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E6400 - where to now?

onelosttiger

onelosttiger

onelosttiger

Associate
Joined
3 Jun 2008
Posts
42
Location
Tewkesbury
Hi

Really hoping you guys can help out.

My current system is:-

E6400 @ 3ghz
2GB of OCZ platinum DD2R 6400 running at 900mhz
Gigabyte P35C DS3R

Upgraded from a 8800GTS 512Mb OC to a 5850 this week and bought a new Corsair HX650 and Antec 902 while I was at it.

Question is, what should I upgrade my E6400, MOBO and RAM to to make the most of the 5850 and also to keep me going for another 3 years or so as the E6400 has. I know it's not that great a chip, but back then I was really happy with the performance cost.

I've been looking at the i5 750 and where I can see it's a great chip, I can't see the wow factor in the benchmarks as we saw in some of the C2D chips compared to previous chips.

This time around I want an equivalent to the Q6600 in the current generation, something that will keep up with stuff for the next 3 years but more than the E6400 has.

I use the PC mainly for gaming and the odd photoshop etc. I play ARMA2, FSX, DCS Blackshark - you can see where I'm at.

Cheers guys.
 
Thanks for the replies so far guys.

I have a budget of around £400 for CPU, MOBO and RAM. I was basically going to purchase the MOBO and RAM based upon whichever CPU would be best for me.

I have thought about getting more RAM but it's so expensive at the moment that it seems a waste unless it's purchased with a new CPU and MOBO as the DDR2 prices are equivalent to the decent DDR3 stuff now.

After Meatloaf said I have a decent CPU and MOBO I looked at the RAM and saw that there is currently 4GB DDR3 OCZ Platinum PC3-10666 for £84 and my MOBO accepts DDR3 - but I have never tried it.

Would this be a good stop gap and then maybe look into a new CPU and MOBO at a later date when there is something more inspirational out on the CPU front?
 
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The only problem with that plan is the newer DDR3 stuff only needs 1.65v and your current board may not go that low for memory voltage
 
Meatloaf - The Gigabyte website says -

2 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 4 GB of system memory

So should be fine.

Yeah that's the thing Easyrider, Do you think that the i5 750 would be a great upgrade for gaming and the occasional photoshop etc or do you think that I would be better off waiting? for something that I would be v happy with for a good 3 years or so?
 
I'm afraid there's no way your mobo supports DDR3. P35 was DDR2 only.

I recently did a similar upgrade to what you're considering ([email protected] to i5 750) and it's a very nice difference and a very worthwhile upgrade IMO. My motherboard/ram/CPU combo cost me 335 quid and it was well worth it.
 
ghop said:
I'm afraid there's no way your mobo supports DDR3. P35 was DDR2 only.

.
Click to expand...

Nope

GA-P35C-DS3R (rev. 1.x)
Bookmark and Share Help
other version : rev. 2.1 rev. 2.0
Intel® P35 + ICH9R Chipset

1. Supports Intel® Core™ 2 multi-core and 45nm processors
2. Supports both DDR2 and DDR3 memory for great flexibility
3. Features PCI Express x16 for outstanding graphics performance
4. Integrated SATA 3Gb/s with RAID function
5. Features high speed Gigabit Ethernet
6. Ultra Durable 2 motherboard design
7. Japanese manufactured solid capacitors
8. Audio controller from ALC 889A supporting for Blu-ray.
 
onelosttiger said:
I have a budget of around £400 for CPU, MOBO and RAM
Click to expand...
Hello onelosttiger,

Welcome to OcUK forums! :)

Please read & understand the forum rules and enjoy your stay!

You may find these specs interesting! . . . it's £130-£136 under your budget and by the time you sell off your older LGA775 Chip/Mobo and DDR2 ram I expect you will still have £200 to spend on something meaningful! :D

Obviously if your not overclocking you won't need the Premium Heatsink but thought I'd chuck it in just in case! ;)

I'd say the AMD® Athlon™ II X4 620 would blow you away but it seems the AMD® Phenom™ II X2 550 is proving very popular also!

onelosttiger.gif


onelosttiger said:
I've been looking at the i5 750 and where I can see it's a great chip, I can't see the wow factor in the benchmarks as we saw in some of the C2D chips compared to previous chips
Click to expand...
Yeah I know what you mean, the Intel® Core™ i5/i7 are both looking quite over-priced now, it's really a choice between the AMD® specs above or perhaps Intel® Core™ i3 . . . reckon the AMD® is better value myself but I'll leave you to do the homework! :cool:
 
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Thanks for the welcome Big.Wayne.

The trouble with going for the Athlon or the i3 is that surely if I was going for that level of performance I might as well get a second hand Q6600 or E8***?.

What I would like is to get a meaningful upgrade which will last me a good 3 years or so, hence the £400 budget. Maybe a phenom would be better, or would I see performance with the i5 750 which will last me three years or with maybe one CPU upgrade with the LGA1156 MOBO after two years?

The only alternative is to stick with my E6400 at 3ghz, sell my current DDR2 and buy some DDR3 which I can use now but also when better CPUs come out on LGA1156?

I wish things were as easy as they were going from P4 to C2D!
 
I am always tempted to upgrade but then I come to my senses and remember there's no pc games around or coming that require me to upgrade.

You have a 5850 which will eat any games this and next year probably because pc gaming is based around console ports these days and is pretty stagnant to say the least.

The best upgrade for you is to buy another 2x1gb ram of ddr2 or sell the ram you have then buy 2x2gb ddr2.

It's a shame you don't have members market access yet as you could easy pick up 2x1gb branded lifetime warranty ram for £20-£25.
 
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Hmmm well actually an Intel® Core™2 Duo E6400 @ 3GHz is pretty decent still (nice overclock btw!) . . . and if you were literally just looking for the cheapest meaningful Quad upgrade then a used Intel® Core™2 Quad Q6600 might be just the ticket . . . keep your eye out for bargains as a lot of Intel® LGA775 owners have been selling up in droves the past few months.

I did a little Intel® Core™2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.0GHz system a few weeks ago and it was dead fast! . . . if you can grab one for about £60 then do it! :)

I sold up my Intel® LGA775 Dual Core stuff a few months ago and moved to AMD® Athlon™ II X3 425, no regrets at all and got cash in pocket still £££.

Depends if you like tweaking/overclocking or not? or you just want to give your system a little boost? . . . . £400 is a ton of cash these days for computer hardware although some people seem not to realise this? :p

Either go for a used Intel® LGA775 quad or consider the alternatives, but basically keep as much of that £400 in your pocket as possible!

Peace! :cool:
 
Hi C64 - trouble is I know that games are based on console ports at the mo but that's why I have a 360. (edit: sorry that may have come across as @rsey - which it isn't, sorry)

My main use of my pc is simulators such as DCS Blackshark, LOMAC FC (soon to be 2), FSX - plus the new DCS A10 and Battle of Britain Storm of War may creep out of being the next duke nukem forever. All games which rather than the CPU eating them for breakfast they eat CPUs just for the hell of it hehe

Yeah it is a shame about the members market, maybe next upgrade :)

Big.Wayne - I love tweaking and overclocking, thanks for the compliment on the E6400. As you can see from the above my processor needs really are related to CPU intensive programs, just of a different type. I definitely don't want a little boost hence the £400 but my problem is whether the i5 750 really would be the big upgrade I'm looking for or whether it would be just a nice boost.

I mean if a quad in my current set up with a little more RAM or the athlon or phenom would present me with a great upgrade for a lot less I'm there!
 
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Tough call really! :) . . . there is a lot of good choices and the *biggest* market right now is affordable hardware so like £100 or less on a CPU. The AMD® Athlon™ II X4 620 may look a little strange to you as you have maybe been away from the hardware scene for a while and it's price is very affordable but it's a stonking new processor and clocked at 3.0GHz-3.6GHz will make your 3GHz dually look really puny! :p

Everything is speeding up now, I would forget about buying a system to last 3 years + . . IMHO that's an outdated mentality really especially for someone that is compentant at building their owns systems. See what the others say but there is a good case to grab a used Intel® Core™2 Quad Q6600 and get it clocked to about 3.2GHz-3.4GHz, that will be satisfactory and will involved the least effort . . . btw your well lucky to own such a great video card, that must be great to game with! :cool:
 
Thanks Big.Wayne, the card is fantastic, I get great Anti-Aliasing in the sims and I get to turn all that lovely heat blur and draw distance up. Trouble is that it's so fantastic that the poor E6400 is now being shown up (I think he's a feeling a little down troden, poor blighter)

I see what your saying about the whole building my own and the 3 year thing. I've just never been great at selling stuff so I tend to try to make it last as long as possible before I have to encounter people to sell things to! :) Believe me it took me hours to come up with a fair price for the 8800GTS I sold to get the 5850.

It looks like a LGA776 quad or the AMD route is the way then - looks like I'm going to have to try to find some bench results aimed at sims for the AMD CPUs.

As you say though I thinking I'm underestimating the power of the AMD side (please read with James Early Jones voice).

Especially a quad with a few hundred more mhz compared to my 1st generation C2D.
 
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