E5200 struggling. Need a upgrade.

.:SAmSuNG:. · 14 Sep 2010 at 20:15

Hi basically iv found my little stock E5200 to struggle more and more latley so in need of a upgrade. My budget is £100 and the CPU will be running at stock. It will be run at stock due to power and heat restrictions.

Spec is:

2x2GB DDR2 800Mhz
Zotac ITX nvidia 775

Im thinking maybe:

E8400/E8500
Q6600
Q9450/Q9550

What you guys think?

Matt2889 · 14 Sep 2010 at 20:34

If you can find one a Q6600, but i'm not sure overclockers sell them anymore...

Otherwise...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-269-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=567

.:SAmSuNG:. · 14 Sep 2010 at 20:59

Sorry i should have said i will be buying 2nd hand.

Matt2889 · 14 Sep 2010 at 21:08

Then in that case I reccomend the Q6600, see if you can find one with the G0 stepping, these are highly overclockable.

.:SAmSuNG:. · 14 Sep 2010 at 21:10

It will be run stock mate so not sure the speed will be fast enough but looking at Q9500 prices i cant really afford one of those. Iv worked in brecon abit

Matt2889 · 14 Sep 2010 at 21:13

I presume you are looking on the bay of e? Do you need a cooler with it or not really fussed?

Anything special happening in brecon for you to visit?

.:SAmSuNG:. · 14 Sep 2010 at 21:20

Nah will buy on the members market here probably. Iv got a noctua cooler and everything else i just need a cpu with more power

Was working there for 6 months on a barn conversion. Also went to college there.

Matt2889 · 14 Sep 2010 at 21:21

Fair enough, and the noctua coolers are really good so I guess you just need the chip.

It's a nice place up 'ere.

hlennie · 16 Sep 2010 at 11:05

just up the fsb on the e5200 its going to produce the same amount of heat as a higher clocked core2

they clock really well used one in a friends build got it 4Ghz

Vir · 16 Sep 2010 at 11:39

Got a E5200 in my gf's rig, just clock it to 3,0 / 3,2 ghz and you should be fine!

Otherwise Q6600 if you can afford.

If I were you I'd overclock it and save to get a new i5 setup

Marine-RX179 · 16 Sep 2010 at 11:49

Yea. My dad's E5200 can overclocked to 3.8GHz (downclocked to 3.6GHz for summer). If you are only overclocking the E5200 to just 3.0-3.2GHZ, I don't think it will require (much) increase to vcore, and the temp shouldn't be not much higher than now.

Vir · 16 Sep 2010 at 11:53

Marine-RX179 said:
Yea. My dad's E5200 can overclocked to 3.8GHz (downclocked to 3.6GHz for summer). If you are only overclocking the E5200 to just 3.0-3.2GHZ, I don't think it will require (much) increase to vcore, and the temp shouldn't be not much higher than now.

aye, my gf's E5200 did NOT need a volt bump for 3.0, but that may just be lucky with the chip, just try

.:SAmSuNG:. · 16 Sep 2010 at 17:26

Thanks for the advice but im not looking to OC at all. The bios is very limited and im not looking to add any stress to anything. My PSU is only 150w and I already think im pushing it with my current set up.

I downgraded from a OCed i7 gaming rig so just looking for a cheap performace upgrade as i feel the CPU is the system bottleneck at the moment.

Anyway it looks like iv picked up a Q6600 off the MM which should do ok for a year or so

matthab · 17 Sep 2010 at 11:59

hmmm 150w PSU with a quad core :rolleyes:

.

.:SAmSuNG:. · 17 Sep 2010 at 18:53

Well i hope it will manage, if not will have to have a re think.

sastusbulbas · 18 Sep 2010 at 10:25

Look at the wattage required for Quads, 95w, against a Dual Cores 65w, in what ways are you finding the E5200 to struggle?

Probably an E8*00 series CPU will give you the highest clock for low wattage and heat. You can compare an E5200 against an E8500 here http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/55?vs=66 A second hand E8*00 CPU is not exactly cheap though?

I myself run an E8500 stock with passive cooling via a Silverstone NT06-E in my HTPC.

.:SAmSuNG:. · 18 Sep 2010 at 13:12

I'm finding in Lightroom its struggling and playing back 1080p video also but its only got onboard graphics so maybe that's why. I'm running a noctua cooler so alittle extra heat won't be too bad.

Total spec is:

Q6600 @ stock
Zotac itx nvidia mobo
2x2GB 800mhz DDR2
Samsung F3 1TB
Samsung F3 2TB Eco
Asus xonar D2X
150w pico psu
Win7 ultimate

Will report back once I get it installed on if it will run it.

ZXSpectrum · 18 Sep 2010 at 13:21

See if you can get a "s" version quad... little bit more expensive but only use 65w

.:SAmSuNG:. · 18 Sep 2010 at 14:38

Iv already got a Q6600 G0 so can't sorry.

JTrickle · 18 Sep 2010 at 21:56

I've been slightly disappointed with my q6600. Got a naff vid one is mostly why, but also that its not been much of an upgrade.

3.8ghz e5200 -> 3.4ghz q6600. The problem is that so many things make almost no use of the 3/4th core. And those that do are never cpu limited (5850).

The only benifit is that the second machine went from a 2.3ghz e2140 to a 3.1ghz e5200 [this is on a £25 g31 board, so I dont think you have much excuse for not clocking unless its an OEM branded computer]. A waste. Should have gone for an e8400. q6600s are rubish stock.