Looking to replace my E6400 Core 2 Duo

[sygyzy]

I have the E6400 Conroe 2.13Ghz Core 2 Dup on a Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 motherboard with 4 GB of ram. I'd like to upgrade my CPU. What is a popular bang for your buck choice nowadays. I overclock but only safely, nothing extreme (no peltier, water, oil, etc).

Any help would be appreciated.

Edit: I am pretty sure I have the original incarnation of the Gigabyte DS3 so maybe revision 1 or 1.3. I am not sure if that affects compatibility but keep it in mind.

Thanks,
David

 

[Roy2001]

Depend on your budget. If you want to keep your MB, then you don't have many choices except Q6600/6700 or even 6800/6850. If not, then you have a lot of choices.

 

[MyLeftNut]

Originally posted by: sygyzy
I have the E6400 Conroe 2.13Ghz Core 2 Dup on a Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 motherboard with 4 GB of ram. I'd like to upgrade my CPU. What is a popular bang for your buck choice nowadays. I overclock but only safely, nothing extreme (no peltier, water, oil, etc).

Any help would be appreciated.

Edit: I am pretty sure I have the original incarnation of the Gigabyte DS3 so maybe revision 1 or 1.3. I am not sure if that affects compatibility but keep it in mind.

Thanks,
David

Or you can do what I did, OC it to 3.5-3.6ghz and keep it until you make a significant upgrade later on.

 

[zagood]

rev. 1.3 will accept 45nm chips. Rev 1.0 will not. Make sure which version you have before deciding your upgrade (should be written on the board in the bottom-left corner).

 

[angry hampster]

I have an E6420 right now that can't seem to overclock much past 3.00GHz safely. On the way I've got an E8500. I got it for $150, and it should be able to get to to ~4.00GHz pretty easily on my motherboard and RAM (P35-DS3L and DDR2 800). Between the 30% jump in clockspeed, more efficient architecture, and 1/3 more cache, I should have a nice boost in performance.


If all you're doing is gaming, I'd consider going the same route.

 

[sygyzy]

Let me check my board to make sure which revision I have. It seems to be the determining factor as to which CPU's I can choose from.

 

[vj8usa]

What do you use your computer for?

 

[soccerballtux]

I have to admit I'm very tempted by the Ph2 940 + new mobo and use my old Ram.

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Originally posted by: zagood
rev. 1.3 will accept 45nm chips. Rev 1.0 will not. Make sure which version you have before deciding your upgrade (should be written on the board in the bottom-left corner).

Not according to the BIOS page on Gigabyte's website:

http://www.gigabyte.us/Support...oductID=2510#anchor_os

F9
2006/12/27
1. Update CPU ID
2. FSB 1333 MHz support for rev 3.3 only

Rev 1.3 shares many design similarities with 3.3 however, and I've read some people claim to have used 45nm chips in a 1.3. Not sure what to believe, but Gigabyte never got back to me when I asked.

 

[zagood]

Originally posted by: CoinOperatedBoy
Rev 1.3 shares many design similarities with 3.3 however, and I've read some people claim to have used 45nm chips in a 1.3. Not sure what to believe, but Gigabyte never got back to me when I asked.

Interesting...since the CPU Support List link isn't working, maybe we can guess...here's the support list for rev. 2.0 - check out the C0 steppings...

http://www.gigabyte.us/Support...el.aspx?ProductID=2424

Oh, also, if you got one of the older boards, you almost certainly have Rev 1.0; Rev. 1.3 is a fairly new board.

-z

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Originally posted by: zagood

Originally posted by: CoinOperatedBoy
Rev 1.3 shares many design similarities with 3.3 however, and I've read some people claim to have used 45nm chips in a 1.3. Not sure what to believe, but Gigabyte never got back to me when I asked.

Interesting...since the CPU Support List link isn't working, maybe we can guess...here's the support list for rev. 2.0 - check out the C0 steppings...

http://www.gigabyte.us/Support...el.aspx?ProductID=2424

Oh, also, if you got one of the older boards, you almost certainly have Rev 1.0; Rev. 1.3 is a fairly new board.

-z

Yeah, the rev 1.3 CPU support list hasn't worked for some time. This revision is like the bastard child that Gigabyte pretends doesn't really exist.

renethx claims that rev 1.3 supports 1333MHz FSB in this thread:

* Rev. 1.0: FSB 1066MHz, one system fan header, ALC883 (Vista Basic Logo)
* Rev. 1.3: FSB 1333MHz, one system fan header, ALC883
* Rev. 2.0: FSB 1066MHz, three system fan headers, ALC888 (Vista Premium Logo)
* Rev. 3.3: FSB 1333MHz, three system fan headers, ALC888

Newegg's deactivated listing also shows 1333/1066MHz. However, later in the same thread there is some confusion about whether these listings are wrong. According to one poster, Gigabyte responded to an inquiry that 1.3 supports only 1066. So... don't know!

I think 1.3 actually came out last, so yeah... if OP has the original, it's a 1.0. There are CPU support lists available for all revisions except 1.3. If you've got a 1.3, contact Gigabyte for confirmation.

 

[monk3yboy]

I am actually in the exact same place you are sygyzy, almost same mobo, same ram and CPU. In my case however, I know for a fact it supports the 1333 FSB as it says so on the box. I have revision 3.3 though. I am currently debating picking up the quad e8200 from the microcenter around the corner from my house. For 100 bucks I think it'll blow my 6400 out of the water (encoding and HD playback) as i have been running that stock and chances are will run the 8200 stock or with a mild OC. What do you guys think? Spend the $100 now or save up for a i7?

(Note. I don't mean to thread jack, well at least maliciously I don't)

 

[Denithor]

I went from e6400 @ 3GHz to an e8400 @ 3.6GHz (20% clockspeed increase & 3x cache) and really saw minimal improvements overall.

In games I saw minor improvements, some games smoothed out a bit but nothing major.

In encoding DVDs I saw some gains but not really worth the $200 I spent on the new chip.

Personally, I'd suggest you do one of two things:

1) Buy this Xigmatek S1283 cooler ($27AR + shipping) and OC the crap out of your e6400.
2) Buy this PhII 940 + Gigabyte UD4H combo deal ($319) and overhaul your system completely.

Which you do depends heavily on your budget and uses. If you can afford it the quad is the way to go because more games are supporting or even requiring a quad to run smoothly and this trend is simply going to accelerate going forward (games today are primarily developed for consoles - which are multicore - do the math).

 

[Rick James]

Could always go LGA 1366 and try a new I7 based Dual core Xeon.

 

[angry hampster]

Chiming back in on what I said earlier. I got my E8500 installed and running two days ago, and have been testing it for stability almost nonstop since then. Right now I've got it running 422x9.5 (4009MHz) and my RAM at 844 5-5-5-18. Vista boots up much faster, games load a little bit quicker, Avast scans noticeably quicker, and it seems to handle large, intensive web pages better (due to the larger cache probably). For an $80 upgrade, I'm pretty satisfied. I've got zero use for a quad, so I think this will hold me over for a while.

 

[Binky]

I tend to agree with Denithor. Buy a nice cooler that can be used on future builds as well as the current setup, and overclock the current CPU as far as you're comfortable. You should be able to get it up to ~3ghz, while a new E8400/8500 will do ~3.4ghz-3.6ghz pretty easily. I'm basing this on your (OP's) "overclock safely" comment which I assume also means easily without tinkering or worrying about heat.

I went from a 6420 at 3.0ghz to an E8400 at 3.8ghz, and the overall improvements were minor to medium.

 

[Rick James]

E8500 will do 4.5ghz pretty easily with a TRUE.

If i had a 775 DC and was looking for an upgrade. I would go straight to a Q6600