Spec me a CPU to replace the Q6600

[nippynoo]

Looking to upgrade a couple of home PCs, for under £300 each, with new CPU + M/B . But I'm completely out of touch with the latest families of processors etc and need some help. Last time I upgraded a couple of years ago I got Q6600's so that was quite easy, as it was the obvious "best-value" choice. But technology has moved on and now there are more choices..

(1) So which CPU?
I value quietness, so lower the CPU nm, the better I guess, for power consumption/fan noise. But I need ultra-performance (occasionally), so quad-core CPU maybe?

(2) I've got stack of old memory - can I re-use that? Think its DDR2

(3) And which M/B?

(4) And lastly, will I see much of a speed improvement over a Q6600?

thanks

 

[eddiew]

By ultra performance, what do you mean? Are you a gamer, photoshopper, video creator? Optimal CPU depends on typical use

 

[cmndr_andi]

Please bear in mind that the Q6600s may be a bit old now, but they remain excellent CPUs, even by todays standards.

Are the Q6600s overclocked, and what motherboards are you using at the minute? Also, what stepping are they? (use CPU-Z to check)

As for upgrading, you will be wanting at least an Intel i5 750 system or an AMD Phenom II X4 system to see meaningful performance gains over the Q6600.

Also, what do you use the systems for?

 

[stulid]

Just keep and overclock your Q6600.

Its still an amazing cpu that just needs a little kick, only get a new cpu and motherboard when you can get a high end i5(750 minimum) or even better a i7(930).

New motheboards need newer DDR3 ram.

 

[eddiew]

Well, strictly you could buy an AM2+ board and stick a Phenom II 955 or 965 in it...

But depending on how far that Q6600 overclocks, it may not be worth it.

 

[nippynoo]

..using Abit Fata1ity F190HD m/bs, not sure about the Q6600 stepping, will check later - not overclocked in any way (wanted to keep running temperature as low as poss). (I like quietness) (Hmm could add water cooling I guess?)

..use the sytems mainly for 70% general office, 20% games, 10% number crunching (CAD/CAM)

So do I stick with what I've got, or change? Boot-ups times to be getting slower and slower. I like what I've read so far about the 35nm i5.. and I like to have at least one decent PC in the house..

Thanks again

 

[eddiew]

There's plenty of very quiet air coolers would handle a Q6600 on overclock - and honestly, they're not bad chips at all, if I had one I don't think I'd find any of the current market choices to be compelling enough to buy

 

[OzZie]

..using Abit Fata1ity F190HD m/bs, not sure about the Q6600 stepping, will check later - not overclocked in any way (wanted to keep running temperature as low as poss). (I like quietness) (Hmm could add water cooling I guess?)

..use the sytems mainly for 70% general office, 20% games, 10% number crunching (CAD/CAM)

So do I stick with what I've got, or change? Boot-ups times to be getting slower and slower. I like what I've read so far about the 35nm i5.. and I like to have at least one decent PC in the house..

Thanks again

If your usage was the opposite way around (i.e games / rendering at 70%) then you may look at getting a new system socket. However, just get a decent air cooler and overclock the crap out of it. If you get it just to 3.2ghz, that's around 33% faster! Even a stock Q6600 would be adequate for 20% gaming usage.

If you system feels slow, buy a decent hard drive (either an SSD) or a 1TB Samsung F3 or similar. Make sure your RAM timings are as low as possible and that you have at least 4gb of RAM if your system. Make sure not to install any crap or bloated software and keep running defrag and cleaning tools (unless you get an SSD) to maintain the drive.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would probably get some heatsinks for the VRMs or at least make sure that the VRMs are getting adequate airflow if you need to increase the voltage when overclocking.

 

[alihassan602]

Overclock the Q6600, I've had mines 2 years, still no performance issues and it's a great overclocker.