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Core2 Quad?

Smorgasbord

Smorgasbord

Smorgasbord

Associate
Joined
15 Feb 2008
Posts
245
Hi all,

I'm considering a Quad Core. Mainly because I play a lot of GTA IV, and would simply like that extra power!!

I am wondering though, is it worth looking at the Q6600/Q6700 or should I aim for a Q8400/Q9400?

I'd love a Q9550 but it is a tad out of my price range unless I can sell my E7200 for about £50. This is also the reason I won't upgrade to i7.

TIA.
 
The Q9xxx are good cpus, but the Q6700 is pretty cheap these days if you can't afford the Q9xxx series. However with the CPU that you have I wouldn't really both upgrading unless it's to a Q9xxx and you'll use the extra cores. Basicly the Q6xxx series cpus will most likely be slower than what you currently have unless the app uses the extra cores.
 
If your working to a budget then get a Q6600 or Q6700, overclock it upto or beyond 3.0Ghz and the game will run very well. :)
 
Sean_UK said:
If your working to a budget then get a Q6600 or Q6700, overclock it upto or beyond 3.0Ghz and the game will run very well. :)
Click to expand...

Nice one. I'd like to take a Q6700 to 3.3GHz or a Q6600 to 3GHz. Can't see me needing more than that. I've got an AKASA 965 cooler at the moment, which should be good enough shouldn't it?

I also think my motherboards not very good at overclocking so I may look to replace that in the near future.

I've heard the recent batches of Q6*00 CPU's aren't very good at overclocking, is this true? Or is it just Retail CPU's which are crap?
 
Akasa 965 should cope fine with a reasonable quad overclock, I've used it within a number of budget builds since release as it does a fine job. The newer Q6600's seem a be a bit poor for going beyond 3.2GHz, my youngest brothers year old Q6600 can only just manage 3.4Ghz with 1.450V.

If i were buying on a budget right now, then Q6700 would be the one for me :)
 
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Sean_UK said:
Akasa 965 should cope fine with a reasonable quad overclock, I've used it within a number of budget builds since release as it does a fine job. The newer Q6600's seem a be a bit poor for going beyond 3.2GHz, my youngest brothers year old Q6600 can only just manage 3.4Ghz with 1.450V.
Click to expand...

but using a Q6700, I should hit 3-3.3GHz easily though I would hope.

Righteo, I shall order meself one come the day I get paid. Should go well with my recent purchase of a Radeon 4770! :D
 
Smorgasbord said:
Hi all,

I'm considering a Quad Core. Mainly because I play a lot of GTA IV, and would simply like that extra power!!

I am wondering though, is it worth looking at the Q6600/Q6700 or should I aim for a Q8400/Q9400?

I'd love a Q9550 but it is a tad out of my price range unless I can sell my E7200 for about £50. This is also the reason I won't upgrade to i7.

TIA.
Click to expand...

I went from a E6750 dual core to a Q6600 for the same reasons as you. I can say, DON'T BOTHER! You will not see any improvements if you're going from a similar processor to me.
 
howiepoohs said:
I went from a E6750 dual core to a Q6600 for the same reasons as you. I can say, DON'T BOTHER! You will not see any improvements if you're going from a similar processor to me.
Click to expand...

What's the rest of your system like? I'd heard that the likes of Far Cry 2, GTA IV ran better with 2+ Cores.

Also, I'm having extreme difficulty overclocking my E7200 as it runs so freaking hot even with the AKASA 965. I know the Quad will run warm, but would also be faster.
 
howiepoohs said:
I went from a E6750 dual core to a Q6600 for the same reasons as you. I can say, DON'T BOTHER! You will not see any improvements if you're going from a similar processor to me.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about going to a quad from an E6750 too, was there really no improvment at all?
 
Hmm, well I happen to have a E6750 laying about, I could do a quick GTAIV 3Ghz Q6600 v E6750 test tommorow since it will give me an excuse for taking off my CPU cooler to lap it. :) Already know the outcome but if it helps I don’t mind posting a couple of versus snaps.
 
I have a 4870 and 4 gb of ram. Running Vista x64. Do get improvements in benchmark software such as 3d mark, super pi etc, as far as games go, exactly the same fps with the quad as the dual. I was quite disapointed with GTA as I too was under the impression a quad core was better. It's not. CPU usage sits around 50% with all four cores running.
 
Future - yes, Quad of course. But if you want to have really improvement you should buy Core i7. I change my E6750 @ 3,8GHz to Q9550 few days ago and overclock it to 3,8GHz too. I saw increase in the synthetic apps only, ang GTA IV :) And the price for it ~300$??? Terrible! Uncooked product)
Smorgasbord, you are going to buy proc for GTA only? :D
So my IMO: if you need really powerful processor for the next half year - E8600/8500 will be the great choice. Proc of the future (1-3 years) - Quad (and more) Cores variant.
P.S: I bought my Quad Q9550 for the next gen games :)
 
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Having read many peoples' feedback on other threads it would seem that although i7 is very very fast, the main benefit is for encoding and benchmarking. Haven't read about many people remarking on a very significant improvement for gaming over a high end dual or 6X or 9X quad. Online play would be different though since the cpu comes more in to use there.
 
Hi,

so the general consensus is that I should stick with the E7200.

Further question, I have tried overclocking it on my motherboard, but the lack of proper controls seems to limit the overclock I can make, and the exceptionally high temps of the cpu.

Is it worth overclocking my processor, or simply running at stock 2.53GHz speeds, or should i get a quicker Dual Core OR get a better motherboard and OC the hell out of it - the problem being i have a mATX system :(
 
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