How Much Faster (Real World Performance) Is the i7-2600k Over A Q6600? (old quad core from 2007)

[Purgatory]

BTW, is i7 2600K a better choice than i5 2500K in this particular case of FSX?

Won't make a difference, buy the i7 2600k if you do a lot of video converting and use programs that can use more then 4 cores/ threads. If you only game and do light tasks on your PC the i5 2500K is more then enough for FSX, you won't notice a massive difference from the i7 to the i5 also you will be overclocking the i5 2500k anyway to gain a few more frames out of the system.

 

[Predicament]

I would xFire your ATI 5850's instead of replace your CPU.

 

[david_129]

I made this upgrade and in real term from a less techy perspective (compatred with you vets) it's barely made any difference at all.

changing my ssd to a newer one made more noticable impact.

Also for a time i was running nvidia 580 with the q6600 ran crysis2 on hardcore no problems

Still upgraded it though >

 

[Sayso]

I would like to bench how long it takes the system to get from your house to mine using Royal Mail Special Delivery.

hehe

If was in the market for a new set up TODAY i would get the 2500K it will be an improvement on what you have got, DDR3 RAM is amazingly cheap now and even the cheap mother boards will give you a good OC. I found i got a day to day performance boost when i went from my Q9550 to an I7 920 it wasn't massive but it was noticeable (which is sort of similar) i found the biggest boosting factor being the overclock achievable, which would be even greater in your case.

 

[gooseuk]

Still have my q6600 rig. Never really did anything with it. But that is now used as my nephews computer so that was one reason i upgraded.

The 2500k has been amazing so far. Games run well and its all very nice.

Only thing left to do is overclock it and i dare say get a ssd drive. Very much worth the upgrade. But defo worth a look at the new amd stuff, if your in the market for a new rig.

 

[the_director]

If you crossfire the 5850s then you will need to upgrade because the Q6600 even at 3.5ghz cannot properly drive them. I crossfired the 5850 and now I know I have plenty of scope for upgrading because I would see a big difference in fps by upgrading.

 

[Zarf]

So does anyone have any benchmarks of games using an OC'd Q6600?

Mine happily sits at 3.6/3.8 and I was wondering whether it is worth upgrading in time for BF3 or if I should just update the GFX now and the rest when the picture becomes clearer.

Similar situation here, been playing BF3 over the weekend and my Q6600@3Ghz + 5850 seems to handle it fine on High settings. Not run Fraps but the framerate seems pretty smooth. All four cores are at around 90% though.

I'm likely to upgrade this month, had this system for ages and because I went SFF overclocking/watercooling and crossfire potential is limited. Inclined towards BD because going from one quad core to another quad core doesn't feel like an exciting and long lived upgrade - I want another 5 year workhorse like my Q6600 was.

 

[Phil2008]

If you crossfire the 5850s then you will need to upgrade because the Q6600 even at 3.5ghz cannot properly drive them. I crossfired the 5850 and now I know I have plenty of scope for upgrading because I would see a big difference in fps by upgrading.

Yeah Im running a 6950 with a [email protected] and Im thinking my cpu is holding the gpu back quite a bit. Id say gpu is running at about 75-85%, but that is ok for now, as all games run smooth.

 

[starkill3r]

I have a Q6600 which I've overclocked to 3.4GHz and tested along side with a GTX 560 Ti, I've also got a i5-2500k running at stock, along with the 560 Ti and difference in performance in games is night and day, games run way much smoother and better.