660 gtx compatibility

[Jimbobsey]

Quick question.

I'm looking at getting a 660 gtx (not ti) and I read somewhere that due to it being a 2gb card it could cripple my system.

I'm a noob at upgrading so I don't understand if this is the case or why or how for that matter,

My specs

Q6600 core2quad 2.4 (overclocked to 2.7)
Asus p 5ne sli mobo
4 gb ram
Antec 500 watt psu
Running vista ultimate 64bit

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[ASHISH65]

Gtx 660 will work with your system.your cpu might slight bottleneck with gpu but there will be nothing serious performance loss.i suggest overclocking it to 3.0ghz and enjoy the ride with gtx 660.

 

[Jimbobsey]

Thanks for the reply.

I've been trying to overclock it but been having serious stability issues :-(

 

[ASHISH65]

Hmm its is fine.in future upgrade to new 4th gen cpu haswell for best performance

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Thanks for the reply.

I've been trying to overclock it but been having serious stability issues :-(

Hi Jimbobsey,

I have the exact set up you do, and had the same problem when deciding to get my 560ti. Would my proc bottleneck it.

Following some good advice from this forum, and with a bit of trial and error, I have my G0 Q6600 running at 3ghz Prime stable for 12 hours. I've been lucky in that there aren't many with that chip/mobo to achieve that, as the P5NE-sli is notorious for OC Quads. Dual cores have amazing results.

Anyway, here are some guids Ive found helpful, and along with the guys here my system still has some gaming life left. Although next atep is an i5/i7 upgrade.

http://www.overclock.net/t/146744/asus-p5n-e-sli-650i-thread/3820 - seoncd post is from Tribeca, which is a good start to get prepared.

http://www.overclock.net/t/146744/asus-p5n-e-sli-650i-thread - this one will help get to 3 ghz (if possible with your chip).

So, try OC a little more, and the GTX660 will be good to go. After that, don't waste any more money upgrading. It's taken me ages to finally admit that to myself!! Long live the Q6600!!!

 

[Jimbobsey]

Great stuff - great post

It's good to speak to someone with the same frustration. Do love my q6600.

Thanks again!

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Great stuff - great post

It's good to speak to someone with the same frustration. Do love my q6600.

Thanks again!

no probs, your welome. If you have any quetions on OC the P5 + q6600 you can PM me. I can prob string together screenshots of my bios, so you could have a practical guide in front of you. Anyway, good luck with your new card. I'm a little green with envy, although not a worthy upgrade for me, the GTX660 defo performs better than my 560ti. I hope you enjoy many seemless stutter free hours of gaming

EDIT: Ooh, just saw in your first post, your running vista!! It's a dogs OS, really impacted my OC-ability on my P5NE, they really didn't like each other. Start up stabilitty was a problem. When I moved to Win7, life became really easy. Not sure if thats a coincidence, but it hapened. Cheers

 

[Jimbobsey]

Cheers man. I think I will be Pm you soon for those screen shots. The issue is - I can clock it and it'll be ok - but then the next time I start up it freezes at the bios option screen :-(

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Cheers man. I think I will be Pm you soon for those screen shots. The issue is - I can clock it and it'll be ok - but then the next time I start up it freezes at the bios option screen :-(

that doesn't sound too bad!. it could be a case of a simple boost in vcore untill it's stable. or perhaps ram timings needs to be set. For the most part if it starts to boot, your on the right track, and something small may just need to be adjusted, or indeed a bios upgrade/downgrade. They key to OC is getting to a number you want, making sure it's stable by testing. The testing can be an indication of where/whats wrong. Just trial and error, but sooooooo time consuming.

In the meantime, if you start with making sure you have Bios 0608 from the Asus website. If you have any otherbios than that, your most likely to have massive issues. When I upgraded to the 0608, i went from a paltry 200mhz overclock (0503 i think was th bios i had) and with 0608 jumped straight into 3ghz without even a vcore raise. In the end I had to settle on 1.325 vcore to get it prime95 stable for 12+ hours. But now it's steady as a rock, and performs admirably for the old tech it is.

Ill see about getting screen shots of my bios later. Sure, if there's anyway I can help, Ill be glad to.

cheers