.

MC also has the Q8200 for $99 and the Q8400 for $129-149. Just a though if you want a quad without spending that much money.