Q9550 vs. E6600 No difference at all!!!!!!!!!! What???

[Spitfire7]

So I use to have the E6600 and thought that there would be a huge improvement by upgrading to the Q9550 especially for games like Flight Simulator X. So far I haven't notice a bit of difference and it is sooooo frustrating. I cant believe there would even still be lag with this awesome CPU in games. So what am I doing wrong? I still believe there should be a noticeable difference between the two CPUs but dont know why I am not getting it. Heres my specs below.

My Specs:
Quad Core Q9550 2.83GHz 1333Mhz 12MB cache 45nm
EVGA 8800GT 512MB Superclocked (Core 700, Mem 975)
2GB Corssair XMS2 DDR2 800 (4-4-4-12) 2.1 volts
EVGA 780i Mobo
700w OCZ GamerXStream PSU
320GB Hard drive 16MB cache 7200RPM
Sound Blaster Audigy SE
Windows XP

 

[Dougx1317]

It's probably your video card and RAM that are giving you lag. You would probably only see a difference in benchmarks. I'd recommend returning to your E6600 and spending the cash on a better video card and 2GB more of RAM.

 

[radguy]

yeah your e6600 had a good bit of speed to it. I wouldn't expect your framerates in any games to improve at all after getting the Q9550 with an 8800gt. If you want better fps in flight sim you needed to upgrade both the cpu and vga.

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

For one FSX doesn't care what card you have as long as it's 8800 or up, like literally better cards can score less. As for the cpu, despite the patches to add multicore support it hasn't really made much of an impact. It's just a terribly coded game. As for other games... I have to say the benefits of cpu upgrades have been vastly exaggerated. I went from a 939 opteron at 3 Ghz to a e6550 at 3 GHz, no dif. in games like Crysis. Then I clocked it up to 3.5 GHz... no dif. still. Then I went to a Q9450 at 3.4 GHZ.... no difference at all on a supposedly quadcore optimized game. Even my core2 based Celeron @ 2.4 GHz does well in Crysis. So just stick to the vga upgrades and games that are properly coded.

 

[Guest]

I noticed a difference going from a e6420 to a q9550... your obviously not running programs that utilize a quad core... thats why your not noticing that much of a difference

 

[bobbknight]

What LAN_deRf_HA said.

 

[atcbrownie]

I think a big issue with it is that you are playing FSX in xp not vista and with only 2gb of ram. I noticed a huge difference from my amd x2 6400 in xp versus my q9450 @3.4 ghz in vista. I don't know why anyone would want to play FSX in dx9 it looks so much better and is smother in dx10. Just my opinion. But I would not attempt vista with only 2gb of ram.

I play at max settings with a 9800gtx q9450 8gb ddr 800 on asus striker 2 formula consistantly at 32 FPS and get much better if I back down the traffic alone.

 

[boulard83]

As far as i Know, no game use a Quad at this momment.

 

[3Ball]

As far as i Know, no game use a Quad at this momment.

You are incorrect.

Supreme Commander, Crysis (series), Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead (demo and full will as well), Flight Sim actually does as well, Unreal Tournament 3. Far Cry 2 and Left 4 Dead use it quite well actually. Thats all I can think of off the top of my head, no its not alot, but far from "no games". In Far Cry 2 a Q6600 @ 2.4ghz runs the same as an E8400 @ 3.0ghz. Not to mention it will make the overall vista experience much better.

Best,

3Ball

 

[Spitfire7]

Thanks guys, I am going to keep messing around with it and tweeking it. Do you think I would drastically imporve in games if I just got another 8800GT in SLI?

Another thought, am I bottlenecking my CPU because of my GPU especially for Flight Sim X?

 

[swifty_morgan]

I haven't looked at Tom's benchies since they screwed them up...... a year ago ? But from what I remember, Flight sim was one of those games that nothing could make happy.

 

[megamanx00]

Yes, most of your games would run better if you got another 8800GT to run them in SLi, but probably not your flight sims. I recommend you overclock your CPU to get the full benefit of adding another 8800GT to run them in SLi, and maybe get some more RAM since flight sims generally use more system memory.

 

[Spitfire7]

So here's the update:

Computer starts up slightly faster and in windows things happen slightly faster, but things seem to be more unstable and I am getting lock ups when exiting games and some programs.

My Flight Sim X has seem to increase in performance by 5% or so. I know that because I am now able to increase some of the graphics slightly and still have a smooth frame rate.

Surprisingly Crysis has actually decreased in performance by 40%. This sucks. I have an increasingly amount of lag now in Crysis where before with my E6600 smooth as butter on all maxed out with DX10 patch with no ailising(sp?). Now feels like I put in an old CPU from way back in the day.

Also surprisingly COD4 has increased by 50%. I now can run with 4x ailising and still with flawless Frames.

So I dont know what to do at this point. I am contimplating sending it back and putting that money towards a new 8800GT. Or Should I keep it and just save for a new 8800GT with a combo of my Q9550 and 2 8800Gt's SLI?

 

[Spitfire7]

Hey guys is this all correct?

CPU voltage = 1.1v
Cpu GTL Vref boost Core 1 = 0.065v
CPU Freq. = 2,830 MHz
CPU Mult. = 8.5X
FSB = 333 MHz

Mobo:
FSB Freq = 1,332 (QDR) MHz
PCIe clock, Slot 1 = 5000 MHz (Gen2)
PCIe clock, Slot 2 = 2,500 MHz (Gen1)

Memory:
Mem Freq = 799 DDR2
Mem ratio = 1.2 x
FSB Freq = 333 MHz
CAS Latency = 4

Please tell me I need to change something and that is why I haven't seen the big increase that I was assuming I would see.

 

[megamanx00]

I think your voltage is suppose to be like 1.3625V under load, and of course speed step lowers it when it's not. Go into the BIOS and just put those CPU settings on auto for now and see what happens. If your voltage is set to 1.1 in the BIOS, yeah I can see how that could give you problems .

 

[Spitfire7]

I think your voltage is suppose to be like 1.3625V under load, and of course speed step lowers it when it's not. Go into the BIOS and just put those CPU settings on auto for now and see what happens. If your voltage is set to 1.1 in the BIOS, yeah I can see how that could give you problems .

Yeah everything is set to Auto right now.

So here are some problems I have noticed so far.

1. The computer freezes after I exit a game and some programs. Or it just loads for a long time and I dont have control and then control comes back after 2 minutes when exiting games.

2. Computer will not come back from sleep mode. Hard Drive and fans come on but no monitor.

Whats the deal?

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

FSX is a game that has caps, using a decent gpu, and from there you need a nice cpu, unlike most games, even MT games, where a faster cpu shows results. In FSX, its your minimum fps thatll cause problems, not necessarily the max fps, as a good cpu SHOULD raise your minimum fps.

A super clocked GT like you have should meet the gpu requirements, so that leaves cpu or something else going on, or possibly, FSX doesnt like any of your ocing, be it the gpu or the cpu, which also is a possibility. Time to tinker some more, but keep an eye on the minimal fps, as thatll be where you need to boost, not max

 

[Spitfire7]

Here are the correct volts read from Bios.
CPU Core 1.2v
CPU FSB 1.08v
Mem 2.1v

Should I do any raising?

 

[boulard83]

Habita is Just right, as i TOLD a no game REALLY use quad technologie. i NEVER read anything about game that REALLY use Quad, like telling Proc 1 do that, proc 2 do that and .......

THATS why you see lotta Duo on top list of benchmark. And my OLD E6850 still rocking tha dance floor.

 

[gkay09]

So here's the update:

Computer starts up slightly faster and in windows things happen slightly faster, but things seem to be more unstable and I am getting lock ups when exiting games and some programs.

My Flight Sim X has seem to increase in performance by 5% or so. I know that because I am now able to increase some of the graphics slightly and still have a smooth frame rate.

Surprisingly Crysis has actually decreased in performance by 40%. This sucks. I have an increasingly amount of lag now in Crysis where before with my E6600 smooth as butter on all maxed out with DX10 patch with no ailising(sp?). Now feels like I put in an old CPU from way back in the day.

Also surprisingly COD4 has increased by 50%. I now can run with 4x ailising and still with flawless Frames.

So I dont know what to do at this point. I am contimplating sending it back and putting that money towards a new 8800GT. Or Should I keep it and just save for a new 8800GT with a combo of my Q9550 and 2 8800Gt's SLI?

I think u should not send back the q9550 cos it would be very futureproof if not for gaming but for other tasks...
I don know much about bios settings...but my simple idea would be to put in additional 2 gigs of ram and check hw the games play...cos at max resolutions that too in vista, i think it would be more hungry for ram ...then always like others said change the gfx card or go for another 8800gt..instead of goin for another 8800gt u can wait and save for a 4850 and crossfire it later (ie if ur board is crossfire capable..)when u got some cash...but my 1st try would be adding more ram...

sorry dint see ur mobo...i think u should save money n go for gtx260 and sli it later...spend on ram nw...save the money and buy the gtx ...

 

[Guest]

gkay is right... if your experiencing slow down on program exit/startup... your harddrive is page-filing... meaning you don't have enough ram to store all the data you need into with out storing part of it on the hdd

Try 2 more gigs

If that doesn't help come back.... but it sounds like its a ram issue especially since vista is a ram hog

 

[runswindows95]

Another vote for adding more RAM first.

 

[lucuis]

If these games are really optimized to use multiple cores, then this benchmark along with others must be flawed... Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm confused as to where people are getting their info from.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/desktop-cpu-charts-q3-2008/Crysis-1680x1050,818.html

It doesn't matter how powerful the CPU is, or how many Cores the game utilizes if the VGA Card is the limit. You link shows just that.

 

[jaysins]

If it is crashing with the new cpu and not the old I would suggest you update the bios to your motherboard. I had to do this when I upgraded my to a q9450 to get it running as well as it is now. I never benchmarked games so I can offer no insight into that but stability is a world of difference.

 

[zodiacfml]

Get a better card. An Nvidia GTX or 4850 x2.