Overclocked C2 or C4

[TheOptimist]

I've got an E6600 Core2 chip at the moment overclocked to around the 3.2 mark and I'd like to setup water cooling to try and eek it out further. My question is should I bother with the water cooling for a few more clocks or should I just buy a Core2Quad and then try and overclock?

I've got an Arctic 7 on the chip at the moment and whilst it's rated for the C2Q's seeing as I'd be getting the Q6600 I'm not sure how good it's going to be when I start clocking the quad.

Thoughts? I would like to go watercooling soon but which one is more value for money at the moment. I don't intend on a full system upgrade for at least six months...

TheO

 

[jak731]

what do you use the system for?

 

[Typhoon]

Most Q6600 will reach 3.2 and more and selling yours and getting a SH Q6600 will be the cheaper than getting watercooling gear.

 

[EvilOne]

Well i have my Q6600 at 3.4 ghz, and i dont even have one of the best air coolers on it(only a Ultima-90i). I dont think watercooling is really needed unless your crazy and want to go for 3.8 ghz or higher. I could quite happly drop my cpu overclock down a bit too, as i dont think i have ever used it at 100% yet, apart from stability testing lol.

 

[Rroff]

Personally I hardly use the extra core capacity on my Q6600 over the E6600 I had in before I wouldn't spend the money personally... if you want more clock speed then buy an E8x00 if you really need quad cores then get the Q6600 but otherwise stick with what you have.

 

[TheOptimist]

what do you use the system for?

Mainly use the system for playing games (natch) although I would like to start encoding some of my DVD collection so that's why I was thinking about the Quad Core chip.

Personally I hardly use the extra core capacity on my Q6600 over the E6600 I had in before I wouldn't spend the money personally... if you want more clock speed then buy an E8x00 if you really need quad cores then get the Q6600 but otherwise stick with what you have.

I suspect that for the most part I wouldn't end up using the extra cores however because of the video encoding I reckon the Quad Core might be a better bet.

Still interested in doing the water cooling though - haven't done anything like that yet, and I've got so many fans in the rig it can sound a bit like a helicopter under load

Thanks all for the replies...I'll have a bit of a think about it and come pay day (next week) I might plump for some bits so I can get techy/geeky and annoy the wife

 

[Kelt]

I've got an E6600 Core2 chip at the moment overclocked to around the 3.2 mark and I'd like to setup water cooling to try and eek it out further. My question is should I bother with the water cooling for a few more clocks or should I just buy a Core2Quad and then try and overclock?

I've got an Arctic 7 on the chip at the moment and whilst it's rated for the C2Q's seeing as I'd be getting the Q6600 I'm not sure how good it's going to be when I start clocking the quad.

Thoughts? I would like to go watercooling soon but which one is more value for money at the moment. I don't intend on a full system upgrade for at least six months...

TheO

A lot of later games are starting to use more than 2 cores now. Well chuffed with my upgrade from a 2180 to a 6600.