CPU For 680i upgrade from E6600 to ?

[Quint]

Thinking of upgrading....what cpu should I get to achive a noticable boost small, medium to high budget please?

Current spec - factory default

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB)
EVGA nForce 680i (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Zalman CNPS9500-LED Aero Flower (Socket 939/754/478/775) CPU Cooler
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 7.1 Soundcard
OCZ 2GB (4 x 1GB) PC2-8500 1066MHz SLI-Ready Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (OCZ2N1066SR2GK)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
Samsung 2433bw 24"

COD:WAW see,s a tad laggy at full settings and 1920x1200

XP-SP3 btw (I know 4gb isn't recognised but I went back to xp some time ago and left it in, makes no differance with it in or out)

Thanks in advance!

 

[reflux]

No need to upgrade - overclock the 6600! At 3ghz+ it'll be a match for any more modern CPUs.

 

[setter]

Yep as reflux says, clock the e6600 (quite easy on a 680i as well) id possibly look at upgrading the video card before the cpu.

 

[-)G(-Sawyer]

I had a similar set up to you and had my E6600 at 3.5 GHz for some time before getting a quad.

 

[Quint]

Ok, think I'll look for a guide to overclock this badboy, cheers guys.

 

[garylouden]

I have the same setup and recently overclocked my CPU to 3.4Ghz. Cant seem to go above that but its 100% stable at 3.4.

Im using a artic cooling freezer 7 pro and my temps are

40-45 idle
55-60 load

I just resit my heatsink last night with AS5 and my temps have dropped to

35-40 idle
50-55 load


I know its not the proper thing to do but for an easy over clock just set all voltages to auto then test if its stable and then lower the temps graduly to see what the minimum is without stability issues. I think im sitting at 1.325v just now at 3.4ghz

 

[setter]

Ok, think I'll look for a guide to overclock this badboy, cheers guys.

Good overclocking guide for 680i here.

http://www.nvidia.com/docs/CP/45121/nforce_680i_sli_overclocking.pdf

Had some good results with the same mobo and cpu using this guide.

 

[Quint]

I've got a new gpu on the way BFG GTX285, warranty replacement.

I know I'm going to suffer with my cpu. Should I think about replacing it now or will overclocking it be enough?

The manual says it supports the following Intel Core 2 Extreme, Intel Core 2 Quad, Intel Core 2 Duo, Pentium EE, and Pentium.

Would it support all the Intel Core 2 (Quad Core) listed on OcUk - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=6&subid=567

Is there a list of compatible cpus anywhere? I'm not overly confident at overcloking, I'm more comfortable buying a new cpu instead.

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

 

[blaineoliver]

Quad cores dont overclock well on the 6xx chipset from nvidia, just to be careful.

 

[pastymuncher]

Once clocked that E6600 will not bottleneck a 285. It should hit at least 3.4Ghz and most hit 3.6Ghz.