How slow it my Q6600 compared to more modern CPUs?

[decto]

Some of those charts suggest the exact opposite. Those figures make an upgrade for me look utterly worthless...?

Battlefield 3, medium settings, 1920x1200:-

Q6600 = 72fps
I7 = 78fps​

Battlefield 3, ultra settings, 1920x1200:-

Q6600 = 45fps
I7 = 48fps​

So hundreds of pounds of expense for a under 10% improvement?

That's VERY worrying!


The only significant improvement I could find was:-

Metro Last, highest settings, 1920x1200:-
Q6600 = 33
I7 = 51​

That doesn't seem to back up starmanwarz's suggestion BF3 doubled in speed!?

Figures seem to be based on a GTX570 so I'm calling GPU bottleneck.

I had a single 560Ti 2GB and it was just fine with a nicely OC'd Q6600 however when I added a second GPU it just didn't scale. A 560TI and 570 are quite similar in performance.

I'd speculate that a lot of games in the era had balance performance with a GTX5XX card and Core 2 Quad but my benchmarks were is a different class with a clocked 2500k and SLI 560's

AD

 

[Akagi]

Figures seem to be based on a GTX570 so I'm calling GPU bottleneck.

Yep, it looks about right for that.

 

[Scougar]

Don't even consider another 775 chip; Uprate your platform to at least an i2500k and overclock. Performance wise you are talking 50% upwards, especially with minimum frames. You honestly will not regret the move.

I moved up from a q6600 at 3.6Ghz to a sandy at 4.5Ghz, massive improvement with the same gfx card.

 

[NeilF]

Some serious bottlenecking going on there if you're only hitting 25-35 on high in State of Decay with that card. It's a DX9 title and not the best looking one around either. You're going to love the jump to a newer chip! I went from a Phenom x4 9550 be to a 3770k and the difference was night and day!

I might have been slightly pessimistic with those readings. I switched to high (not ultra) and was running around 35-50fps on average I guess. ie: Enough to be perfectly playable.

The main reason I put upgrades off - apart from the expense - is the damn hassle of a complete re-install and setting everything back up on the machine again

In an ideal world I build a whole new machine so I can switch between new and old until the new one is setup completely... But that works out even more expensive!

 

[NeilF]

Don't even consider another 775 chip; Uprate your platform to at least an i2500k and overclock. Performance wise you are talking 50% upwards, especially with minimum frames. You honestly will not regret the move.

I moved up from a q6600 at 3.6Ghz to a sandy at 4.5Ghz, massive improvement with the same gfx card.

OK... Isn't there a new Intel chipset/socket due out next year? Worth waiting for that?

 

[gpuerrilla]

Not really if you want to upgrade now. However if you can stick with your Q6600 then why not.

 

[FartInferno]

I might have been slightly pessimistic with those readings. I switched to high (not ultra) and was running around 35-50fps on average I guess. ie: Enough to be perfectly playable.

The main reason I put upgrades off - apart from the expense - is the damn hassle of a complete re-install and setting everything back up on the machine again

In an ideal world I build a whole new machine so I can switch between new and old until the new one is setup completely... But that works out even more expensive!

That was my reasoning too before settling on the OC potential of the FX8320 . I still haven't tidied up all the cables or closed up the case yet! Anyway after a few days with the machine it really is a huge improvement over the Q6600. Big improvements across all applications. I initially said there wasn't wow factor but, everything is simply better now I game at 1920*1200 and the 10 or so games I've tested all show improvements. Should have done before and after benches....

 

[NeilF]

Oh... and I'm not looking forwards to Windows 8 either - Another thing putting me off

 

[FartInferno]

Oh... and I'm not looking forwards to Windows 8 either - Another thing putting me off

Got that too.... It's a whole new experience alright (At least ye olde desktop is still available)

 

[Scougar]

Neil> Windows 8 is horrible at first, but after a week (if you can bear it), you start getting used to where everything is etc. It really is fine. I have now found after upgrading to 8.1 I am annoyed at the changes lol. I will get used to them again and it will all be fine.

Windows 8... I keep sticking my disk into new builds or old machines (Only 1 machine obviously!) and just reactivating via the phone, brilliant MS, brilliant

If you look at the Sandy stuff... then for each generation add on 10% for the equivalent clock, and you will get roughly the gain from each version. I would personally be looking at the 4 core 4 threads chips if it were me again, but the i2500k (4 core no threading) is still a very good purchase, hence why it's held it's second hand price.

I don't know about the new sockets btw, I haven't kept my eyes on that, but you initially stated £200 budget? Second hand i2500k, second hand or B-grade Z68 board and some 2nd hand 8GB 1.5volt (or lower) DDR3 RAM, you'll be laughing (Oh and a cooler.. but that's upto you).

Look at the i2500k thread in the cpu section when the i2500k first came out, and just have a look at what people where posting about their framerate improvements. Look don't take me as gospel, but I have no reason to pull your leg.

EDIT: If you want to get a newer socket than Sandy, then I recommend you up your budget to at least £300. If you then decide to change your 7850 (and personally I would, as the CPU will be restricted by the card at that point), you will be in a very good place