Aging E6400 needs replaced in gaming system.

[crydee]

I have a ASUS P5B-deluxe with one of the first E6400 it's running stock speed at 2.13 now. It can only stable at clock. I had it running at 3.0 - 3.3 for over 3 years. It's not cutting it anymore. I'm surprised I got so much performance for so long from it!

I'm either looking at another budget Core2Quad or Core2Duo to overclock and hold me over for another year till I am ready to replace mobo and upgarde to DDR3.

My main focus is gaming(1920x1080, 4gb ddr2-1300, with an 8800GTS overclocked as well). What do you think I should go for the Q8300 ($150) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...E16819115207or a cheaper core 2 duo choice like the E5300 ($70) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116074?

Although it may be more cost effective to jump to i5 right now..

 

[God Mode]

Have you considered that its your motherboard or power supply that is preventing you from oc'ing the cpu? Wear and tear = capacitors and cooked up microchips with less than ideal cooling. IME, CPU's are almost invincible in comparison to those weak links.

 

[MyLeftNut]

That P5B-Deluxe was the same motherboard I had with my E6400 until it started to degrade after less than 2 years of overclocked use. Replaced the motherboard with an Abit X38 and it's been fine ever since. Motherboards do degrade, especially if they're not ones of better build.

 

[crydee]

I have one of the Corsair HX-510W PSU I doubt it's that. I suppose it could be the motherboard, I hadn't thought of that. If it is the motherboard it might push me to jump to LGA 1156 I guess. It's hard to determine where I'm going to get my most bang for buck at this point for games. If I get a new LGA775 and it is the motherboard then I'm stuck spending more money on a LGA775 or I have to get a new motherboard I might as well get a LGA 1156 and an i3/i5 to overclock and jump to DDR3. But that's just basically a new system.

I figured the ASUS P5B-deluxe was a top of the line board especially at that time and wouldn't be the problem.

I had a Tuniq Tower on the proc and a good case but I don't suppose I ever added any extra cooling to the northbridge/southbridge chips.

I suppose I could always use the p5b-deluxe for a htpc/streaming/media box now, would it last running at default?

 

[SanDiegoPC]

Have you considered that its your motherboard or power supply that is preventing you from oc'ing the cpu? Wear and tear = capacitors and cooked up microchips with less than ideal cooling. IME, CPU's are almost invincible in comparison to those weak links.

That would be my take on this, too ...

That P5B-Deluxe was the same motherboard I had with my E6400 until it started to degrade after less than 2 years of overclocked use. Replaced the motherboard with an Abit X38 and it's been fine ever since. Motherboards do degrade, especially if they're not ones of better build.

Now that surprises me!

 

[crydee]

So what do you guys think? If the E6400 is to slow for my current needs should I replace the mobo to overclock it some more or it's not worth it to invest in another LGA775 motherboard?

 

[CurseTheSky]

If you can get a good overclocking LGA775 board for cheap, go for it. If you're looking at spending $100+ on the board anyway, just upgrade to something newer.

 

[Soulkeeper]

It might be worth looking into a whole new barebone upgrade
can get an amd mobo + propus for about the same price as a quad core 775 intel right now and you'll be able to upgrade later since amd is still supporting AM3

That would be my Choice.

 

[Shmee]

perhaps get a gigy p45-ud3p and a Q9550, if you are near a microcenter. Great combo. Or you could get a cheaper, lower end quad from online.

The i5 option would also be good, but would require new RAM.

 

[Indus]

To be honest that cpu should still be fine.

Have you read this? http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=13454

Its done by one of the mods here, I was considering upgrading mine and did what he did in his tests and stock vs overclock doesn't seem to make that much of a difference for me, atleast in my mmo's.

 

[toyota]

To be honest that cpu should still be fine.

Have you read this? http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=13454

Its done by one of the mods here, I was considering upgrading mine and did what he did in his tests and stock vs overclock doesn't seem to make that much of a difference for me, atleast in my mmo's.

well that same mod also claims that his Core 2 duo lowered to 2.0 is not a bottleneck for any games even with a gtx285 or faster which is far from true. the OPs cpu at 2.13 is about like mine at 2.0. how about a real world difference with my E8500 at 2.0 with a gtx260?

Far Cry 2 Settings: Demo(Ranch Long), 1920x1080 (60Hz), D3D10, Fixed Time Step(No), Disable Artificial Intelligence(No), Full Screen, Anti-Aliasing(2x), VSync(No), Overall Quality(Very High), Vegetation(Very High), Shading(Very High), Terrain(Very High), Geometry(Very High), Post FX(High), Texture(Very High), Shadow(Very High), Ambient(High), Hdr(Yes), Bloom(Yes), Fire(Very High), Physics(Very High), RealTrees(Very High)

E8500 @ 2.0
Total Frames: 11808, Total Time: 284.02s
Average Framerate: 41.57
Max. Framerate: 84.90 (Frame:1851, 26.47s)
Min. Framerate: 23.28 (Frame:5683, 125.34s)

E8500 @ 3.8
Total Frames: 16568, Total Time: 284.01s
Average Framerate: 58.34
Max. Framerate: 114.58 (Frame:4, 0.04s)
Min. Framerate: 36.90 (Frame:7835, 125.13s)

thats a 40% increase in average and 58% increase in minimum framerates by running my E8500 at 3.8 instead of 2.0 even at a gpu limited 1920x1080 very high settings and 2x AA. dont forget that an even faster quad would still knock out a couple more fps on top of that. with a much faster gpu the difference would have been even greater too as my 192sp gtx260 is far from high end now.

remember too that there are several games out there such as Bad Company 2, Prototype, Arma 2, Anno 1404, Ghostbusters, Red Faction Guerrilla, and GTA 4 that are much more cpu intensive than Far Cry 2. heck in some of those games the playability is noticeably affected with very low minimums and even being almost unplayable in some spots with my E8500 at 2.0.

if the OP is going to stick to his 8800gts then no I dont see the point in going all out on an i5 or any other significant cpu upgrade. if he wants to run a very high end gpu though then he has the right idea getting an i5. that will allow him to run any gpu he wants and put it to full use and get the most enjoyment out of ALL games.

 

[Darthvan]

hey there. I don't think there is anything wrong with your E6400. I have built my rig in late 2007 with an E6400 and ran it for awhile at 3.7ghz(ran fine on Vista Ultimate, but kept crashing on XP Pro SP3). then finally ran it stable at 3.50ghz since Jan 2008,until today. If anything,I'm trying to squeeze some more juice out of my CPU until I have enough money for my next built.I believe E6400 is a little unknown gem,that a lot of people overlook,not knowing that it is a great little cpu for overclocking.

BTW I play All of Medal Of Honor games
and started playing Call Of Duty Modern Warfare2 with no hiccups, runs like a dream(2 months)

 

[BD231]

Thank you Toyota, for exposing the rhetorical bullsh*t that guy feels the need to post for himself and in his articles; can't stand the junker.

I vote you get a quad into your system and get your overclock back. You'd save yourself a few bucks jumping to the AM3 platform and you'd get entirely comparable performance. From dual to quad is a great performance upgrade.

 

[zagood]

The point of BFG's article, as is often missed, is that a more powerful video card will be a better upgrade than a more powerful processor. He doesn't deny that overclocking your existing CPU can have tangible benefits.

Back to OP:

- Mobo is likely the culprit and would be easiest option.
- New video card would be a great upgrade even with your CPU at stock.
- If you're thinking of spending $150+ on a new CPU, you should still replace the mobo anyway, and may as well go for an entire system refresh.

From personal experience, I have the same video card. I had to replace an e6400, went with an e5200 and experienced slightly better performance at the same clockspeeds overclocked, with lower power consumption. Bought an HR03 Plus and overclocked the hell out of the videocard. Picked up a used Q6600. I'm gaming fairly decently but eating a lot of power.

 

[MyLeftNut]

That would be my take on this, too ...



Now that surprises me!

Yeah, that surprised me too. But with the Asus lga775 boards around that generation, I've seen many reports of them degrading over time when overclocked; they just don't hold up well for some reason. The Abit board, on the other hand was originally plagued by it's software side, but the hardware itself is pretty solid and it's a great overclocking board with the most recent bioses.

 

[MyLeftNut]

hey there. I don't think there is anything wrong with your E6400. I have built my rig in late 2007 with an E6400 and ran it for awhile at 3.7ghz(ran fine on Vista Ultimate, but kept crashing on XP Pro SP3). then finally ran it stable at 3.50ghz since Jan 2008,until today. If anything,I'm trying to squeeze some more juice out of my CPU until I have enough money for my next built.I believe E6400 is a little unknown gem,that a lot of people overlook,not knowing that it is a great little cpu for overclocking.

BTW I play All of Medal Of Honor games
and started playing Call Of Duty Modern Warfare2 with no hiccups, runs like a dream(2 months)

I to have been running mine overclocked near max for a while; ever since the cpu first came out actually. Aside from the slight drop in overclocks to around 3.4ghz when my P5B started croaking for few months, it's still holding out well today. The max my chip can do is just shy of 3.7ghz and at the current 3.6ghz I'm running, it's already at 1.55v.

 

[Darthvan]

I to have been running mine overclocked near max for a while; ever since the cpu first came out actually. Aside from the slight drop in overclocks to around 3.4ghz when my P5B started croaking for few months, it's still holding out well today. The max my chip can do is just shy of 3.7ghz and at the current 3.6ghz I'm running, it's already at 1.55v.

Like I said. That E6400 is a great little gem. Thank you "MyLeftNut" for seconding that.

 

[crydee]

Since I wasn't planning on spending a lot for 1 more year, After hearing the praise about our E6400s, I will just get a new LGA 775 board and continue to overclock it!

Any recommendations on a new LGA 775 board? The Gigabyte GA-EP45 is selling for $130.. ideally would like to spend $70-80 but I want to make sure I get something that can overclock my E6400 without crapping for a year!

 

[zagood]

EP45-UD3L, $80 after $10 rebate:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128372

ASUS P5Q SE, $87 after $10 rebate:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131347

 

[crydee]

Is the P45 a lot better than the P43?

 

[MyLeftNut]

For overclocking, yes the P45 is better. See if you can score yourself a used P45 for cheap that will hold you over till Sandy Bridge. Provided that you actually need the performance increase from overclocking, I'd say that putting in ~$60 on a new board is a worthwhile investment.

Perhaps if you just a wait a bit, newegg or some other online retailer will have some P45 boards going for dirt cheap as they usually do every now and then.

 

[crydee]

For overclocking, yes the P45 is better. See if you can score yourself a used P45 for cheap that will hold you over till Sandy Bridge. Provided that you actually need the performance increase from overclocking, I'd say that putting in ~$60 on a new board is a worthwhile investment.

Perhaps if you just a wait a bit, newegg or some other online retailer will have some P45 boards going for dirt cheap as they usually do every now and then.

I had to upgrade to the flash beta because I couldn't play hulu full screen on my 1920x1080 on stock e6400 speed ;/ I notice it a bit. Yah I'm looking at ebay too.

I'm hesitant to get a used one just because what if someone is offloading theirs because of the same situation I'm in?

 

[MyLeftNut]

You can look at some refurbished ones on ebay. When I bought my refurbished X38 board 2 years ago, there were a lot of other refurbished P35 boards available for like $30-$50. I'd imagine that you should be able to find some P45 boards around that price right now. With refurbished boards, a lot of em are briskly used or haven't been used for long so I wouldn't worry about it too much. Are there any open box ones available from newegg at the moment? I'm sure many here can speak well of some great deals they've had with open box motherboards from newegg.