Corsair Water Cooling on a B3 Q6600

Mikey · 29 Jun 2010 at 13:14

Looking at upgrading my Antec 300 and Noctua to a Corsair Obsidian 800d and water cooling.

Any comments from people using the above etc?

Q6600 is running at around 3GHz at the moment, but it's a b3

Redmint · 29 Jun 2010 at 13:34

I wouldn't be too optimistic about getting it massively higher than that tbh, most B3s max out somewhere around 3.2-3.4, you might get a few to 3.6 with a decent VID/lapping/bit of luck.

Mikey · 29 Jun 2010 at 13:38

Redmint said:
I wouldn't be too optimistic about getting it massively higher than that tbh, most B3s max out somewhere around 3.2-3.4, you might get a few to 3.6 with a decent VID/lapping/bit of luck.

Yeah I'm aware the b3 is a bit of a lemon. Mate of mine may be selling is Q6600 G0, alternatively I did think about changing to one of the higher Q CPUs

Main things I'm after are:
1) better cooling
2) Quieter cooler
3) More space in the case

I have also thought about the 700D as I'm still not 100% about the hot swap caddies etc.

Redmint · 29 Jun 2010 at 13:51

If you're spending a bucket load on a new case and cooling you might as well treat yourself to a new chip too.

If your board is a decent clocker and you can find a nice deal on a Q9550 it would give you a decent performance boost.

Mikey · 29 Jun 2010 at 13:55

Yup I've got one of the decent 775 Asus boards, can't remember of the top of my head.

I'm thinking along these lines too, i.e. sell the Antec 300 and chip and get something better.

However I think my RAM is Corsair 6400 XMS2

Redmint · 29 Jun 2010 at 14:13

Well if you wanted to max out a Q9550 (~4GHz) you'll need a board that can do around 1900MHz FSB and so ~950MHz on the RAM. That Corsair stuff should overclock pretty well (would say to at least 900MHz) which means you could still hit 3.8GHz.

Otherwise you could do what I did and swap out the RAM too for some 1066MHz sticks (normally around £50 2nd hand these days) and sell your 800MHz sticks for about the same.

HeX · 29 Jun 2010 at 14:27

Get the Obsidian and a H50, and go for about 3.2 on your Q6600, it'll last you a while yet.

You'll have a smexy case, and decent cooling for anything you change to in the future.

Mikey · 29 Jun 2010 at 14:36

HeX said:
Get the Obsidian and a H50, and go for about 3.2 on your Q6600, it'll last you a while yet.

You'll have a smexy case, and decent cooling for anything you change to in the future.

Have to say I'm leaning towards this option first and selling my Noctua etc.

May even go for the Corsair bundle and sell my existing PSU, which I think is also a Corsair, but I can't remember which model.

I'll post up my kit list later

Mikey · 30 Jun 2010 at 08:49

The current system minus a few newer bits etc.

Mikey · 1 Jul 2010 at 08:38

Looking at the Obsidian 700D with the PSU now as that looks like a good deal. Got a Corsair 520w in there at the mo