Squeezing some more out of my 775 build

[ellispa]

Hi There

Have an Abit IN9 32X 780i motherboard, 3gig of RAM, and a Q6600 at the moment, coupled with an 8800 ultra.

This was all pretty quick in the day, but now i7 is out, its getting old (er) hat.

However, I am not ready to ditch it yet, so while I may get a new graphics card (a 5870 seems like the best at the mo, at least that I can afford) I would like to squeeze some more out of the 775 socket before I go all out and get an i7.

So, with a budget of about £200, should I get a 3.3ghz e8600, a 3ghz Q9650, or should I just try and overclock my Q6600.

Mainly play games - in fact, assume that all I do, so does a quad core make much difference, or is it all about speed for games?

I've tried overclocking, but I am fumbling around in the dark a bit, and don't seem to get much success with it. However, as it is essentially free, I am prepared to learn a bit more if someone can point me in the direction of an idiots guide (google brings up loads of results, but its a wheat from the chaff situation really, nothing I have come across explains it in simple enough terms - something that makes me think I should just buy a faster processor!).

Thanks in advance.

Cheers


Paul
Cardiff Wales

 

[Rustyy117]

Theres some good C2D/C2Q guides in the Overclocking section here at Tom's, that would be a good place to start learning about overclocking.

Personally I would just by a Prolimatech Megahalems (or similiar air cooler) and overclock that Q6600 to atleast 3ghz. It'll be alot cheaper than buying a new processor and You'll learn alittle about overclocking.

I certainly wouldn't buy a C2D, theres a good chance that new games coming out will use 4 cores, The Q9650 is a great processor but I wouldn't invest alot of money on 775 anymore.

 

[p55ibexpeak]

^ Yeah what he said. 3Ghz is a given for Kentsfield even on stock cooling. If not, get a good cpu cooler for ~20 quid and then blow the rest on a new gpu.

Just load bios default & then up FSB to 333Mhz so that 9 x 333 = ~ 3Ghz. Leave everything else as is or auto. If it fails, bump SPP, MCP & HT voltages up 1 notch. Do memtest for 3+ passes. Any more questions, go to overclocking forum.

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/6277/03bc4.jpg

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/3576/05ks8.jpg

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/240001-29-howto-overclock-quads-duals-guide

http://www.evga.com/forumsarchive/tm.asp?m=222688&mpage=1&key=%F0%B6%97%A0

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

You're on the fence as I was. My 775 died on me so I had to upgrade to i5 for gaming/video encoding. i7 is too cost-prohibitive for me.

 

[capt_taco]

For the money, you can't beat overclocking the chip you've got.

The Q6600 is a step behind cutting-edge, but not so far behind that it's worthless. I'd save your money for a new machine and see if you can squeeze another year or so out of this one.

 

[dndhatcher]

You should read the current articles about building a balanced system. Depending on the games, your GPU may be limiting you and not your CPU. Upgrading the graphics card to a 5770 or 5850 that you can use in a new machine when you scrap this one and overclocking is probably going to do you the most good.

If you need a new cooler, something like the Coolermaster Hyper 212 plus (which fits every socket, including 1366 and 1156) and can be used again in your next computer would be a smart purchase.

 

[jsc]

Overclock by all means. Unless you were unlucky enough to get a total loser of a chip (high VID), you should be able to reach 3.4 - 3.6 GHz with stability.

Look at the guides, keep your core voltage under 1.5 volts and your core temps under 70 C. I also recommend you run your FSB:RAM at 1:1 and do not try to overclock your RAM.

 

[ellispa]

Cheers guys. Overclocking it is, then. I already have an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7, so it should be okay for a modest overclock. I'll try 3ghz, and let you know how I get on.

Thanks again.

Paul

 

[stecman]

I'm running stock cooler on an E8200 (2.66Ghz stock) that I've overclocked to 3.5Ghz - it still runs cool at 30 idle 40-45 load. Overclocking is good.

If you want some more grunt, probably go for a graphics card update...I recently bought a GTS250 to upgrade my 8600GT, and a 64GB SSD for an OS drive. My 1.7 year old computer now runs insanely fast and I'm hopefull to get another 2+ years out of my rig (unless current hardware power quadruples in that time).