Q6600 rig to i5 2500K rig - first impressions

[Kaekae]

Just last night - my new build came in from New Egg (shipping was fast as always). And I know this is very fast to write a review on the new build but I just can't help msyelf - I'm very happy with it and wanted to share my experience and joy with this community. Also, these Forums had a large part in it since I wanted to wait for Ivy Bridge but reading all of your experiences just made me say "screw it" and went Sandy Bridge!

My previous rig was
Q6600 @ 2.6GHz stable (that was the highest stable OC my mobo could handle, it would load into windows at 3.2GHz but it would always crash anywhere from a half hour to a hour in)
Asus P5N-E SLi
4GB DDR2-800 Buffalo
EGVA 9800GTX+
Crucial M4 64GB SSD

New Rig
Intel i5 2500K (4.2GHz OC - will push harder into the week)
Coolermaster Hyper 212+ with 1 fan
ASRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3
8GB DDR3-1600 Corsair Vengeance
MSI 560GTX-Ti
Crucial M4 64GB SSD (now at Sata-III & firmware 0009 update)
Coolermaster HAF-922

Install went quick and easy (enjoyed a beer and cigar break through the process - this is key to all builders). These upgrades didn't set me back to much at all in terms of $ and at the time of order Newegg had lot's of instant savings on my GPU, Mobo & Ram and when I had purchased the Crucial SSD it was on sale for $89.99

Anyways - upgrading from a Q6600 at 2.6GHZ to i5 2500K even at 3.3GHz stock speed was a noticeable, very noticeable difference (I mean obviously). But I think the most noticeable difference has been the Sata-II to Sata-III jump. Everything I do is just so snappy and instant. I ran a SSD benchmark and I'm getting seq 515mb/read & 113mb/write. Prior to Sata-III I was getting 235mb/read & 98mb/write. I want to purchase another Crucial M4 and run it in Raid. (I hope they go back down to $89.99 sale)

My Windows 7 loads in 10 seconds and installing applications just FLEW!
The only game I played prior to the new build was Rift and with the Q6600 & 9800GTX+ at Ultra settings I was getting anywhere from 20FPS to 34FPS. 1920x1080 resolution.
Last night I loaded into Rift with the new build and was V-synced capped at 60FPS - I took off V-sync and I was hitting 85FPS at Ultra settings. The game feels so fluid too, just so smooth and responsive, where as 20FPS your eyes were like "ok this is laggy bro". Not to mention all maps and the major cities load so much quicker. (again mr. obvious)

All in all I am super happy with this new build and I haven't even overclocked the GPU yet. I'm shooting for a stable 4.5GHz overclock which I'm 99.9% sure I will be able to get with the 212+ at a decent voltage.

The mobo I purchased was future proof for Ivybridge and PCI 3.0 next year - but I won't be upgrading anytime soon, atleast for another 2-3 years probably.

P.S. I currently am using a NZXT-PP600W PSU. I should be good to go on running SLi 560GTX-Ti right? If I choose to do so.

 

[Smartazz]

Interesting analysis. I too have the Q6600, though and 3GHz and an SSD and I've been tempted to get a 2500K. I'm trying to stretch it out to Ivy Bridge since my current rig still fits my needs pretty well.

 

[jacktesterson]

I just sold my 2500k Rig @ 4.5 GHz and SLI'd 560TI's

For everyday use, I couldn't tell the difference between it and my current less powerful desktop.

 

[BD231]

I'm pretty juiced on Sandy Bridge myself but all this waiting to see what Bull Shizer was to bring has me on the Ivy boat as well. Sure am jealous of that 32nm tech though, the frequency headroom is mighty tempting.

 

[toyota]

no way would I try running gtx560 Ti sli and 2500k with NZXT-PP600W. the 12v line can only handle a max of 450 watts. even with everything at stock speeds that psu would nearly be maxed out under full load.

 

[RussianSensation]

I am loving the Asrock Gen 3 mobos. The amount of features they threw on there for the price is incredible. Congrats on the new build.

 

[sm625]

I would not be too pleased if all I could get out of my Q6600 was 2.6GHz. You obviously had some problems that could have extended beyond just a lack of headroom.

 

[BlueBlazer]

I would not be too pleased if all I could get out of my Q6600 was 2.6GHz. You obviously had some problems that could have extended beyond just a lack of headroom.

Notice his motherboard model? Some of those old NVIDIA chipset are notorious for FSB "holes". :\

 

[Kaekae]

no way would I try running gtx560 Ti sli and 2500k with NZXT-PP600W. the 12v line can only handle a max of 450 watts. even with everything at stock speeds that psu would nearly be maxed out under full load.

Figures, thanks for the info. I knew 600W was cutting it close.

For now 1 GPU is definitely all I need.

 

[Kaekae]

I would not be too pleased if all I could get out of my Q6600 was 2.6GHz. You obviously had some problems that could have extended beyond just a lack of headroom.

Yeah the Asus P5N-E SLi was known to have troubles overclocking the Core 2 Quad's. The Core 2 Duo's were overclocking upwards of 3.6GHz+ with good cooling. However, for some reason the Quad's weren't cutting it, I even had the latest Bios and everything.

I had a Q6600 G0 too!

Looks like I'll try to sell it.

 

[RobertR1]

Thanks for the impressions. I'm at a Q6600 currently without SSD. For me, it'll be a leaps and bounds difference. The rig will be for gaming only so I have no need to wait in Ivy and like you said, the Asrock's are Ivy compatible incase I need to upgrade.

It's been almost 4 years since the last build. Looking forward to this!

 

[aldamon]

Q6600 Stock,

On a P5K? WTF?

 

[imaheadcase]

I doubt the sata2 to sata 3 jump was why it felt snappier. In fact i know its not. 😛

 

[tweakboy]

I can only tell the difference of the SSD on my dads 2600k system.

its 7.7 in WEI 7 and SSD is 7.5, mine is 7.3 cpu if I pop a SSD there is no difference to me unless I time the rendering runs... its powerful enough, screens about fast as possible and smooth animation.. l

 

[lehtv]

I just sold my 2500k Rig @ 4.5 GHz and SLI'd 560TI's

For everyday use, I couldn't tell the difference between it and my current less powerful desktop.

An SSD probably makes the biggest impact in everyday use. It's why the OP's system now boots in 10 seconds (wtf) and installs apps in a flash.

 

[RussianSensation]

Yeah the ABIT P5N-E SLi was known to have troubles overclocking the Core 2 Quad's. The Core 2 Duo's were overclocking upwards of 3.6GHz+ with good cooling. However, for some reason the Quad's weren't cutting it, I even had the latest Bios and everything.

The P5N-E SLI is an Asus board. The Abit brand had excellent IP35 series at the time. I think the OP confused the brand. The peculiarity of the Asus P5N-E SLI (or other 650/680 NV chipset boards) was that you could run your RAM asynchronous from your FSB. On P965 Intel chipset at the time, the lowest you could do was 1:1 FSB:Ram ratio. As such, if you "unlocked" the DDR2 from CPU FSB ratio, you could raise the FSB without worrying about your RAM bottlenecking you (esp. important if you had slower DDR2-533-675mhz RAM that couldn't overclock well). Of course this wouldn't have been an issue for the OP since 400 FSB x 9 multi = 3600mhz on the Q6600 and his ram was rated at DDR2-800. So obviously something else was holding him back.

Any of these could have helped:

- Locking PCIe bus to 100.
- Raising motherboard chipset voltage
- Raising CPU / Vtt / FSB termination voltage, etc.

The main issues of quad-core overclocking on P965/P35/650/680 chipsets mostly became apparent during the introduction of Penryn 45nm Quad-cores. These issues didn't really exist with 266 FSB Q6600/Q6700 chips.

 

[Kaekae]

The P5N-E SLI is an Asus board. The Abit brand had excellent IP35 series at the time. I think the OP confused the brand.

Yeah you are right, Asus. My bad.

But believe me I've done a lot of research and not to many people were having much success with that board and Core 2 Quad's.

I tried a lot of different settings and increasing voltage in a lot of areas but it would always lock up eventually.

Oh well it's in the past!

 

[sep]

Kaekae, I had the same rig (Q6600, P5N-E Deluxe) and had no luck overclocking. My upgrade is in the sig. BC2 is so much more smoother (same video card for now). I'm happy with my 25k too ; )

 

[RussianSensation]

Oh well it's in the past!

2500k is a sweet upgrade over your Q6600 either way. Even at stock speeds, it's almost twice as fast.

I bet you can sell the Q6600 parts since a lot of LGA775 users stuck on E6400/6600/E8200 CPUs, etc. may want a quad core upgrade!

 

[SimMike2]

I am getting ready to fire up my 2500K in the next few days. I'll be switching from a core2duo E8400, so I bet I do notice the difference. Especially if I do any video encoding. I'll be using my old Corsair SATA II drive.

 

[DominionSeraph]

An SSD probably makes the biggest impact in everyday use. It's why the OP's system now boots in 10 seconds (wtf)

What's WTF about that? This is my 5 year old $350 Dell with its WD800JD:

 

[ROJAS]

very nice system

 

[skipsneeky2]

Congrats Op 🙂

I remember being as excited as you when i jumped from a oced pentium 4 478 and 7800gs 256 mb agp to a e6750 and 8800gts 512mb this card a friend still uses to this day 4 years later.

The q6600 itself holds a special place in my heart the day i popped one of those in to replace my e6750 i had replaced the 8800 with a gtx280 man such good times🙂

Long live the q6600 and enjoy your 2500k i have one also at 4.3ghzs on the auto oc and loving it :thumbsup:

 

[nyker96]

no way would I try running gtx560 Ti sli and 2500k with NZXT-PP600W. the 12v line can only handle a max of 450 watts. even with everything at stock speeds that psu would nearly be maxed out under full load.

I'd also say get a better psu, if u got money get the seasonic X650 gold, will save some electricity. or the antec earthwatts 650 or 750 is nice and cheap and efficient too. you need to get a better psu.

 

[Kaekae]

I'd also say get a better psu, if u got money get the seasonic X650 gold, will save some electricity. or the antec earthwatts 650 or 750 is nice and cheap and efficient too. you need to get a better psu.

So it's safe to say that 650W is a safe-bet for SLi high-end video cards, on a reliable manufacturer? I'm thinking 750W just to play it safe? I'll use the HAF 922 stock case cans - and I only have 1 SSD and 1 HDD, but I may purchase another SSD for Raid.

I was thinking of Modular PSU too.