Just ordered 5870. Have p35 with celly: i5 vs. Q9550

[Pneumothorax]

Have a buddy who has the following. Gigabyte p35-ds3l with celeron 430(don't ask!) & 4gb ddr2 800 ram. He just placed an order for an ati 5870. Needs more CPU. We live near a microcenter so an i5 750. Goes for only $160. Of course he'll need new mobo and ram for that. Or should he pay $170 for a q9550. He's planning on o/c. He has a corsair 750 power supply btw.

Is the 750 worth the price premium of replacing the mobo+ram (basically about $180)?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

i imagine the 5870 is because he is a gamer: 1366 then 920 D0

the new platform i put together in my sig cost roughly 513$ compare your results or configuration with that but i'd say the trade-off isn't worth going 1156

 

[Denithor]

Probably not worth the premium.

EDIT: Grab the Q9550 and put the extra cash toward an Intel G2 SSD instead.

 

[error8]

Like Denithor said, he should grab the Q9550. Overclock that to 3.8 ghz and he is set to game. The only issue I'm seeing there, is the PCI express 1.1 slot, which might bottleneck the card. But looking at how much a 4870X2 gets limited by this slot, I believe that it will not be an important performance loss, nothing that he could notice anyway.

 

[Zensal]

As long as you are OC'ing, get the Q9550. The difference will not be noticed in games.

 

[Narynan]

yeah if i read it right and you can get the q9550 for 170.... then go that route. it will be a huge improvement

 

[Pneumothorax]

Would his P35 based board limit his FSB o/c to only about 400?

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: Pneumothorax
Would his P35 based board limit his FSB o/c to only about 400?

I don't see a problem until 400 fsb. Going past that, might prove tricky, depending a lot of his ram and other tweaks.

 

[Pneumothorax]

Originally posted by: error8

Originally posted by: Pneumothorax
Would his P35 based board limit his FSB o/c to only about 400?

I don't see a problem until 400 fsb. Going past that, might prove tricky, depending a lot of this ram and other tweaks.

So essentially he's going to be board/fsb limited on the q9550 to only 3.4. Hmmm... We're planning on going to Microcenter this afternoon so we'll see... Thanks for the advice guys.

BTW if he does decide on the i7 920 what's the advice on a decent x58 mobo <$200? Maybe I should post this on the motherboard forum.

 

[airmantharp]

I have an account! I didn't know...

I wanted to add, I had the exact dilemma above, and decided to purchase a Q9550, from Microcenter, and put it onto my GA-EP45DS3L. I was only able to get it to about 415FSB, and am running it permanently at 400FSB, for 3.4GHz. While I can't complain about the speed, I was hoping for more; if you're on a P35 board, based on my experience, it is probably good for 400FSB at best.

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: Pneumothorax
Would his P35 based board limit his FSB o/c to only about 400?

I don't think so. I have a original P965 board that is 3 years old when first core 2 duo were released. It does 500fsb no problem.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: Azn

Originally posted by: Pneumothorax
Would his P35 based board limit his FSB o/c to only about 400?

I don't think so. I have a original P965 board that is 3 years old when first core 2 duo were released. It does 500fsb no problem.

we are talking about a quad which is a different ballpark not an E6300 - no offense

get this guys board for 100$ shipped and you are good with that quad up to about 525fsb - mine yawns at 500fsb

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN

Originally posted by: Azn

Originally posted by: Pneumothorax
Would his P35 based board limit his FSB o/c to only about 400?

I don't think so. I have a original P965 board that is 3 years old when first core 2 duo were released. It does 500fsb no problem.

we are talking about a quad which is a different ballpark not an E6300 - no offense

get this guys board for 100$ shipped and you are good with that quad up to about 525fsb - mine yawns at 500fsb

Tell me what is different about quad vs core 2 duo overclocking... Absolutely nothing! No offense

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: Azn

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN

Originally posted by: Azn

Originally posted by: Pneumothorax
Would his P35 based board limit his FSB o/c to only about 400?

I don't think so. I have a original P965 board that is 3 years old when first core 2 duo were released. It does 500fsb no problem.

we are talking about a quad which is a different ballpark not an E6300 - no offense

get this guys board for 100$ shipped and you are good with that quad up to about 525fsb - mine yawns at 500fsb

Tell me what is different about quad vs core 2 duo overclocking

dualies are easier to overclock than quads

pics of 600fsb on a maximus II formula were shown in the Maximus II Formula thread in the XS forums - stable no, but booted into OS yes - guess how many cores the person was using. the reason why i was in and subscribed to that thread is because i was running my old Q9650 on that board. as a side bar, we are talking about a P45 chipset. My max fsb on that board was 479 so there is absolutely :roll: 'no difference'

much appreciated

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Originally posted by: Azn

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN

Originally posted by: Azn

Originally posted by: Pneumothorax
Would his P35 based board limit his FSB o/c to only about 400?

I don't think so. I have a original P965 board that is 3 years old when first core 2 duo were released. It does 500fsb no problem.

we are talking about a quad which is a different ballpark not an E6300 - no offense

get this guys board for 100$ shipped and you are good with that quad up to about 525fsb - mine yawns at 500fsb

Tell me what is different about quad vs core 2 duo overclocking... Absolutely nothing! No offense

Quads can't hit the same FSBs as duallies.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN

get this guys board for 100$ shipped and you are good with that quad up to about 525fsb - mine yawns at 500fsb

OP, getting a $100 motherboard and a $170 Q9550 makes no sense. You can get a Core i5 system for that and just add an extra $80 for DDR3 1600 which you can reuse down the line.

Tell him to sell his old parts and just get the Core i5 system. He should be able to get $80 for his mobo + ram + cpu. That's what I did when I upgraded to a Core i7, which made the upgrade really cheap. At first I contemplated dropping the E0 Q9550 into my P35-DS3L revision 1, but I didn't. Here is why:

At 6x multiplier, my Q6600 G0 needed

FSB +0.1, MCH +0.1 to get to 410 FSB
FSB + 0.2, MCH + 0.2 to get to 425 FSB
FSB + 0.3, MCH + 0.3 to get to 438 FSB

I can't find the link to the Anandtech article, but I recall that FSB temination voltage above 1.40V brings a quick death to 45nm Intel CPUs. Therefore, on the DS3L you are looking at FSB +0.2V at most and 425FSB. Conservatively speaking 400FSB should be doable, with 410-415 within your grasp. After that it's a crapshoot on my DS3L board.

Also check out my Resident Evil 5 results of Q6600 @ 3.4ghz vs. Core i7 860 stock

Q6600 @ 3.4ghz + 4890 880/4000 factory clocks
1280x1024 4AA = 60.8
1680x1050 0AA = 57.8
1680x1050 4AA = 57.8
1920x1080 0AA = 54.6
1920x1080 4AA = 55.1

^^^^ Core 2 Quad CPU limited @ 3.4ghz on 4890 in this game :brokenheart: In fairness, the extra 4mb of cache on the Q9550 and improved architecture should probably let you break into 65-70fps.

Core i7 860 stock w/Turbo enabled, DDR3 1066 CL7 timings + 4890 880/4000
1280x1024 4AA = 106.5 (+75%)
1680x1050 0AA = 97.2 (+68%)
1680x1050 4AA = 90.3 (+56%)
1920x1080 0AA = 88.8 (+63%)
1920x1080 4AA = 81.6 (+49%)

1920x1080 8AA = 77.3

If you can spend the extra $80, the core i5 system is worth it imo.

Also don't forget 920 D0 for $200 at microcenter.

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN



dualies are easier to overclock than quads

That wasn't what was asked in the first place. The question was would a p35 board limit his FSB O/C at 400fsb. If my p965 motherboard can stress 500fsb with a dual processor what makes you think a motherboard can't hit whatever the limit of Q9550 chip is with the same motherboard. Say 4 ghz = 444fsb...

pics of 600fsb on a maximus II formula were shown in the Maximus II Formula thread in the XS forums - stable no, but booted into OS yes - guess how many cores the person was using. the reason why i was in and subscribed to that thread is because i was running my old Q9650 on that board. as a side bar, we are talking about a P45 chipset. My max fsb on that board was 479 so there is absolutely :roll: 'no difference'

much appreciated

What is your point exactly? :roll:

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: PlasmaBomb

Quads can't hit the same FSBs as duallies.

Again. Not the question that was asked which I replied to.

 

[happy medium]

I believe that its the northbridge that limits your overclock on p35 boards with quads. No direct experience with it but I've read this to be true.
A p45/48 board generally will overclock a quad over the 400 fsb point easier.

 

[Pneumothorax]

Ok so we came back with a q9550. He decided to spend the extra on a x25m instead. Thanks for all the replies we'll see how much she overclocks

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

OP if you are thinking about getting a Q9550 and overclocking it with that P35 chipset it seems you will hit a wall around 425fsb, you may be able to go higher with a dualie as they are easier to overclock but i'd stick with that Q9550 as its a great overclocking chip.

Azn are you overclocking a Yorkfield @ 500fsb on the 3yr old board you are talking about? I've personally never used a quad on a P35 chipset but even with the better P45 chipset a Wolfdale will still hit higher fsb for overclocking than a Yorkfield. The king of the quadcore 775lga OCing imo is the Gigabyte UD3R or P and the low 500's is getting near a quads max on that board. So you see your point about your 3yr old board doing 500fsb is somewhat good to hear but in the case of what chip you were or are using on that board is also relevant as the OP is thinking of going with a Q9550, not a Wolfdale. So it is important to include such information

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

nm

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

nm

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: happy medium
I believe that its the northbridge that limits your overclock on p35 boards with quads. No direct experience with it but I've read this to be true.
A p45/48 board generally will overclock a quad over the 400 fsb point easier.

That doesn't make sense to me. So it's different for quads? Wouldn't that stress be on the northbridge not what processor.

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
Azn are you overclocking a Yorkfield @ 500fsb on the 3yr old board you are talking about? I've personally never used a quad on a P35 chipset but even with the better P45 chipset a Wolfdale will still hit higher fsb for overclocking than a Yorkfield. The king of the quadcore 775lga OCing imo is the Gigabyte UD3R or P and the low 500's is getting near a quads max on that board. So you see your point about your 3yr old board doing 500fsb is somewhat good to hear but in the case of what chip you were or are using on that board is also relevant as the OP is thinking of going with a Q9550, not a Wolfdale. So it is important to include such information

Now you are just baiting/trolling me. You know as hell know I don't have yorkfield and I'm not upgrading yet because I'm satisfied with my setup for now. I could go buy it if you are willing to put a little wager just to make it little interesting.

What is the average overclock of Q9550 on P45 board? It sure as hell isn't 4.5ghz @ 500fsb. My board has been stressed all the way up to 500fsb as my memory is the limit not if it's a quad or dual.