Here I am still with my E6400 - Thank you Anandtech CPU forum!

[Hulk]

I think it was four years ago on the always great advice I've been getting from this forum and website since 1998 I upgraded my long in tooth P4 3.06 to the E6400 o/c to 3.2. Being a cheapskate I didn't go for the Q6600 figuring I'll upgrade later when the price comes down.

Well the price came down but my 6600 was doing fine so I waited some more. Almost popped for the Penryn Quad but say Nehalem coming and my E6600 o/c was still doing it for me so I waited.

Thinking about Nehalem I saw the review on the 860 and figured that's the one I'll go for.. almost made the upgrade and saw the Sandybridge preview! Now I'm waiting for that one.

The point of my post? A BIG Thanks to everyone here for steering me in the right direction 4 years ago when I built the rock solid, overclocked, and cheap system in my sig. I read and took heed and didn't go for a cheap power supply or motherboard and for a few extra bucks (remember I'm cheap) I got a troublefree system. Makes it hard to upgrade.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

- Mark

 

[Smartazz]

Good to hear that lasted you all this while. Might as well keep a system as long as it does what you want it to do. Personally, I'm hoping to sit on my Q6600 as long as possible.

 

[BoomerD]

I'm about to finally upgrade from my P4 3.06 (With Hyper-Threading!) to an i5-760.

I'm stoked. I considered waiting for the Sandy Bridge release...but opted to just go ahead and get the parts now.

 

[BathroomFeeling]

Well I'm going to wait for SB, just 3 or so weeks left. This is so exciting. It'll only be my second time to own an Intel processor. Last one was the 486DX2 66MHz!
*furiously does pushups*

From my AthlonXP 1800+ to the i5 2500K, what a giant leap of an upgrade. Now I can finally play all those old games from 6 years ago, HL2, those war games, Ultima 10... That game too that everybody keeps talking about... Crysis something.

 

[soccerballtux]

you can throw your voltage to 1.5v on that CPU (if your cooler can keep you under 74C) and play with the clocks till you get an even better overclock.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Well I'm going to wait for SB, just 3 or so weeks left. This is so exciting. It'll only be my second time to own an Intel processor. Last one was the 486DX2 66MHz!
*furiously does pushups*

From my AthlonXP 1800+ to the i5 2500K, what a giant leap of an upgrade. Now I can finally play all those old games from 6 years ago, HL2, those war games, Ultima 10... That game too that everybody keeps talking about... Crysis something.

That's one hell of an upgrade. What video card are you getting?

Oh, and Ultima 10?? I thought Ultima 9 was the last game and that's way back n the day. (late 90's??)

 

[OBLAMA2009]

I'm about to finally upgrade from my P4 3.06 (With Hyper-Threading!) to an i5-760.

I'm stoked. I considered waiting for the Sandy Bridge release...but opted to just go ahead and get the parts now.

youve made 28000 posts to THIS website and youre still running a p4???

 

[BathroomFeeling]

That's one hell of an upgrade. What video card are you getting?
Oh, and Ultima 10?? I thought Ultima 9 was the last game and that's way back n the day. (late 90's??)

I think it was Ultima9 too, get confused sometimes with Garriot's last project under the company. I remember I couldn't run it for some reason, for the lack of power or perhaps it was just buggy. I'll try again with my new system.

Anyway my future card is still under consideration. Both camps offer great performing cards, in many cases the differences aren't much more than a couple of frames. What I really need are the bonuses, and at the moment stable performing drivers & CUDA (for Photoshop/Premiere) are big plusses for me. So it's between the 460OC, the 560, or the 570. Just wish the 560 would come out faster, if not I may stick with the 460OC unless there's a price reduction for the 570.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

youve made 28000 posts to THIS website and youre still running a p4???

This.

And Boomer, the performance difference will rock your world. ATOT won't get any better, but everything else will.

 

[amenx]

The most satisfying upgrades are for those who held out the longest. When you install your new CPU or GPU after several generations of them have passed, the impact of the new component will be far more appreciable.

 

[toyota]

I'm about to finally upgrade from my P4 3.06 (With Hyper-Threading!) to an i5-760.

I'm stoked. I considered waiting for the Sandy Bridge release...but opted to just go ahead and get the parts now.

why would you go i5 760 when Sandy Bridge is coming out in a couple of weeks? the 2500K will be about the same price as the i5 760 but is quite a bit faster.

 

[tweakboy]

Awesome message. Your not greedy. That dual OCed to 3.2Ghz is fast. If its doing what you want it to do, no need to upgrade. The performance difference from a P4 to a Core 2 is soo freakin big. Like literally 200 times faster....if not more.. Enjoy your Christmas too,
BTW What do you do on the PC usually. Play games ? HTCP net surfing ?

 

[VirtualLarry]

The performance difference from a P4 to a Core 2 is soo freakin big. Like literally 200 times faster....if not more..

I would have added that to my sig, but I still don't have enough room.

 

[AsusGuy]

I admit it felt like a huge upgrade from my 3.0Ghz HT P4 to my current C2D.

I am also still loving my PC. For a gaming, media, and general purpose system it still holds its own. This is the best value I have ever gotten out of a system. Next upgrade will be the video card then possibly Sandy Bridge or Bulldozer depending on how I feel.

 

[Zorander]

I'd also like to share my appreciation for the guidance that Anandtech (and also X-bit Labs) have given me. I upgraded my main rig early this year with the i7-860 and HD5850, from an Athlon64 X2 system purchased in 2005 (which in turn was also influenced by these two sites). The Ph2 dual-core system I built for my parents and, thanks to AT again, whose 3rd core successfully unlocked is working great too.

I'm sure SB and its competitors/future successors will be great products but, until my games and apps start running slow, I'm going to hold on to my current systems. When that time comes, I will religiously read AT & X-bit Labs again and definitely consult with you guys here finally.

Thanks again!

 

[Hulk]

Awesome message. Your not greedy. That dual OCed to 3.2Ghz is fast. If its doing what you want it to do, no need to upgrade. The performance difference from a P4 to a Core 2 is soo freakin big. Like literally 200 times faster....if not more.. Enjoy your Christmas too,
BTW What do you do on the PC usually. Play games ? HTCP net surfing ?

I do a good bit of video editing with Sony Vegas Pro 10 these days and that has me wanting for a quad/newer generation of processor. I also do some multitrack audio recording and mixing, which requires a fair amount of CPU performance for stutter free real-time performance.

I remember the first time I booted up my C2D at 3.2 and ran some tests compared to my P4 at 3.06. My standard video editing script ran 4 times faster with the C2D. I'm hoping for nearly the same increase when I move to Sandy Bridge.

The recommendations from the forum here (and reviews) was so spot on that 4 years later I'm still happily using the same system and it's not really "slow" for what I do. What a value. Once Sandy Bridge hits I will upgrade again. The C2D has served me well but besides the increased performance of Sandy Bridge I'm looking for a system that is a little more efficient, especially at idle since my system is on usually from morning until I go to bed at night and I notice with Kill-A-Wat that with the monitor on it idles at 266 watts. I'm hoping to cut that down to below 200 or better.

 

[GundamF91]

Oh, buy the SSD if you want multiple your enjoyment of fast speed.

 

[Hulk]

Oh, buy the SSD if you want multiple your enjoyment of fast speed.

SSD is definitely going to happen with the Sandy Bridge upgrade next month.

 

[Fallengod]

I am still running an E6400 @ 3ghz. I havnt needed to upgrade in a long time. ;p I remember I spent about $125 for this CPU and that was like 3-4 years ago. Maybe the best $125 I spent for a computer part.

 

[mv2devnull]

youve made 28000 posts to THIS website and youre still running a p4???

Well, if one would continuously tune one's system, one would not have time to post that much. Fable style.


I was on Pentium Pro for some 9 years. It did not last anywhere as nice as the OP's rig; the software went to MMX/SSE so many things became not simply "too slow" but "not possible". Life has necessities ...

 

[BoomerD]

youve made 28000 posts to THIS website and youre still running a p4???

Meh...I never did get into the "OMG! A new processor (or video card) I GOTTA upgrade NAOW!"
As long as what I have does what I need it to do, I don't have any reason to upgrade...BUT, things have changed enough in gaming that I NEED a new PC to be able to play games...I haven't bought a game since COD2 in 2005. My rig just doesn't have the oomph for them.

why would you go i5 760 when Sandy Bridge is coming out in a couple of weeks? the 2500K will be about the same price as the i5 760 but is quite a bit faster.

I still haven't opened the boxes...I MAY return stuff to Amazon...if and when Sandy Bridge comes out...we'll see...I'm not the most patient person...

 

[JustStarting]

I'm seeing no reason to upgrade my rig at this point unless I hit the lotto!! It's funny, but most of my 2 year old components aren't even in stock on newegg's site anymore!! Just the E8500 and the memory.... and maybe a dvd drive?