Downgrading from Phenom II to Core 2 Quad

[dpk33]

I'm planning on selling my Phenom II 965 BE setup and going with my old Q6600 setup. Is this a bad idea? I can sell the Phenom II for a really good price. Is the performance difference between the two a lot and noticeable? I game at 1920x1200 and I do video editing form time to time.

Also, The AMD overclocks easily (unlocked multi) but the Q6600 I have no experience in overclocking. So if I do end up switching, I would need to learn how to overclock the Q6600. The motherboard being used is an Abit IP35-e. Any ideas?

EDIT: Also, does the RAM being used have any impact on overclocking the Q6600? I'm stuck between deciding between OCZ Reapers PC6400 and Corsair XMS2 PC6400.

 

[Vesku]

Is it possible to see what sort of acceptable OC you get out of your Q6600 before selling the Phenom II system? Stock will be a bit meh for some games I think.

 

[dpk33]

Yes, I will be testing it to see what OC I can get.. As soon as I find out how to OC it. I don't have any RAM for testing though. It's the SLACR G0 revision/stepping which I hear is great for OC'ing. If I can get at least 3.4 out of it, would it be adequate?

And hows the IPC on a Q6600 compared to the Phenom II 965?

 

[alyarb]

If your Phenom II is at 3.8 GHz or above, I would stay where you are and sell your Q6600 setup.

 

[dpk33]

If your Phenom II is at 3.8 GHz or above, I would stay where you are and sell your Q6600 setup.

Let's say I COULD get my Q6600 to the same clock as my Phenom II is at. Would the Phenom II still be superior in terms of performance? And I could get really good money for the Phenom II, but if I sell the Q6600, I would need to know how to OC it really well, since the buyer requires powerful CPUs.

 

[Maximilian]

If your Phenom II is at 3.8 GHz or above, I would stay where you are and sell your Q6600 setup.

I would do that since it is newer tech and the older 775 stuff still fetches a decent price.

However if you are intent on going with the Q6600, they are excellent overclockers i have no experience of this but its what everyone says. IPC between C2Q and phenom II is about the same so a C2Q @ 3.4ghz = PII @ 3.4ghz.

Ask tweakboy hes still sitting proud on his Q6600.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Let's say I COULD get my Q6600 to the same clock as my Phenom II is at. Would the Phenom II still be superior in terms of performance? And I could get really good money for the Phenom II, but if I sell the Q6600, I would need to know how to OC it really well, since the buyer requires powerful CPUs.

Clock for clock the Q6600 may be a little bit faster. That being said I must warn that it is hard to get a Q6600 to match the speeds a PII can reach.

 

[dpk33]

Clock for clock the Q6600 may be a little bit faster. That being said I must warn that it is hard to get a Q6600 to match the speeds a PII can reach.

So hypothetically, if I can get the Q6600 to 3.6-3.8 range, it will be around the same as my Phenom II x4 at 4.0 ghz?

 

[sangyup81]

Take whatever money you can get! If you can sell both, sell both!

 

[dpk33]

I'm able to sell the Q6600 IF it can overclock to the Phenom II levels.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

So hypothetically, if I can get the Q6600 to 3.6-3.8 range, it will be around the same as my Phenom II x4 at 4.0 ghz?

It will be in the same ballpark.

 

[dpk33]

OK now, does anyone know how to OC a Q6600 on an IP35-e motherboard? Is it as simple as:
Locking pcie frequency
Lowering RAM speed to lowest
Increasing FSB
Upping CPU volts when unstable

 

[RobertPters77]

Do it. I regret going from the q6600 to the phenom 945. I had my q6600 at 3.6ghz oc on stock, and stable at 4.2ghz on air with a slight voltage tweak. My damn 945 can't do 3.5 stable without more volts. I have it on a hyper 212+ at 4.0ghz with a lot more volts then it would take the q6600 to get there.

Hell clock for clock the phenom is still inferior even though it has the ddr3 advantage. Even the x4 631 is inferior to the q6600, clock for clock, and the 631 is 2 processes ahead.

R.I.P. My Q6600.

 

[edplayer]

Pretty much.

Is your ram DDR2 800? OH, I didn't see your edit. I would go with the corsair and run it at 400MHz

 

[sangyup81]

Do it. I regret going from the q6600 to the phenom 945. I had my q6600 at 3.6ghz oc on stock, and stable at 4.2ghz on air with a slight voltage tweak. My damn 945 can't do 3.5 stable without more volts. I have it on a hyper 212+ at 4.0ghz with a lot more volts then it would take the q6600 to get there.

Hell clock for clock the phenom is still inferior even though it has the ddr3 advantage. Even the x4 631 is inferior to the q6600, clock for clock, and the 631 is 2 processes ahead.

R.I.P. My Q6600.

A lot of the clock for clock advantage of older C2Q processors come from the Phenom II's CPU-NB being left at stock 2GHz by reviewers and overclockers who don't think to OC this part of the CPU. Did you leave it at the stock 2GHz? CPU speed increases return diminishing gains if CPU-NB is not increased.

 

[dpk33]

Do it. I regret going from the q6600 to the phenom 945. I had my q6600 at 3.6ghz oc on stock, and stable at 4.2ghz on air with a slight voltage tweak. My damn 945 can't do 3.5 stable without more volts. I have it on a hyper 212+ at 4.0ghz with a lot more volts then it would take the q6600 to get there.

Hell clock for clock the phenom is still inferior even though it has the ddr3 advantage. Even the x4 631 is inferior to the q6600, clock for clock, and the 631 is 2 processes ahead.

R.I.P. My Q6600.

WOW you had one good Q6600. Maybe you should switch back to the Q6600

Pretty much.

Is your ram DDR2 800? OH, I didn't see your edit. I would go with the corsair and run it at 400MHz

I'm just curious. What is better about the Corsairs?

And what are safe volts for the Q6600?

 

[toyota]

Do it. I regret going from the q6600 to the phenom 945. I had my q6600 at 3.6ghz oc on stock, and stable at 4.2ghz on air with a slight voltage tweak. My damn 945 can't do 3.5 stable without more volts. I have it on a hyper 212+ at 4.0ghz with a lot more volts then it would take the q6600 to get there.

Hell clock for clock the phenom is still inferior even though it has the ddr3 advantage. Even the x4 631 is inferior to the q6600, clock for clock, and the 631 is 2 processes ahead.

R.I.P. My Q6600.

what? 3.6 on stock voltage and 4.2 with a slight tweak for a Q6600? sorry but that does not sound the least bit possible.

 

[RobertPters77]

@sang

I throttled them both down to 800mhz(Lowest common possible frequency). Even then the q6600 outpaced the phenom. I don't have the exact numbers, but the q6600 felt more 'alive.' And fraps took less of a hit in most games on the q6600. I also have an Athlon x4 631(socket fm1), that thing clock for clock loses to the q6600 and is much hotter, even though it's at 32nm.

 

[RobertPters77]

what? 3.6 on stock voltage and 4.2 with a slight tweak for a Q6600? sorry but that does not sound the least bit possible.

G0 stepping. At 3.6ghz on stock HSF. I could boot to windows with it, but it would not run prime 95 without a few more volts.

At 4.2ghz I had it on a first gen CM212.

 

[sangyup81]

@sang

I throttled them both down to 800mhz(Lowest common possible frequency). Even then the q6600 outpaced the phenom. I don't have the exact numbers, but the q6600 felt more 'alive.' And fraps took less of a hit in most games on the q6600. I also have an Athlon x4 631(socket fm1), that thing clock for clock loses to the q6600 and is much hotter, even though it's at 32nm.

I thought we were talking about maximum speeds. Did you overclock the CPU-NB? 4.0 GHz CPU and 2.0 GHz CPU-NB gets lower benchmark scores especially in games than 3.2 GHz CPU and 2.8 GHz CPU-NB

 

[edplayer]

I'm just curious. What is better about the Corsairs?

And what are safe volts for the Q6600?

Nothing that I am aware of. I just trust that brand more. Assuming they both have the same timings, and work properly, you should see no difference between them unless you overclock them.

Sorry, don't know much about safe volts for the Q6600

 

[dpk33]

Is Northbridge frequency/voltages another factor I have to take into account when FSB overclocking?

 

[RobertPters77]

@sang

No I did not OC the NB. I Under clocked them both to get a bottom of the barrel comparison.

 

[soccerballtux]

I'm planning on selling my Phenom II 965 BE setup and going with my old Q6600 setup. Is this a bad idea? I can sell the Phenom II for a really good price. Is the performance difference between the two a lot and noticeable? I game at 1920x1200 and I do video editing form time to time.

Also, The AMD overclocks easily (unlocked multi) but the Q6600 I have no experience in overclocking. So if I do end up switching, I would need to learn how to overclock the Q6600. The motherboard being used is an Abit IP35-e. Any ideas?

EDIT: Also, does the RAM being used have any impact on overclocking the Q6600? I'm stuck between deciding between OCZ Reapers PC6400 and Corsair XMS2 PC6400.

you're going to have terrible voltage droop under load with a 65nm quad on the ip35e. I would advise against it.

 

[soccerballtux]

So hypothetically, if I can get the Q6600 to 3.6-3.8 range, it will be around the same as my Phenom II x4 at 4.0 ghz?

if you get the cpu-nb (l3 cache) clocked at 2.6ghz then that improves the performance and a q6600 at 3.6ghz would be equal to a ph2 x4 at 3.6ghz..