Opinions on Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600?

SwampThing

Is this not fantastic value for money for building a quad core rig?

http://www1.hardwareversand.de/6V8kPGH7Qv-xm-/3/articledetail.jsp?aid=8790&agid=398

8T8

It's pretty good but as I have one you must be aware;

A) Unless you have apps that using 4 cores it's wasted better of with dual core.

It's hot! with four cores it's gets quite toasty so you need a poweful cooler, I have a Tuniq Tower 120 cooling it with an exhaust fan and my temps idle are around 40-42c.

C) Overclocking comes to mind of course with such a CPU, I'm running mine at 3Ghz and temps clime up to 58c under load though I'm still testing it & getting accurate temps on 64-bit OS is not so easy.

Anyway noise will be a factor as you need fans at full speed to cool this thing, if not overclocking then the speedstep and variable fan speed of the stock cooler make it a lot more tolerable.

SwampThing

You're using this chip 8T8? Those idle temps certainly are on the warm side of cozy.

I finally fitted the Tuniq to my own QX6700 and it idles at 24c - 27c.
for reference, I encoded a dual layer DVD last night, it took 1h 58m to encode and burn. the temps maxed at 34c and all four cores maxed at 67%.

Granted, I'm running at stock, so I expect these temps to go only one way when I tweak.

Would the 6600 generally run hotter than the 6700?

What really prompted me to post was the price differential between the two chips - the 6600 being over half the cost and probably on an overclock, maybe reaches 85% of the performance - would that be a fair guess?

I think it must be a real contender for people, like myself at that price - I game a bit, dabble with movies and occasionally do a bit of work on the PC. I'm a bit surprised it doesn't come up more in recommendations for build here on boards.

DirkVoodoo

I agree with 8T8. If you don;t need 4 cores then best off waiting for prices to drop when quad core becomes the mainstream. E6600 for less than €200, yes please!

Anti

I think that chip would go great with my black perl. 1000€ on a cpu and mobo Maybe i would be best to wait for a price drop.

8T8

Well you certainly have different temps to mine not sure why the descprancy could be boards are over or under reporting the temp for reference I'm using an Intel P35 (MSI P35 Platinum).

Just as an example here is someone else with similar temps to mine, what sort of temps do you get if you run two instances of orthos (you'll have to use the task manager to set the affinity for cores 3 & 4 with the second instance of orthos).

Edit: Used MSI Core cell software which is 64-bit compatible and temps @ 3Ghz are at 37c idle, will do load temps laters but from what I read on the Q6600 that's pretty good.

stevejazzx

I've just got a q6600 off flaccus last week
speddfan reports idle temps around late 20's early with 30's being the hottest and thats with a 10% overclock? i'm using a a zalman 9700
have to say a great cpu for 290 euro it cost a amazing cpu thanks flacc!!
more apps will be using multi core before we know it.
and i'm really looking forward to aln wake for example

SwampThing

I'll try those apps later 8T8 and post back.

awhir

Anti wrote:

I think that chip would go great with my black perl. 1000€ on a cpu and mobo Maybe i would be best to wait for a price drop.

man dont trow ur money away buy a car (evo 8 or integrra )or give it to me

astrofool

When are the next lot of Intel price drops due? Considering a Q6600 myself at the moment, currently have a 4400+, and would benefit from the quad core (developing, so SQL/Oracle/VS could all be running at the same time )

awhir

mid july i think.

requiem1

SwampThing wrote:

I finally fitted the Tuniq to my own QX6700 and it idles at 24c - 27c.
for reference, I encoded a dual layer DVD last night, it took 1h 58m to encode and burn. the temps maxed at 34c and all four cores maxed at 67%.

I'm really thinking of dropping my water cooling setup cause i never get idle temps like that on any of my rigs at stock and i'm running core2's, two years ago water cooling was the sh** now air cooling seems to be getting way better

Anti

astrofool wrote:

When are the next lot of Intel price drops due? Considering a Q6600 myself at the moment, currently have a 4400+, and would benefit from the quad core (developing, so SQL/Oracle/VS could all be running at the same time )

A quad core will not improve performance on what you mention, but a faster dual core chip will.

8T8

Well the system survived two instances of Orthos pegging all cores to 100% for about 8 hours straight with no problems so the system appears to be solid, temps where at 60c under load as reported by the MSI tool though it doesn't give the temp for all cores unlike coretemp which doesn't work under x64 (well not without some messing about).

Anyway not sure about the temp discrepancies but it was rock solid all the way with RAM at 800Mhz & 4-4-4-12 via the 1:1:2 divider & only something like MeGUI will ever really push the all the cores that hard at least for my usage.

SwampThing

8T8 wrote:

Well you certainly have different temps to mine not sure why the descprancy could be boards are over or under reporting the temp for reference I'm using an Intel P35 (MSI P35 Platinum).

Just as an example here is someone else with similar temps to mine, what sort of temps do you get if you run two instances of orthos (you'll have to use the task manager to set the affinity for cores 3 & 4 with the second instance of orthos).

Edit: Used MSI Core cell software which is 64-bit compatible and temps @ 3Ghz are at 37c idle, will do load temps laters but from what I read on the Q6600 that's pretty good.

OK, I ran Orthos for a couple of hours - all four cores @ 100% - and the max it reached was 42c.

oceanclub

The Q6600 is due to halve in price by July 22, so it's worth waiting 'til then (that's what I'm doing anyway)

TonyM.

my qx6700 is running at 42c overclocked to 3200mhz at 1.475v using the ultra -120 extreme with two fans mounted
the temperature may drop a little when the arctic silver settles in .

8T8

Is that 42c idle TonyM ?


On a side note there is a new bios previewed on Anandtech for the MSI P35 which improves performance & overclocking but I'm hesitant to try it as everything is just nice at the moment but I'm sure it will get the better of me in the long run.

Khannie

SwampThing wrote:

I finally fitted the Tuniq to my own QX6700 and it idles at 24c - 27c.

This is super super low. I'd be surprised if it's accurate. I'm idling at 38C for 3GHz with a moded ninja on a Q6600. I know the tuniq is a better cooler, but not by that much.

My numbers come from the on-die sensors btw.

SwampThing

What makes you think they're inaccurate? Is it just because they're low?

I'm using NVidia Monitor and Speedfan - both of which use the on-die sensors and both report the same temps. Is there something else I should use to measure? Maybe running at stock explains it or maybe I'm a natural genius at installing HSF's (most, most unlikely!). I'll provide screen shots if you want.

I do have a theory though, which I put to the test installing this HSF and maybe, judging by the temps, it holds some water.

The overall objective is to maximise surface to surface contact and minimise the amount of thermal paste required as it's not as thermally conductive as metal, right? Lapping would be the ultimate solution, nearing 100% metal to metal contact. With thermal paste, the aim is to fill imperfections in the surfaces to achieve as near 100% surface to surface contact as possible - eliminating air spaces - but using as little paste as possible. OK?

When I was installing the HSF, I put a dot (half a match head) of paste on the HSF and the CPU and spread it round, fairly forcefully, with a cloth over the entire surfaces of both. My theory being that the paste will fill the microscopic imperfections in the surfaces.
This is no substitute for lapping, which aims for completely flat surfaces; it just pre-fills the minute air spaces in the surfaces, minimising air spaces and theoretically, 'levelling' the surfaces.
Then, using the absolute minimum paste, I install the HSF as normal.

So far, it seems to have some merit but by all means, rip it to shreds.

edit - I've reworded this as reading it again after dirk's reply, I could see it didn't say what I meant it to say.

DirkVoodoo

The TIM doesnt' improve metal to metal contact, that is just luck of the draw with regards your HSF and IHS surface finish. The TIM is just there to try and take the place of any air that might try and occupy the surface blemishes. Like L31mr0d said in his lapping (an abrasive process to remove material from a surface) sticky, the ideal would be complete metal to metal contact.

SwampThing

And I'm not disputing that lapping is the ideal solution and I'm not suggesting that the ttc 'improves' metal to metal contact - it can't.

My thinking was to pre-fill as many air spaces and nicks and scratches as possible with ttc before the cpu and the hsf were put together. The principle being that combining a) larger surface areas in contact b) less air spaces and c) absolute minimum ttc - should result in lower temps.

Anti

SwampThing wrote:

And I'm not disputing that lapping is the ideal solution and I'm not suggesting that the ttc 'improves' metal to metal contact - it can't.

My thinking was to pre-fill as many air spaces and nicks and scratches as possible with ttc before the cpu and the hsf were put together. The principle being that combining a) larger surface areas in contact b) less air spaces and c) absolute minimum ttc - should result in lower temps.

In theory it should work.

TonyM.

8T8 wrote:

Is that 42c idle TonyM ?


41c idle right now ,
i only fitted the cooler last night i was not happy with the Ninja i prefer the backplate,
if the temp. is high for a quadcore i can reseat it.

Anti

And whats the load temp after 1 hour at load ? with something like orthos?

TonyM.

Its under 50c playing The Shivering Isles i will do some tests at the weekend I know i can overclock a lot higher now.


Ninja for sale.

Running Orthos right now on all cores 64c in nv monitor 68c in TAT after 12 minutes.

20 minutes in still sitting on 64c i doubt if it will go much higher

DirkVoodoo

The larger surface of a few square millimetres is insignificant in comparison to the large thermal conductivity value of copper-on-copper contact.

I'm not doubting your method worked for you either, I think the more theory we add to our understanding of heat transfer the better. What type of cloth did you use as well?

Khannie

In my initial ninja installation, I applied the AS5 with a knife. I had troubles with this install and replaced the sh*tty plastic clips with screws. This had a dramatic effect. Long and short though, my HSF is properly installed now and airflow is good / excellent in the case. Right this minute, I'm idling at 43C. The room is warm (I'd say 25C) because I've been working in it all night, but I think that it represents an accurate number (18C above ambient).

Swampy: The main reason that I think 24C is wrong (not that you're wrong, but that it's being reported incorrectly) for an on-die value is that the amount of energy required to raise a piece of semiconductor that small by the difference between ambient (let's say 20C) and your low-end idle (4C higher) is very very close to zero. I just don't think it's possible for a quad core to idle at 4 degrees above ambient (or 7 degrees for that matter).

I used to work in power calculation, so we can break out the datasheets and calculators later maybe.

Edit: Dug out the specs on the Q6600. In extended halt state at stock frequencies it is pumping out 50W of power. This basically makes 24C an unattainable value with air cooling.

WillieDH

I have my Q6600 in my hand fitting it today

New Bits For Main Rig Build are

Core2Duo Quad Q6600 2.4Ghz 8MB Cache
2GB Geil 800Mhz PC6400 DDR II RAM
Abit FP-IN9 Sli Fatal1ty Motherboard
250GB Maxtor 7200rpm SATA II HDD
XP Pro ( no I don't want Vista thanks )

Going into my Coolermaster Mystique Case 632 with my existing bits

520Watt OCZ Mod PSU
nVidia 8800GTS 320MB
Creative X-Fi XtremeAudio Soundcard
Akasa Blue CPU Cooler
Lots of blue fans and UV lighting

Here it is as it stands today

http://gtfogaming.co.uk/files/CK%20Rig%205.JPG

Let you know how I get on, and don't worry if i need help I'll be straight on !

Khannie

Enjoy.

I love mine. Absolutely LOVE it. I admit that it's rare that I make use of the 4 cores (basically only when encoding videos and installing software through portage) but when it moves, by jesus, it moves.

SwampThing

Jez, call me a liar why don't you ye!

Here's a screen shot, taken just now. The machine's been on about an hour and is currently in the middle of and AVG scan.

Make what you like of it.

DirkVoodoo

Very impressive.

TonyM.

Khannie wrote:

Enjoy.

I love mine. Absolutely LOVE it. I admit that it's rare that I make use of the 4 cores (basically only when encoding videos and installing software through portage) but when it moves, by jesus, it moves.

I can copy a DVD in 7 minutes.

SwampThing

TonyM. wrote:

I can copy a DVD in 7 minutes.

And I've a big willy

TonyM.

SwampThing wrote:

And I've a big willy

I have a big ESB bill.

Khannie

SwampThing wrote:

Jez, call me a liar why don't you ye!

Hehe. That's the one thing I wasn't calling you.

22C on one core = no wai!

TonyM.

With only 1.275v and a cpu fan doing over 2000rpm the temp would be low but i would expect it to be at least 10c higher maybe only one core is enabled in the bios.

or maybe one core is not enabled ?

SwampThing

I don't know what else to say.

That's what's being reported. IF it's correct, I can't take any great credit for it - I haven't done anything out of the ordinary.

If it's not being reported correctly, how do I find out?

astrofool

Does the bios read the same/similar just after a restart?

SwampThing

I'll check in a couple of hours - just in the middle of something.

SwampThing

Sorry - turned off machine without checking BIOS temps - will do so this evening.

Tony, do you have any issues encoding DVD's? I'm starting to think I experiencing some SATA/RAID corruption or something. I tried TMPgEnd, Nero, Ashampoo and Ulead DVD Author and all have experienced difficulty encoding six or seven divx' to a dual layer DVD.

Each of them just fail - nothing in the event log, no messages on screen. Just the program hangs or closes without completing.

TonyM.

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/DVDFab_HD_Decrypter/1132478833/1

I would have said it was lack of memory but you have enough already are you running Vista?

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/DVD_Shrink/1050004458/1

SwampThing

Thanks for that Tony but I already have the divx's on my machine. I'm trying to encode them as DVD's when the problem arises.

I have another look around. Thanks anyway.

SwampThing

Finally remembered to check bios temps. I had the machine on about an hour and a half and had just completed burning a DVD. Nothing too strenuous.

Nvidia monitor reported 22c as I was shutting down. I immediately restarted and checked the bios temps - 24c.

Khannie

SwampThing wrote:

I immediately restarted and checked the bios temps - 24c.

Is that 24C below 0? i.e. is it off by 24C? (making your 22C = 22 + 24 = 46C)

I'm currently idling at 45C for 3.0GHz with a mod'd ninja. Room is average temperature. No real load on the cpu for the last few hours. Good cooling in the box. I think I'm /slightly/ above stock voltage (this is the big determinant of power output, since for switching circuits (i.e. cpus and other chips) power = freq * capacitance * voltage * voltage).

edit: Unless your room is very cold, 22C is just not possible for a processor I'm afraid. Your bios is a liar! edit: else it's reporting 22C for something other than CPU, like maybe ambient, or something.

SwampThing

So my bios is a liar.

Before I think of o/c'ing this board, how would I get accurate temps?

I could install the physical sensors, but if the board is reporting temps incorrectly, then these are likely to be skewed also.

ideas?