Tom's Hardware > Forum > CPU & Components > CPUs > E6600 ---> E8500 or Q9550 or neither??

E6600 ---> E8500 or Q9550 or neither??

Forum CPU & Components : CPUs - E6600 ---> E8500 or Q9550 or neither??

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mataus   09-30-2009 at 05:29:23 PM

Hi,

I’m looking to upgrade my CPU (E6600) and have been looking through various forums to try and decide, but most refer to Vista and many talk about overclocking. My main use for the computer I’m upgrading is Flighsim 9 and FSX.

My current specs are:

Asus P5QL PRO
CORE 2 DUO E6600
OCZ PC2-5400 4-4-4-12 2GB KIT
ASUS HD4890 1GB GDDR5
WIN XP PRO SP3
2x SATA HDD's (nothing special)

I don’t want to change from XP and I’m not interested in overclocking. My two choices are either (or neither):

E8500 or Q9550 (limit of my wallet)

Some say high speed Duo and others say the Quad is better. Based on my spec and what I want to use it for, what is the right direction. Also, would changing my RAM from 667mhz to 1066mhz make any difference?

Thanks
Mataus

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Bronze CPUs badge ulysses35   09-30-2009 at 05:41:32 PM
- 0 +

Q9550 will give the better performance long term - more cores etc. games tend to run quicker on dual core cpus - mainly due to higher clock frequency. However a decent quad will give you more than enough performance - and in future more software will be able to take advantage of the extra cores

Reply to ulysses35
mataus   09-30-2009 at 05:46:24 PM
- 0 +

Thanks for the advice. I might wait a month and see if there are any price drops on the quads.

Mataus

Reply to mataus
Bronze CPUs badge jsc   09-30-2009 at 06:04:41 PM
- 0 +

Q9550. Because the Q9550 (and the E8500) has a 333 MHz FSB frequency, you will need faster RAM if you are going to overclock. DDR2-800 memory will get you to 3.4 GHz. easily.

There really isn't anything called DDR2-1066 RAM. Got your attention now? :) JEDEC (google it) does not recognize anything faster than DDR2-800. All DDR2-1066 RAM is is DDR2-800 tested to run at the higher 1066 frequency, generally at a higher voltage and looser timings. And any good DDR2-800 RAM will do that.

If you are going to use the stock heatsink and you are going to overclock, you will also need a better heatsink. The heatsink that comes with the 45 nm Intel CPU's is about half the size of the 65 nm heatsink.

Two popular Core2 HSF's are:
Sunbeam
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835207004
Xigmatec Dark Knight
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233029
----------
Overclocking since 1978 - Z80 (TRS-80) from 1.77 MHz to 2.01 MHz


Reply to jsc
RetiredChief   09-30-2009 at 06:08:27 PM
- 0 +

+1 mataus and jsc
On memory - Bigger boost would be increasing the memory. I would go with 2 x 2 for 4 gigs or just get 2 1gig sticks to match your orginal memory.. I'm guessing that you are using 32 bit. With a 32 Bit you will only have a "usable" 3 gigs, but that may be better than runing 4 sticks.

As to speed. Your bus speed is 333 MHz. (x4 = FSB of 1333). The DDR2-667 will be at a 1::1 ratio.The main advantage of increasing Memory speed is if you overclock, which you are not planning. If you want to increase Mem speed - go with DDR2-800 (PC6400). The change from 2 ->4 gigs will give a better boost while the change in Memory speed will be very small. (note: DDR2 over PC6400 is just overclocked DDR2 PC6400 as JSC noted.


Message edited by RetiredChief on 09-30-2009 at 06:11:02 PM
Reply to RetiredChief
PsychoSaysDie   09-30-2009 at 06:09:40 PM
- 0 +

Q

------------------------------ Core I7 920 D0 @ 4.2Ghz
MSI X58 Pro-E
32GB SSD, WD Blacks In R0
Sapphire HD 5870's In XFire
 Reply to PsychoSaysDie
mataus   09-30-2009 at 06:12:14 PM
- 0 +

Looks like a Quad is what i need then.

Is it worth changing to PC2-6400 (thats the google) or not?

Thanks for the advice on the heatsink aswell.

Mataus

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to mataus
mataus   09-30-2009 at 06:21:12 PM
- 0 +

Looks like my post went in later than others.

Will i not have any issues running 4gb?

Mataus

Reply to mataus
PsychoSaysDie   09-30-2009 at 06:28:32 PM
- 0 +

Get PC8500

------------------------------ Core I7 920 D0 @ 4.2Ghz
MSI X58 Pro-E
32GB SSD, WD Blacks In R0
Sapphire HD 5870's In XFire
 Reply to PsychoSaysDie
mataus   09-30-2009 at 06:31:32 PM
- 0 +

2gb or 4gb?

Mataus

Reply to mataus
Bronze CPUs badge jsc   09-30-2009 at 06:31:49 PM
- 0 +

mataus wrote :


Is it worth changing to PC2-6400 (thats the google) or not?


If you are planning to overclock. There's a lot of people running Q9550's at stock speed. I'm not one of them however. :D

I figure that you could reach 3.0 GHz (350 MHz bus freq) with your existing memory and cooling.
----------
Overclocking since 1978 - Z80 (TRS-80) from 1.77 MHz to 2.01 MHz


Reply to jsc
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