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Best card to go with a q6600

Dhansak

Dhansak

Dhansak

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Joined
12 Jan 2012
Posts
43
Just bought a 2nd hand bundle of q6600 (will oc to 3ghz) m/b and 4gb ram from a mate. Which graphics card would you recommend as a good match?

Am going to upgrade my monitor shortly, so gaming at 1080 on 24" or 27" TN panel would be the max possible (I imagine I won't achieve that but if nothing else it defines the upper limit)

Was thinking of the GTX 460 - is that overkill for this CPU?

By the way - want to go the nVidia route so in the future may try 3d (though with a future cpu I guess!)

Thanks for your advice.
 
A GTX 460 or HD 6850 would be a good match for that CPU. For most games the CPU should be able to keep up with a GPU like this and both of these cards offer excellent value since they can currently be had for ~£100.

If you want to try 3D in the future then you really should be looking for a card of the level of the GTX 570 - as 3D@1080p basically cuts the framerate in half. As this won't be required immediately then I would suggest not buying a graphics card with 3D in mind and instead re-evaluate your GPU at the point when you are going to put money down on a 3D monitor and glasses kit (at which point more powerful/cheaper graphics card will likely be available).
 
I would say that CPU would work well with a 560ti 448 you would get the best out of the q6600 with a bit more later with a CPU upgrade. But as usual all depends on budget and if you like the type of eye-candy which is GPU dependant not CPU.
 
CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
I ran an HD5850 1GB using a Q6600 running at a similar clockspeed.
Click to expand...

This seems to be a very popular combination.
i have a Q6600 @ 3.4ghz with a HD 5850 and i have no problems
But tbh, a HD6850 or a gtx460 are also good choices

Also make sure you have a decent psu
and what mobo is it?
 
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it would be better if you could o/clock it a bit more . a lot will go to 3.4 with a bit of extra voltage and cooling . check the cpu forum , there are some good lads willing to help you out
cheers
 
Thats great feedback and advice - thank you!

Will put these on my list for perusal then:

GTX460
HD6850
HD5850
560ti 448
5080


Also thanks for the heads up that for 3d, I would realistically be looking at the GTX 570 level. That's out of budget (which is £100 plus a bit) unfortunately. So if 3d Vision isn't viable on less, that brings ATI back into consideration.

j.col - the bundle included:

p35 neo2 MB
Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro7 heatsink on the CPU (never seen its like before!)
RAM: 2x 2gb OCZ PC2 6400

PSU: I have an Arctic Power 500w - but that wasn't expensive so don't know if its stable enough for oc (I've never oc before so will definitely visit the CPU forum for advice after I've decided which GPU to get).


silly question time - my current PC (5 years old) is an AMD x2 4800+ with a 9800GT. Do you think I would get any more mileage out of the 9800gt my putting it in with the q6600? Or is it so old that it really isn't even considering?

Thanks again for your help
 
a P35 mobo should easily get the Q6600 to 3.2-3.4ghz, depending on temps
also is the Q6600 a B3 or G0 revision?. if you haven't installed it yet, have a look at the cpu itself.
a G0 (the better one) will have SCLAR printed on it.
a B3 (hotter and needs more power) will have SL9UM printed on it.

if its fitted, download cpu-z and have a look, this will tell you this.
i would be wary using that psu, i wouldn't trust it, but thats just me,

the 9800Gt is a bit dated now, probably on par with a HD 4830, so it will struggle to run most bnew games on high settings, imo
 
Sorry, I should have clarified - the requirement for a high-end graphics card to run 3D properly is not an issue just with Nvidia 3D vision. AMDs 3D technology is just as resource intensive when running on a 1080p 3D monitor (via displayport 1.2), so a HD 6950 or 6970 is recommended at a minimum for running games in 3D with AMD hardware. The big performance penalty is because both of these technologies requires each frame of the game to be rendered twice (once per eye) - so the perceived framerate is halved (or worse).

As for the 9800GT and the new Q6600 system - it will certainly be able to stretch its legs a bit more with the much more powerful CPU. But to be honest, in modern games the 9800GT is at the low-end of cards to get the game just running at minimum settings. You need a card like a GTX 460/HD 5850/6850 or better to be able to crank up the settings and maintain nice framerates.

Finally, If you are going to spend £100+ on a new graphics card I would strongly suggest you upgrade from the 500W Arctic Power PSU, it isn't very good quality and the PSU is really the most important part of your system.
 
Thanks Yorkshire - but that one looks out of wallet-range :)

j.col
can't tell which revision I have as it is fitted on the mb with cooler etc. Will use cpu-z when I get a gpu (and a new PSU by the look of it!)

andi
thanks for the clarification re 3d. I only started thinking about 3d as my crt is slowly fading away, so was looking at new shiny 120hz monitors which led to the whole 3d thing. This in turn led me to my current 1024x768 gaming experience being discussed at work and before you know it I've purchased a 2nd hand q6600 bundlel. I started off just looking for a new monitor and here I am looking at a "new" system instead .... how did that happen lol. In any case I think I can safely say that at current price points I shall be postponing the 3d experience for a couple of years... At least I can go back to looking at 60hz montiors when the crt finally expires.

Could you recommend a reasonable PSU please? Would the OCUk swift series be ok?
 
Thanks Spenty - think I'll go for the Coolermaster. Just got to decide on the GPU now.

Looks like a choice between the HD6850 and the GTX460. (the 560ti was a bit pricey for me)

Thanks everybody - this has been fantastically helpful - much appreciated! Any further comments always welcome :)
 
Dhansak said:
PSU: I have an Arctic Power 500w - but that wasn't expensive so don't know if its stable enough for oc
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Please dont use artic power not for serious gaming. With the quad core @120watt with the mobo power hdd not much and the video card power, really be very reluctant specially on full load.

But dont take my word for it listen to some these guys too id save up get decent 750 watt psu ocz coolermaster,anything like that.
 
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hiredhelp said:
But dont take my word for it listen to some these guys too id save up get decent 750 watt psu ocz coolermaster,anything like that.
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There's really no need for a 750 watt PSU, that's considerably OTT for the OPs requirements unless he's considering SLi in the near future?

A quality 500W+ PSU will easily do the job.
 
I don't plan to go SLI in the future so I guess 750w would be overkill? It would be nice to get a gtx560/570 in a couple of years - would a 500/600w purchased now cover me for future use from that perspective?
 
Dhansak said:
I don't plan to go SLI in the future so I guess 750w would be overkill? It would be nice to get a gtx560/570 in a couple of years - would a 500/600w purchased now cover me for future use from that perspective?
Click to expand...

yes, but as already said above, but a quality psu. its the most important part of the pc, especially when running high end parts.
 
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