Upgrading from Q6600

fatman80000 · Jun 19, 2014

Hi there. My old PC with a Q6600 processor just died recently and I'm planning to build something with somewhat better specs. My video card's a HD5750, my monitor's a Samsung 21.5" 1920x1080 and I have a 650W PSU. Those three are the only parts that are still usable.

Currently, I'm looking at an i5 4440 but I don't know where it stands at the CPU Hierarchy chart. I don't really need anything very high end, just something with 4 cores, no overclocking. My old PC was used to play World of Warcraft and League of Legends. How does the i5 4440 compare to the i5 -680? Does the "-680" translate into "4680" if we're using "4440" as an example?

Any suggestions? AMD processors are okay with me. Thank you for your time.

RobCrezz · Jun 19, 2014

The i5 4440 is a great CPU and a great upgrade for you. Its about twice as fast as a i5 680. Should last you many years, its a top tier gaming cpu.

enemy1g · Jun 19, 2014

If you'e going to be playing WoW, you'll for sure want to stick with Intel.

And the i5-680 =/=i5-4680 (doesn't exist). The i5-4440 will be more than enough for what you're looking for. But if you're willing to stretch that budget a little, a Xeon E3 1230v3 would work better.

swifty_morgan · Jun 19, 2014

need a new motherboard and ram............ don't forget that.

IInuyasha74 · Jun 19, 2014

I am with enemy1g.

If you have about $250 to spend the best thing, and what will last longest, is to get a Xeon E3 1230v3.

Don't worry about AMD. They have some good units for people on a tight budget, but if you are looking at i5's then you are already past their top chip unless you decide you want to save a little.

swifty_morgan · Jun 19, 2014

before these guys lead you down the wrong path........... read my first post above............. to discount an amd build is nonsense. ........... but for $250 it'll be hard to do anything.

IInuyasha74 · Jun 19, 2014

swifty_morgan :

Your first post doesn't mention AMD, and I think every single person on this thread so far has said "Don't buy AMD", "Stick with Intel", "You don't need to consider AMD". So pointing out it was nonsense, was pointless.

Second, he is only asking about CPUs right no, not mentioned RAM or motherboard. Until he does its best to assume he already has that picked out, or is going to ask about that later. Regardless, he is looking at i5 4440 which is what he was originally thinking to get which is around $200 so that means suggesting things around that price range isn't leading him down the wrong path. It is doing exactly what should be done on this thread.

swifty_morgan · Jun 19, 2014

IInuyasha74 :

not everybody here realizes that you just can't put any processor on any board.......... think about that. maybe he does and this is just about ANY processor........... for any new board. I don't know....... not yet, do you?

amd might not be intel but amd 6300/8320/8350 will do a way better job than the q6600 and the system will cost less than buying the other team....... you guys gotta quit with the fan boy stuff and look at what's there. It might hurt some people to realize that not everybody has $500 for core components.

RobCrezz · Jun 19, 2014

swifty_morgan :

His OP was asking about the i5 4440, so I think its safe to assume its within his budget.

For World of warcraft, it makes sense to remain with intel.

This would do just fine to replace the current mobo/cpu/ram:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H81 Pro BTC ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($44.00 @ Newegg)
Memory: A-Data XPG V2 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $298.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-19 11:35 EDT-0400

logainofhades · Jun 19, 2014

For WoW and LoL, even an i3 4150 would be sufficient, and a good deal better than you old Q6600. I would consider a GPU upgrade at some point too. Not sure your level of WoW involvement, but I know the Ordos world boss fight sends my FPS into the teens. :lol:

WhiteSnake91 · Jun 19, 2014

I agree with the others and stick to Intel, the i5 4440 is a very strong quadcore, much better than the older q6600. I'd never get an AMD for MMO or RTS, the single core performance is pathetic in comparison to Intel's haswell.

Pair it with a decent h81 motherboard which still has usb 3.0 and sata 6 and you have a very potent little combo.

Like others have said, if you could stretch the CPU budget to a Xeon 1230v3 that would last even longer, it's an i7 cpu without integrated graphics but that wouldn't matter with a dedicated gpu anyway. It would age even better due to the 8 threads. The Xeon typically is within 10 dollars or so of what an i5 4670k would cost.

If I had of known about the Xeons when I was building my pc I would of went with one instead. I think with how strong the intel cpu's already are per core, overclocking is mostly just epeen for the majority of people, it doesn't take that much to play stuff on ultra at 1080p, not as much as the bleeding edge people like to portray.

Anyway, the Xeons used to be a nicely kept secret of sorts, but now for months people have been recommending them.

IInuyasha74 · Jun 19, 2014

swifty_morgan :

Fan boy stuff???
I have two computers in my room which are AMD based, and have bought and built two systems based on AMD for people recently. AMD is great if you need to save money, but if you are wanting to look at the test results and say that for $200 AMD's FX 8350 beats Intel's similarly priced i5 then clearly youa re being the fan boy.

He first mentioned Intel, not us. He first said i5, giving us a rough budget. Not us. Since he has an Q6600 its obviously he uses his stuff for a long time to come. Any i5 or Xeon CPU will give much better performance for a much longer amount of time, as compared to the FX 8350 which is already quite out of date and can't keep up with the majority of Intel processors.

What is leading him down the wrong path is to tell him to save $50, build an AMD system, and make him think it is going to last as long with what seems like good performance as the Core i5 or Xeon.

logainofhades · Jun 19, 2014

Blizzard games in general do not do very well with AMD either. My i5 2400 does better than my FX 8320 with the same exact GPU in WoW.

oxiide · Jun 19, 2014

fatman80000 :

Intel changed their naming system in the second i-series generation. The three digits of the first generation don't really match up.

The first 4 indicates that its fourth-generation (named Haswell). The other numbers just indicate variants. Basically any Haswell Core i5 will be very, very similar to any other in performance, as most variations just differ in a few hundred MHz. The only one that's considerably different are those with a 'K,' which indicates they have an unlocked frequency multiplier and can therefore be overclocked.

I think this is the hierarchy chart you're looking for. I personally think an i5 is the best way to go, and I'd personally recommend the most-recent i5-4690 if you aren't going to overclock. i5-4690K (which releases next week) if you will overclock.

fatman80000 · Jun 22, 2014

Thanks for your answers. I picked the i5 4440 because it was in the middle of the i5 price range. While I'm open to using AMD, I needed to know how to read the cpu hierarchy chart so I can compare relative performance.

I haven't been keeping up with cpu news so let's just say I didn't realize my Q6600 had become a living fossil in the cpu hierarchy (I do keep my stuff for a long time). I didn't know that the i5 cpus being offered in the market today were at the top tier of the chart and I was looking at one level above the Q6600 tier.

I don't live in the USA so I'll have to choose what's available locally. After i5 4440, the next available i5 is the 4570 but I'll do some more research. Intel and AMD's (like what's the difference between AMD's A series and FX series) naming conventions have left me scratching my head.

Whatever savings I make after choosing a cpu, I'll use to get more ram and a decent video card.

Thanks for your answers, they cleared up some of my confusion.

logainofhades · Jun 23, 2014

The i5 4440 is a good chip and a very big upgrade. Granted even an i3 4130 is a good jump over that Q6600. It was a great chip back in the day. I had its little brother, an X3210. It was essentially a Q6400. Great overclocker. Had it running at 3.6ghz with an Abit IP35 pro. http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=396391

oxiide · Jun 23, 2014

fatman80000 :

Most of the i5-4000's differ only in their clock speed, and only by 100-200 MHz in most cases. They all perform very similarly. I think you'll be very happy with the -4440 and you'd likely never notice a difference versus the others.

AMD's A-series is their APU's, which are CPUs that include integrated video hardware. Its faster than Intel's integrated video (HD 4000, etc.), but the CPU itself is terrible. They're low-power and best suited to laptops. AMD's FX-series is their enthusiast desktop processors, but I think your i5-4440 is a better choice than any of them.

The Q6600 is 6-7 years old now. Its performance is actually still respectable, but you've definitely made the right choice to upgrade.

Upgrading from Q6600

Distinguished

Expert

Honorable

Illustrious

Splendid

Illustrious

Splendid

Illustrious

Expert

Titan

Distinguished

Splendid

Titan

Distinguished

Distinguished

Titan

Distinguished

Share this page