Q6600 Core 2 Duo (Quad) 2.4Ghz: Stick with AMD 4890 CF, or upgrade to 580GTX?

[mindflayer]

Debating on this upgrade with SW:TOR and BF3 both out now. The latter has issues with AMD cards; the former has issues with older AMD cards. (Flickering shadows, cross-screen ripping, etc.) I am trying to find benchmarks of the two, but with the AMD 4890 being so old, it's hard to find a good comparison.

Would slapping a nice new card in a Q6600-powered system be silly? My plan is to eventually build a new rig, so the money spent now would still be applicable then. OTOH, if I do not get measurable performance gains, there might be no sense in dropping the cash now.

 

[ocre]

can you overclock the q6600?

 

[mindflayer]

can you overclock the q6600?

I can, but not sure how much that would buy me.

 

[Termie]

Your CPU is already badly holding back your 4890 CF setup, which should be about as powerful as a GTX570. I'm not sure what you mean when you say BF3 "has issues with AMD cards." Is there a specific problem you're having, or are you referring generally to the big hit AMD cards take with MSAA turned on? That's not really a problem, since not even a 580 can handle ultra with MSAA in BF3.

Here are some 4870x2 vs. GTX480 benchmarks: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/174?vs=158. The GTX480 is basically a GTX570, and your setup should be a bit faster than the 4870x2. Therefore it would be a draw, and a GTX580 for $450-500 would buy you maybe a 10% improvement. Pretty horrible investment if you ask me.

I'd wait until you can upgrade the system to SB/IB. If your setup has major glitches, however, perhaps due to a card failing, then go for something like an HD6950 or GTX570, and get a second one down the line. Either way, I'd overclock that q6600 to at least 3.0. I can't imagine it's doing anything good at stock in BF3, which needs a huge amount of CPU power in multiplayer.

 

[Attic]

I don't think money spent now on a 580GTX would be money well spent if you are considering a broader system upgrade within 6-9mo's.

That being said a 580GTX makes sense if you can get your Q6600 to a minimum 3.2-3.4ghz. Otherwise i'd stick with what you have.

Given the Q6600 is going to most likely limit the 580, why not pitch a new CPU with a new vid card at the time of your CPU upgrade?

GTX580 now means big money now to be limited now, and limited later (compared to comparable video card offerings when you do CPU upgrade)

 

[ocre]

I can, but not sure how much that would buy me.

You should ave massive results if you can overclock your Q6600 ~ 1ghz or so (even less). I would expect it anyway. Multi GPU are very CPU dependent, the faster the CPU the better the results. Your CPU is very important in CF as it has to deal wit a lot more data.

What may surprise you is a q6600 is very close to the q9xxx clock for clock. Some say the q9xx is 8% stronger clock per clock, but i know i have seen it as low as 6%. What i am getting at is overclocking your q6600 will give it some legs and could put it up to the q9650 performance. Depending on the OC it could even be above that.

So getting to those levels would also get you close to the i7 920. You would be amassed at how great of a chip this old core2 dou is.

I think you will gain a lot just by overclocking your CPU. It doesnt hurt to try and it should hold you over until you can upgrade the whole platform. there is tons of info everywhere cause of its revolutionary ability.

If you do go this route, please post back the results. I expect them to be really great for for your CF rig. It may vary game to game, but i would love to see how much you get out of it.