E6320 => Q6600 or E8400? Or...

[fffblackmage]

Ah, I guess that makes sense. A couple of the Anandtech reviews on 650i boards I read mentioned crosstalk and whatnot. I know it's a significant issue, and maybe it's especially bad with the 650i design.

Also, in the articles I read, they used 2x1 GB ram sticks.

I really want to upgrade my gfx card, and after more consideration, I might just hold off on upgrading the cpu.

Maybe it's because I'm in the cpu subforum, but only one person mentioned upgrading my gfx card rather than cpu. I'm certainly glad I started this thread asking for some opinions rather than going straight to ebay for the Q6600.

 

[adlep]

I have an NV 650i based board and it has been running like a champ for the past few years. No problems or stability issues even with some medium oc.

 

[aclim]

well judging by your monitor in sig I would say yes a new vid card would be much more beneficial. I say a 5850 is in order

 

[soccerballtux]

Ah, I guess that makes sense. A couple of the Anandtech reviews on 650i boards I read mentioned crosstalk and whatnot. I know it's a significant issue, and maybe it's especially bad with the 650i design.

Also, in the articles I read, they used 2x1 GB ram sticks.

I really want to upgrade my gfx card, and after more consideration, I might just hold off on upgrading the cpu.

Maybe it's because I'm in the cpu subforum, but only one person mentioned upgrading my gfx card rather than cpu. I'm certainly glad I started this thread asking for some opinions rather than going straight to ebay for the Q6600.

For whatever reason I've always loved upgrading the CPU more than the GPU, too. Something about going from AthlonXP, to Athlon64 with the IMC, to dual core, to quad core, is so much more fun than migrating between GPU architectures....

 

[RussianSensation]

Of course if you only had to choose between a faster CPU and 5850, I would vote the videocard.

If you sell your 4830 for $50 and your cpu for $30, then buya used Q6600 for $100 and find a 5850 for sale for $260, you could have both worlds for close to $280

 

[alyarb]

just want to point out that the 417 watt i7 machine was running at 1.5 volts. a more mature 920 would be doing all that with 1.3 volts or less and peak power would be dramatically reduced.

it's a close call, but I think the GPU should come first. a 3.1 ghz conroe isn't bad.

 

[fffblackmage]

For whatever reason I've always loved upgrading the CPU more than the GPU, too. Something about going from AthlonXP, to Athlon64 with the IMC, to dual core, to quad core, is so much more fun than migrating between GPU architectures....

it's a close call, but I think the GPU should come first. a 3.1 ghz conroe isn't bad.

Heh.
For gaming, I should be upgrading the gpu, but hardware-wise, I've yet to played with a quad core.

If you sell your 4830 for $50 and your cpu for $30, then buya used Q6600 for $100 and find a 5850 for sale for $260, you could have both worlds for close to $280

Quite tempting. I actually did see the 5850 for around $250 at the Dell website, but refused to pay $23 in tax....

 

[fffblackmage]

Well, I thought I might as well give an update here, since I got myself a new Phenom quad core.

tl;dr
So I went from E6320 to Phenom II X4 B50. My first impression is that performance gain in-game is insignificant at the moment, but I have a new toy to play with. ^_^
/end tl;dr

A quick recap:
The Q6600 remained expensive on ebay, and my damn 650i mobo doesn't accept 45nm quad cores (didn't want to risk $200+ testing it out). So, with the LGA775, I was pretty much at the end of the road.

About a month later after that, a friend noticed an awesome deal on the Phenom II X2 550BE + Gigabyte/Abit 785G-based mobo for about $160/$170 at tigerdirect. I guess I ended up a bit extra lucky since the Gigabyte mobo combo dropped from $170 to $160 after he already got his 550BE+Abit mobo. But anyways, we were both able to unlock the cores and so far, no problems.

So did I notice a performance gain moving from dual core to quad core? Well, my first impression is no, not really, but seeing how I've only just got this cpu+mobo up and running yesterday, it'll take some time for me to start noticing framerates aren't always slowing to a crawl in Dragon Age.

On the other hand, I have noticed other benefits. Using my Kill-A-Watt meter, my computer used to idle at 120W or so with the undervolted/overclocked E6320 (2.33GHz at 1.125V). The new Phenom B50 (unlocked, stock everything with power saving features enabled) can idle at 90W.

Another benefit came as a surprise. My 4830 is actually running a bit cooler. It's probably because it was moved one slot up and airflow from the side fan isn't disrupting airflow on the gpu as much as it used to.