Q6600 Upgrade

dokko · 3 Nov 2007 at 13:54

So its been two years (almost) since my last upgrade and the Crysis demo sort of confirmed that its time for another! :mad:

It was always on the cards, and i've been looking round the MM to get some decent deals, only nothing has really come up that i wanted to take the plunge for, so i think i will buy new.

I've currently got a 3700 SD 939, Epox mobo & 2GB GeiL DDR1 Dual-C. Its served me well, but now is the time to be looking at an upgrade for sure. The following being what i'm thinking of going for:

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W

Gigabyte GA_P35_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2

Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 DHX PC2-6400C4DHX TwinX

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)

£320 delivered.

I will be using my 7800GT till after xmas with the new build. Can't afford it all right now, and thought this would be better to upgrade 1st rather than getting a new GFX card.

Anyone got any suggestions for anything that could be changed before this gets ordered?

Cheers

Klo · 3 Nov 2007 at 14:00

I have recently upgraded to the same motherboard, RAM and processor as you, and have had no problems with them at all. They all seem pretty quiet, and although I used a Zalman 9700 to cool it, the Arctic cooler is reportadly still very good at cooling quad cores.

Out of interest, what is your PSU?

caithomas44 · 3 Nov 2007 at 14:00

what power supply do you have at the moment?

dokko · 3 Nov 2007 at 14:03

I have a 400w PSU, its going to be on the nose isn't it?

CyZMyAssBaby · 3 Nov 2007 at 14:04

dokko said:
Snip

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W

Gigabyte GA_P35_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2

Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 DHX PC2-6400C4DHX TwinX

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)

£320 delivered.

Cheers

Very good choice, if you have a 530w-630w psu should see you fine

caithomas44 · 3 Nov 2007 at 14:06

two options i would say would suit your needs and budget though your ability to play crysis won't be improved until you get a new graphics card.

or

dokko · 3 Nov 2007 at 14:10

Right, so a new PSU is basically essential.

Well since i'm not going to be overclocking the computer at all, i suppose i could go stock for the fan, and go for the GeiL memory and incorporate a PSU in my budget.

caithomas44 · 3 Nov 2007 at 14:12

dokko said:
Right, so a new PSU is basically essential.

Well since i'm not going to be overclocking the computer at all, i suppose i could go stock for the fan, and go for the GeiL memory and incorporate a PSU in my budget.

the stock fan is rubbish! i would suggest buying the fan on offer this week i posted above as the stock fan is like an ant blowing on a lava field.

and the geil is just as overclockable and i am sure people on here will help you do that with ease

dokko · 3 Nov 2007 at 14:16

caithomas44 said:
the stock fan is rubbish! i would suggest buying the fan on offer this week i posted above as the stock fan is like a ant blowing on a lava field.

Haha!

I get the picture!

Anyone ever heard on Antrix for PSUs?

caithomas44 · 3 Nov 2007 at 14:18

nope but the huntkey ocuk one is from what i have seen the best watt per £

and if you are planing on uprading that GFX card to a 8800 series you are going to need atleast 500 if not 550 watts

Bony Maloney · 3 Nov 2007 at 14:20

You don't get a stock cooler with the OEM Q6600's.

dokko · 3 Nov 2007 at 14:21

caithomas44 said:
nope but the huntkey ocuk one is from what i have seen the best watt per £

and if you are planing on uprading that GFX card to a 8800 series you are going to need atleast 500 if not 550 watts

Yeah i will have to at some stage go for the 8800GT, so i guess i'm just going to have to bite the bullet on this one.

While i've got you i'm currently debating this:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17798745

OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit for £60 instead of going for branded 6400, what do you think?

dokko · 3 Nov 2007 at 14:23

Bony Maloney said:
You don't get a stock cooler with the OEM Q6600's.

Aye i know, if the stock cooler was decent enough i'd have gone for the retail.

But i wont be overclocking anything, so i cant see why it would be able to do the job it was built and supplied to do, even as a temp measure.

caithomas44 · 3 Nov 2007 at 14:24

i have 4gb i.e. 4 x 1gb sticks of the pc8500 ocuk branded ram running and it is great!

best ram i have ever bought but i haven't tried overclocking it yet so don't know what it is like

dokko · 3 Nov 2007 at 14:53

caithomas44 said:
i have 4gb i.e. 4 x 1gb sticks of the pc8500 ocuk branded ram running and it is great! best ram i have ever bought but i haven't tried overclocking it yet so don't know what it is like

Cheers, thanks.

caithomas44 · 3 Nov 2007 at 14:56

when you buy tell us what you went for

dokko · 3 Nov 2007 at 14:56

caithomas44 said:
when you buy tell us what you went for

Will do cheers.

dokko · 3 Nov 2007 at 15:03

caithomas44 said:
two options i would say would suit your needs and budget though your ability to play crysis won't be improved until you get a new graphics card.

This is the most tempting now, if i have to go for a PSU, just need to mull it over for a day or so (i'm no good at impulse buying)

Bony Maloney · 3 Nov 2007 at 15:06

I've just got that GeIL ram, excellent value. Solid at default timings and clocking well, if you decide to go that way in the future.The Q6600 is a fantastic chip also.

dokko · 3 Nov 2007 at 15:08

Bony Maloney said:
I've just got that GeIL ram, excellent value. Solid at default timings and clocking well, if you decide to go that way in the future.The Q6600 is a fantastic chip also.

I'm currently running:

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3

So i'm very pleased with GeiL and have no problem using them again.

Crazy how i'll probably get around £40 for those lads considering that's what i'm paying for the DDR2 version new.