upgrade from E6550

[GreatWaves]

Hi,
I'm not so familiar these days with the detailed comparative specs of Intel cpu's from over the past few years. I have a comp with a E6550 Core 2 Duo 2.33Ghz. I was considering getting a used Q6600 Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz. That would also have twice the L2 cache at 8MB. That particular model happens to also be nicely compatible with the mobo and installed BIOS version.

That looks to me like a significant upgrade for this comp. By doubling the number of cores and L2 cache, it should be more than twice as fast.

BUT I know Intel has had CPU releases before where the CPU doesn't perform near at what it looks like it should and then they improve on it with a later model. So I'm just wondering if this upgrade would actually be as it looks to be in terms of performance upgrade:

E6550 Core 2 Duo 2.33Ghz, L2 4MB
to
Q6600 Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz, L2 8MB

Thanks

 

[cmndr_andi]

Yea, the Q6600 is a good CPU and a decent upgrade if you have a E6550 - since increasingly games and applications are making use of more than two cores. However, please bear in mind that the cost of the Q6600 is still relatively high since these CPUs are well known to overclock well (~3.5GHz with the G0 version of the CPU and a good board). May I ask what motherboard you are using? Also, are you interested in overclocking the CPU?

 

[GreatWaves]

Thanks for help. The board is Asus P5K. I'm a little squeamish about getting into bios flashing even though I used to do that stuff, so choosing the Q6600 is also influenced by it being one of the higher end cpu's that are compatible with bios 0603.

But what you say about the CPU sounds great. Not sure yet if I'll overclock. Again I used to do that a lot, but I'll see if I do that with this one. But if it oc's well that's a good indication of it overall. I did read about it being a cool runner, which I like as I'll part of the time do distributed computing with it... for team ocuk of course

From what you say, sounds like I should buy it. I'll have to bid on it, so this info gives me a good idea on where to draw the line.

Cheers

 

[cmndr_andi]

Ah yes, the P5K - that is a good board. Its uses a P35 chipset and is known to overclock well with a Q6600 - so long as you are using the G0 stepping Q6600 and have a decent CPU cooler.

So long as you can get the Q6600 (G0 stepping) for a decent price, then you are on to a winner.

 

[GreatWaves]

Yep it's the GO stepping one. And I did not know until now about the P5K's street cred. That's good to know.

The cooler that I have on order is a scythe partly chosen because of space in the case and for silence. The case by the way has an intake tunnel that extends down to the CPU fan.

Edit: oops sorry, I forgot that that link was a Web store, not just a spec page. Removed it.

It's a shuriken rev B

Cheers

 

[cmndr_andi]

That shuriken is a good cooler - especially if you are restriced to low-profile coolers due to your case. You should be able to get a nice overclock with that cooler.

 

[GreatWaves]

Good info, thanks. I've been using only laptops and been away from building desktops for some time now, so I'm now choosing things like this cooler just on a review or two and instinct. Glad that it was a good choice. Along with the intake tunnel in the case it should be an excellent cooler then

Cheers

 

[j.col]

You should have access to the MM, a G0 Q6600 used goes for around £50. Also it would be a shame to not overclock that chip. You have a good mobo and cooler so just go for it . Its really easy, just raise the FSB to 333 and leave the multi at 9, so 333 x 9 = 3.0GHz. Most G0's will do this on stock voltage, or if not, just raise the vcore a couple of levels. That's really it. Then just stress test it with intel burn test for 20 passes on high settings

 

[GreatWaves]

You should have access to the MM, a G0 Q6600 used goes for around £50. Also it would be a shame to not overclock that chip. You have a good mobo and cooler so just go for it . Its really easy, just raise the FSB to 333 and leave the multi at 9, so 333 x 9 = 3.0GHz. Most G0's will do this on stock voltage, or if not, just raise the vcore a couple of levels. That's really it. Then just stress test it with intel burn test for 20 passes on high settings

I like the sound of that and you're right it should be overclocked with potential like that. I'll definitely raise it up to the vcore point and probably raise that a notch if necessary.

I haven't heard of intel burn test, but I'll look into that. I've noticed that people still use Prime95 as a tester as well.

So this is a worthy cpu apparently. Thanks both for great info on this. I'll be getting it then

Cheers

 

[j.col]

That is why Q6600's were so popular, they are very overclockable, I still use one on my pc and my kids pc. Mine is at 3.4ghz
You can use either/and prime95 or IBT, but IBT will find an unstable overclock a lot faster than prime.
Just run realtemp or coretemp while running the test to keep an eye on temps.
You will be fine upto 80.C so you should have a lot of leeway with a decent cooler.
also the G0 stepping is also called a slacr
my kids have the B3 stepping, (sl9um) they are hotter and need more voltage, but its at 3.3ghz on my kids mobo

 

[skyjawa]

Its a crime to get a Q6600 and not overclock - its what it was made made for.

I'm not overclocking genius but mine runs and has been running at 3.2GHz all day long for ages. Thats with an ASUS P5QLE board, it will go higher but I wasn't looking for extremes.

 

[GreatWaves]

I haven't heard of realtemp or coretemp... I'll have to check those out. I used to use motherboard monitor

So 80 C is considered a good maximum load temp for this when pushing it with something like IBT?

But yeah I'll overclock it. Like skyjawa I won't get extreme, but I will "take it where it wants to go" and I guess this CPU doesn't want to sit still.

By the way, the last time that I installed a cooler with arctic silver 5 was on a P4HT. The conventional wisdom with those was to put a bead of AS5 in the center of the heat spreader that would spread to about 4 or 5 mm short of the edges (something like that).

Is it roughly the same with these quad cores or is it better to just spread the AS5 thinly and evenly over the whole heat spreader?

Cheers

 

[raf]

By the way, the last time that I installed a cooler with arctic silver 5 was on a P4HT. The conventional wisdom with those was to put a bead of AS5 in the center of the heat spreader that would spread to about 4 or 5 mm short of the edges (something like that).

Is it roughly the same with these quad cores or is it better to just spread the AS5 thinly and evenly over the whole heat spreader?

Cheers

I upgraded to a q6600 from a e6600 last year and used a pea sized bead of paste in the middle of the cpu. Once I stuck the cooler on I swivelled it a few degrees side to side gently to spread the paste and it worked fine for me.

 

[IvanDobskey]

I upgraded to a q6600 from a e6600 last year and used a pea sized bead of paste in the middle of the cpu. Once I stuck the cooler on I swivelled it a few degrees side to side gently to spread the paste and it worked fine for me.

Pea sized is actually rather large. It should be more grain of rice sized.

But yes, this is the application method I use and it works well.

 

[raf]

Pea sized is actually rather large. It should be more grain of rice sized.

But yes, this is the application method I use and it works well.

It did seem a lot to me when I applied it (had always used the rice grain method in the past) but I'd read a few accounts of people saying they used more paste for q6600s compared to e6600s. It probably made absolutely no difference using the extra but my temps have been fine

 

[GreatWaves]

Ok thanks guys. I was asking in case it might make a difference when there is 4 cores around the center instead of one core at the center. I don't know how widely the four cores are distributed around the center point.

I remember that the logic of putting only just enough AS5 was that the core and AS5 conduct heat most effectively if a high concentration of heat conduction is forced to go directly up through the heat spreader. I recall also that the silver particles in the AS5 align themselves somehow in reaction to the heat.

Does everyone store their AS5 tip-down? I remember that that was recommended so that the particles gradually settle toward the tip instead of to one side of the tube.

Cheers

 

[GreatWaves]

By the way, I just remembered that my current E6550 (2.33Ghz) is GO stepping as well (B stepping). So is that similarly renowned for how easily it overclocks? So it would as easily OC to 3.0Ghz and above?

If so, then after upgrading this comp to the Q6600, I could make an extra effort to get another P5K mobo (or similarly good mobo), decent 775 cooler and run the E6550 as a no-case 24/7 cruncher. I think I might have an extra license for WinXP kicking around that I could use for it.

Cheers

 

[FatRakoon]

I have not long gone from my darling 6600 to an I7 via an i3 for about 10 minutes.

My honest opinion is that I have utterly wasted my money completely.

At stock, the I7 is faster for sure, especially when encodign our youth clubs videos into DVD.

But ONLY when I get rid of HyperThreading, other wise its a hell of a lot slower, although to be honest clock for clock, I doubt that there is anything really in it.

My I have had both the I7 and the Q6600 at 3.4 ( The 6600 runs great at 3.6 but to comapre them it was 3.4 ) and my real life tests showed them to be the same speed in most thigns give or take a mere few seconds.

Space marine now flickers like hell and seems to be so sluggish that it actually hangs for a second or so every few seconds, its almost unplayable at times. I never had this with the Q6600 ( Same GFX and its now upped to 16GB as opposed to the 8GB in the 6600 )

Couple that with this junk ASUS pile of crap motherboard instead of a good Gigabyte and I cannot play more than 2 levels on Dawn Of War without it hanging.

Utter junk.

Thankfully I am a hoarder and I have not been stupid enough to get rid of my Q6600 and so until I get this rubbish I7 stable and running as quick as my Q6600 is... Its staying in my daughters PC.

 

[Sasahara]

I have not long gone from my darling 6600 to an I7 via an i3 for about 10 minutes.

My honest opinion is that I have utterly wasted my money completely.

At stock, the I7 is faster for sure, especially when encodign our youth clubs videos into DVD.

But ONLY when I get rid of HyperThreading, other wise its a hell of a lot slower, although to be honest clock for clock, I doubt that there is anything really in it.

My I have had both the I7 and the Q6600 at 3.4 ( The 6600 runs great at 3.6 but to comapre them it was 3.4 ) and my real life tests showed them to be the same speed in most thigns give or take a mere few seconds.

Space marine now flickers like hell and seems to be so sluggish that it actually hangs for a second or so every few seconds, its almost unplayable at times. I never had this with the Q6600 ( Same GFX and its now upped to 16GB as opposed to the 8GB in the 6600 )

Couple that with this junk ASUS pile of crap motherboard instead of a good Gigabyte and I cannot play more than 2 levels on Dawn Of War without it hanging.

Utter junk.

Thankfully I am a hoarder and I have not been stupid enough to get rid of my Q6600 and so until I get this rubbish I7 stable and running as quick as my Q6600 is... Its staying in my daughters PC.

I suspect it's not the i7 that's junk, but something else. Old out of date software, driver issues or faulty hardware. What i7 do you have?

 

[FatRakoon]

I suspect it's not the i7 that's junk, but something else. Old out of date software, driver issues or faulty hardware. What i7 do you have?

Oh yeah, I have no doubt that its not entirely the CPU.

The Motherboard is an ASUS P7H55-M
I got this with an I3 and the I3 is great in it. I have had it floating at 3.8 rock solid. The Board is in itself fine.

The Sound Card is an XFI Fatality and is also a great card. Its served me well over the years.

The GFX is a GTX250 and sure, its no killer these days, but in the Q, its done its job flawlessly.

The RAM is Kingston... Again, when I got the I3 in teh ASUS it had 2x2GB and I have bought the same stuff but 4x4GB plus I have been using Kingston in that Q too and I am happy with it.

Not too long ago, my OCZ PSU failed ( Not the first time an OCZ failed but its definitely going to be the last ) and I had to buy somethign to time me over and so craplins helped out with a G7-880w for now. I had thought that maybe the PSU was to blame for this I7 being so shafty and so I am now sporting a Corsair 850w but not made any difference.

Its had a Fresh install too! - My C: on the Q was a pair of 32GB SSD's but now I have gone to HD again, but that will not account for it beign so poor.

When I switch Hyperthreading off, its fairly nippy... Still crashes but its vastly quicker ( For the programs I use - lets be fair here - The programs that I use simply dont like HT thats all )

But games like Dawn Of War SoulStorm ( When there is loads going on at the same time ) and Sapce Marine ( Again, when there is loads happening ) the whole PC starts to jerk about... I never once saw this on the Q6600 at stock.

It could simply be the Mobo needs some setting that I am missing perhaps, but what is it? I dont know.

One thing I do know and that is that this I7 is utterly useless.

Oh I do have another Mobo that the I7 does run flawlessly on however... It will not let me switch off HT and it has no PCI slots so for me, its useless.

EDIT :-
Oh sorry I forgot... Its a Socket 1156 860 @ 2.80 - yeah, I know!