Do I Have a q6600 holding back my nvidia 460

[d@nny]

I noticed using 3d mark vantage that my gfx was around p12000 close to target range but my cpu was around p7100 and target range was p8000. Most people with the q6600 and gtx 460 set up had lower or very similar overall scores to mine.

Overall Score
P10810
P11100
GPU Score
P12463
P12700
CPU Score
P7734
P8100

What kind of percentage increase would I get on my GPU if I were to overclock my q6600. Would it be worth it? Everything is stock. Could someone with a q6600 let me know what their benchmarks are?

 

[browsingtheworld]

Depends on your resolution. At 1080p the Q6600 at 2.4ghz should be enough for the 460. At lower resolutions it'll bottleneck it but it might not matter considering it'll probably give you 60 fps anyways (and if you use vsync, like you should, 60 fps is the limit).

If you want to be sure you can overclock the Q6600 to 3.0ghz by raising the BCLK to 166 if your RAM allows. I wouldn't worry too much about it either way. IF you have a Dell or something you can tapemod the 6600.

 

[d@nny]

Would changing my monitor (1080p) to something not as fancy lessen the load on my cpu and give me smoother gameplay. is 1080p synonymous with 1900x1,080. I run most of my games at native monitor res which is 1024 768. Would getting a smaller monitor, mines like a 32 inch wide screen increase perfromance? Also its an hp case and hp stock mobo. Do I have to tapemode or can I use some third party program to O/C my cpu. Should I try o/cing my ram as well? Im hesitant since i know even less about ocing ram.

 

[browsingtheworld]

For your resolution the GPU will be bottlenecked in the sense it's not as fast as it can possibly be but it should still be more than sufficient without overclocking.

At 1920x1080 (1080p) the performance will not increase since you're using a higher resolution but the card will be fully utilized. For example at 1280x1024 your GPU is only at 85% use but it gives you 90fps while at 1920x1080 it's 100% utilized but you're getting 60 fps.

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=58361 <--tapemod

 

[d@nny]

How do I decide whether I want to overclock my CPU/RAM or both? Does giving more power to cpu cores make them work faster? Im thinking about buying a nice power supply for that reason.

edit: Or would I not be able to mess with how much voltage everything gets and all that because i dont have an advanced bios since my pc is an HP.

 

[browsingtheworld]

I would just leave it be since the bottleneck should be slight and it's still overkill for that resolution. For higher resolutions the bottleneck will be be reduced or disappear altogether.

Who cares about benchmarks if it maxes out everything you play.

 

[sportsfanboy]

Technically the Q6600 at 2400ghz is the bottle neck with a system running a gtx460 or better. Will you notice it in games,maybe-maybe not. I can tell you in benchmarks you will, and will increase your score almost linearly with higher frequency on that chip.

You can leave it alone and overclock it if you suffer from bad or undesirable frame rates in the future. Or just try to get it to 3.1 or preferably higher.

 

[d@nny]

http://www.compsource.com/pn/GC672AAABA/Hewlett_Packard_195/ This is my computer by the way. I tried to use CPU-Z and other programs to see what type of specific mobo I have.
Is it the mobo that keeps you from O/Cing. Is tape modding my only option, and why is it I hear that its better to O/C from the bios directly rather than a 3rd party program in windows. if my bios is locked will 3rd party programs still run.

 

[d@nny]

Best answer selected by d@nny.

 

[sportsfanboy]

http://www.compsource.com/pn/GC672AAABA/Hewlett_Packard_195/ This is my computer by the way. I tried to use CPU-Z and other programs to see what type of specific mobo I have.
Is it the mobo that keeps you from O/Cing. Is tape modding my only option, and why is it I hear that its better to O/C from the bios directly rather than a 3rd party program in windows. if my bios is locked will 3rd party programs still run.

You usually can't overclock with premade computers because they more often than not lock the bios so you will have few options. The only thing you can do if you really want to overclock is to try some software out. I can't give you any recommendations because I never have overclocked VIA software before. Most Q6600 can do 2800mhz to 3000mhz with stock volts. So you might be able to reach that with software not sure. Or another route to go if your hell bent on overclocking for real is to change out the mobo. You can pick up a cheap socket 775 motherboard on e-bay for around 30 bucks, and around 50 on newegg. An outside chance is to flash the bios if you can figure out what board it is exactly. This is the cheapest and potentially best option but also the most dangerous. You do run the risk of bricking it. That said if your going to buy a mother board, this might not be a bad thing to try, you might get lucky and save some money.