Q6600

[J Coffey]

I was wondering if I get a GTX 295 would it be bottlenecked by my Q6600 @ 2.4?

If so how much would I have to overclock it to get some of the power back.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Usually, 3Ghz is best, as youll see a fair amount of improvement in most games at that speed

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Yea, let me correct that by saying at least 3Ghz, as we all know, the faster the better

 

[J Coffey]

I have never overclocked before, I tried to follow a guide before but a lot of the options they were chaning in their bios I couldn't find in mine. (Motherboard is p5b deluxe)

My Q6600 temp while gaming is around 60C, how much higher could that go?

 

[megame255]

It sounds like you're probably using the stock hsf. If you're looking to overclock your Q6600, you should really invest in an aftermarket cooler. Especially if you have a GO stepping Q6600, you shouldn't have much problem getting to at least a stable 3ghz if you can keep it cool enough. Also, while using a guide for overclocking is a good place to start if you've never done it before, the menu setup in bios can vary depending on the motherboard. Try looking at the instructions that came with yours to get to the same menu options in the guide if you have trouble finding them.

 

[J Coffey]

Back to the main question. Will it bottleneck?

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

OK, time for an in depth answer. In the truist definition of the term bottleneck, no, and by that I mean, it most likely will not prevent you from playing a game....BUT, there will be slowdowns. The main loss will be minimal fps not average fps. Your minimum frames can cause severe slowdowns in games, giving you a slide show effect. Ocing your cpu can up your minimal fps, and prevent this from happening, as well possibly provide high enough fps to go to the next higher or highest in game settings, such as more eye candy, or greater AI/cpu in game usage.

 

[megame255]

Back to what everyone's been saying...Yeah, of course it will bottleneck at stock speeds. It probably will a bit even overclocked at 3 ghz+. But that would be a worthwhile improvement with a gtx 295. If you want to get the most out of the setup you already have and see the most improvement in games, I'd either overclock the Q6600 or get a faster cpu at stock speeds in addition to the new video card.

 

[michaelmk86]

you need to OC at list to 3.2GHz

 

[J Coffey]

thanks for all your help!
now to start reading some guides!