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Spec me an upgrade CPU/Mobo from a Q6600?

Draeger

Draeger

Draeger

Soldato
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My trusty Q6600+Asus P5K+4Gb Geil Ultra DDR2 6400 has served me well, it's been mildly overclocked to 3.2Ghz on air and has handled everything I've thrown at it over the past few years. In fact it still does fine today with everything I use it for. That said, I'm itching for an upgrade now. So I've a couple of questions for you good folk. :cool:

I'll need not only a new CPU but obviously a new mobo and RAM. I recently grabbed an MSI Twin Frozr R7850 2Gb from OcUK 'B-Grade' so I'm sorted for a GPU, should last me a fair while. With the 7850 replacing my old 9800GTX+ it's already given my system a new lease of life and is handling games very well indeed at 1920x1080. So I'm wondering what is today's 'bang per buck' equivalent of the Q6600 which was always a great 'bang per buck' chip? I'm a bit out of the loop with CPU's and mobos now, as far as 'what's hot/not' goes. It would be getting used as my main everyday system which would include web design, image editing with PS and Fireworks and a bit of gaming now and again.

The only caveat is that funds are fairly tight at the moment so I'm thinking the correct path to tread is that of a used mobo/CPU combo, perhaps from the MM? My budget is approx £100. See - told you it was gonna be tight. :D

What can I expect to pick up, second hand, for that sort of cash? I await your recommendations and advice!!

Ta.
 
Look for a cheap socket 1366 set up, you should get a CPU/Board for 100, people let them go for crazy little money really.

Problem is you need new RAM too...
 
Yeah. Could work out expensive although I've seen 4Gb DDR3 going for half decent prices in the MM recently. I'd manage with 4Gb for now and could grab another 4Gb at some point next month. Oh and I forgot to mention, I'm not really loyal to Intel or anything so an AMD would be considered but I know nothing about them or the various types available. My last AMD was an Athlon 3000XP from back in the day!
 
you can run dual channel ram on x58 also,so either grab another matching stick or buy a used 8gb kit

could also go p55 board and i5 750 or i3 540 and oc it,both would beat an oc q6600
 
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Cheers dudes. Had a search in the MM of past deals and there have been some half decent 1366 mobo+RAM combos go for anything up to £160 so all is not lost. Might need to stretch the budget a tad though.
 
On that budget you're not going to get much and it really doesn't make too much sense to upgrade. To make your upgrade worthwhile from the Q6600 I'd go to a 2500k (~£95 MM) a P67-B3 or Z68 motherboard (£40-£50) and 8Gb DDR3 (~£35-£40).
 
wam7 said:
On that budget you're not going to get much and it really doesn't make too much sense to upgrade. To make your upgrade worthwhile from the Q6600 I'd go to a 2500k (~£95 MM) a P67-B3 or Z68 motherboard (£40-£50) and 8Gb DDR3 (~£35-£40).
Click to expand...

I was toying with just sticking with the Q6600 but throwing another 4Gb DDR2 into the system to give it a little boost but I reckon it's debatable whether adding a further 4Gb to what I have already would make much difference? That and it would be perhaps a silly way to do things as far as cash outlay goes as DDR2 seems to command daft prices even used in comparison to DDR3. 'If it ain't broke, don't try and fix it' springs to mind, with the Quad doing what I need it to do at the mo', but you know how it gets when you start having the upgrade bug begin to scratch you!

If I hang fire until the end of April I'll be able to increase my budget to around the £200-£250 mark so perhaps a 2500k would be in reach at that point. Would making the jump to a 1366 i7 not be a substantial increase in performance compared to a Q6600? Are these little G0 Stepping's still really that good and worth hanging on to?
 
The end of April isn't that far away. I can strongly suggest waiting since an OC Q6600 is plenty adequate for the latest games provide you tweak the settings.
 
1366 socket are good but they run hot compared to 1155,plus they lack true sata3 and usb3,and they don't oc as high as sandybridge

8gb ram is what I'd go for plus a 64bit windows,it gets rid of any stuttering in games which you'd get with just 4gb
 
wazza300 said:
8gb ram is what I'd go for plus a 64bit windows,it gets rid of any stuttering in games which you'd get with just 4gb
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Do you mean go for 8Gb RAM in a prospective new system rather than add a further 4Gb to my current system? I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit on this system just now. :)
 
Yh on a new system,your right ddr2 prices are silly

Better off putting it towards a cheap used z68/77 board and a 2500k/2600k CPU
 
2500/2600K is the lowest I'd bother with coming from an overclocked Q6600 - those LGA775 quads are still good CPUs relatively speaking.
 
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