Budget C2Q Upgrade. Recommendations plz.

Hendrix89

Well i'm back around the tech forums after some absence.

I am setting aside 500e for an upgrade to an Intel Quad setup, and cause of my tight pockets at the moment I cannot go much over that so I would appreciate your suggestions on the best quality/value hardware to go for within my budget that will last me a good while and allow pretty heavy OCing. Even 500 is pushing it so the lower the better...

I have some parts that will be usable from my current rig (in sig), incl. the gfx card, so I need good recommendations on just the motherboard and the memory. As for the CPU, I have decided I will go for the Q6600, but I want to (must) OC this to at least 3GHz so keep that in mind.

I was originally looking at the 680i Motherboards but they seem to push me way over budget along with the rest of the components...

And I was looking at the Geil 800Mhz (2GB) memory. What do you think about that?

Ugh.. and I also have to splash out for Vista... Forget about that though. Not included in the budget..

Thanks for any advice guys.

dazftw

What about a core2duo? Do you really need the quad?

Hendrix89

Eh well tbh i'm not too sure if i do, but I hear that future games (eg. Crysis) will take advantage of quads and seeing as my graphics card will probably only just about manage that game, maybe it would be good to have extra support from a quad? I dunno what do you think?

I also do quite a bit of audio editing and recording so that may be something it would benifit.

I really should be doing more research on this

dazftw

Id say that new core2duo clocked a 3.0Ghz should do the trick and alot cheaper, maybe then you could get the EVGA board?

Im all out of the loop since I got my new pc... had no reason to look at pc stuff all day lol

Anti

In current games you will no see the benifit of a c2Q over a c2D. You will however if you do alot of video encoding and the likes. But a overclocked c2D will do you fine.

Hendrix89

Alright well I guess I may go for a dual then. You guy's know best. Thing is that way it doesnt seem to me like much of a jump from my current CPU seeing as it's also a dual core. I wanna be sure I can keep up to scratch for a decent length of time.

I did read online that the devs for Crysis (Coming Nov.) stated that the Quad cores will improve performance in the game. Do you thing this would be a large difference? Will a high clocked C2D make up for the fewer cores do you think? Crysis is the game i'm looking forward to so this is important. I won't be playing much games at all until November.

If I go for a C2D the E6750 is the one to go for right? How high do they OC with ease? I have a Tuniq Tower so there's no problem with cooling.

Sorry for this blabbering. I just really want to be certain I make the right choice, and don't end up falling behind in hardware 2 months after I have purchased. This has happened to me in the past...

Anti

Going from a AMD dual core to a Intel dual core will be a huge jump. Even with my opty clocked at 3.2ghz i was just short of the E6300/E6320 at stock speeds. So clock for clock the Intel has a vast performance leap.

If you are oging to buy one of the newer C2D's i would go with a E6850 which is already clocked at 3ghz. Or try and find a A0 ( i think ) E6600. They are known to hit 3.2-3.6 on good air cooling such ar your tuniq.

As for falling behind in hardware there is no way to keep up. By the time you have somehting new it has already become old hat.

And as for crysis, its impossible to tell if a high clocked C2D will keep up with a lower clocked C2Q, As no official benchmarks have been released. And im not sure if the game is truly multicore optimized. Or does it take advantage of more cache.

uberpixie

Hendrix89 wrote:

Alright well I guess I may go for a dual then. You guy's know best. Thing is that way it doesnt seem to me like much of a jump from my current CPU seeing as it's also a dual core. I wanna be sure I can keep up to scratch for a decent length of time.

I did read online that the devs for Crysis (Coming Nov.) stated that the Quad cores will improve performance in the game. Do you thing this would be a large difference? Will a high clocked C2D make up for the fewer cores do you think? Crysis is the game i'm looking forward to so this is important. I won't be playing much games at all until November.

If I go for a C2D the E6750 is the one to go for right? How high do they OC with ease? I have a Tuniq Tower so there's no problem with cooling.

Sorry for this blabbering. I just really want to be certain I make the right choice, and don't end up falling behind in hardware 2 months after I have purchased. This has happened to me in the past...

Read here:
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=672

This is a cpu scaling test at high resolution for a variety of CPUs with the Nvida 8600,8800 GTS/GTX cards.

There is very little benefit in getting a very cheap core 2 duo over what you have already.

What parts you have already will give you good performance in games, only in a game that is heavily CPU depedant that there is a difference in your CPU Vs a higher core 2 duo and even then it is not always a huge gap.

(bout 40 frames 4800+ Vs E6700 in Far Cry, a very high resolution that gap closes to 30 frames)

My advice would be to wait, save your money and buy into the next gen or 2 down the line TBH, or see how much of a difference a quad actually makes in the new games.

Quads can only get cheaper, and they will have a 3.0 Ghz Quad out in the near future.

Anti

uberpixie wrote:

Read here:
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=672

This is a cpu scaling test at high resolution for a variety of CPUs with the Nvida 8600,8800 GTS/GTX cards.

There is very little benefit in getting a very cheap core 2 duo over what you have already.

What parts you have already will give you good performance in games, only in a game that is heavily CPU depedant that there is a difference in your CPU Vs a higher core 2 duo and even then it is not always a huge gap.

(bout 40 frames 4800+ Vs E6700 in Far Cry, a very high resolution that gap closes to 30 frames)

My advice would be to wait, save your money and buy into the next gen or 2 down the line TBH, or see how much of a difference a quad actually makes in the new games.

Quads can only get cheaper, and they will have a 3.0 Ghz Quad out in the near future.

Thats all well and good, but i dont think he plans on keeping it at stock speeds. If he goes to 3.6ghz he should see much more performance from it.

Blazer

With the system the op has I can't see why he'd want to upgrade.
Plenty of ppl would be happy with what he has got. Of course some of us have to have the best but not everyone is like this.
I'd suggest waiting a while, putting the money away and adding to it weekly and then 6 months down the road splash out.

Hendrix89

Okay well I have been hit with many different suggestions on the best way to go about upgrading... This is making my head spin..

uberpixie, I have been killing myself thinking if I should buy now or wait for the next best. Tbh I don't think I can wait much longer really... I mean when the Core Duos first came out I turned a blind eye and went and spent money on other things. Now I have finally set money aside to spend on my computer as it's already way behind and i'm not sure if I can hold out. Also surely if I wait for the next gen platforms they will be to overpriced as it always is with newly released technologies?

Oh yeah referring to that test you linked. I won't be playing games high res as I only have a 19'' monitor so I don't know if that would make a difference?

Okay anyway this is what I may go for then:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-157-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=793

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-000-EA

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-082-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=817

I dropped the Quad as suggested. Anti on Overclockers the E6680 is quite a bit more than the 6750 so I think i'd prefer to stick with the E6750 and OC. I have heard it can hit 4GHz with some luck and good MB and RAM.

As you can see I have the EVGA 680i board up there. And I decided to maybe go for the OCZ 2GB 1066Mhz memory. Do you suggest I get another type?

So what do you think? Will this setup allow me a beastly OC and last me a nice length of time? It's over my budget in total but I will be selling off my current parts to recoup.
Also I might buy from hardwareversand to cut down the costs a bit.

Anti

Personaly i would change that board. There have been alot of quality issues with it. And i dont like the fact its made by foxconn. Who are known to make utter ****e. So a nice p35 board will be the way to go i think. One such as this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-239-AS

Hendrix89

Ah brilliant that looks good. Don't know how I didnt see that MB. Yeah I was a bit suspicious myself about the evga 680. I am used to Asus boards also so thats a plus.

So overall the cost for everything comes to about £418 (616e) on OCUK.

Right so far i'm set on the E6750 and the Asus p35 board.

What do you think about the OCZ memory I have linked? Is it a good choice? There are loads of other similar priced 2GB sets on the site so is there a better brand to go for?

Blazer

Actuallly the EVGA 680i boards are getting a lot of good press..
With my board below I'm limited to 350FSB but the EVGA board goes to 500FSB no bother. It's a lot better overclocker than the Asus 680i boards.

Anti

Yea the ram is fine. ITs got some great reviews, and is turning out to be a awesome overclcoker.

Hendrix89

Okay brilliant i'll stick with that ram then.

Just realized that the p35 boards do not support SLI so seeing as another 8800gts is something I would like to throw in in the future I will need to look at another mb. Pitty though cause I like Asus and I would have found OCing easier on that board... I may just take a gamble and go for the EVGA 680i... There havent actually been many bad reviews on it, and if it gives me any problems i'll send it back.

Thanks for the help guys.

Oh yeah i'm going to be selling off my current CPU, mobo and ram (in sig) soon if anyones interested.

uberpixie

Hendrix89 wrote:

Okay brilliant i'll stick with that ram then.

Just realized that the p35 boards do not support SLI so seeing as another 8800gts is something I would like to throw in in the future I will need to look at another mb. Pitty though cause I like Asus and I would have found OCing easier on that board... I may just take a gamble and go for the EVGA 680i... There havent actually been many bad reviews on it, and if it gives me any problems i'll send it back.

Thanks for the help guys.

Oh yeah i'm going to be selling off my current CPU, mobo and ram (in sig) soon if anyones interested.

Best of luck with the build, hope it goes well.

Hendrix89

Thanks, I hope so too:)

awhir

gud luck bud and the evgas are great boards
also if you wana save some money you could go to pc6400 which a good set would run at 1000mhz.