Upgrade from E7200

[DJK6]

Is it worth upgrading an E7200 core 2 duo to a Quad core. I don't want to buy a new MB and all right now. The Q6600 seems to be the most available right now for a decent price.

 

[Essence_of_War]

What is your use-case? Gaming? Office stuff? Something else?

And what MoBo do you currently have?

 

[DJK6]

Light gaming.
Gigabyte EP35-DS3L

 

[Seba]

"Light gaming" means playing games with low system requirements or it means playing games for a short duration?

 

[DJK6]

Mostly Racing games and flying. I'm not heavily into FPS games.

 

[Blue_Max]

Flying? As in Microsoft Flight Sim X? That thing has CRAZY-high requirements and a quad-core (and good video card) are a must! Grab whatever quad you can get the cheapest and overclock it easy as pie on that mobo of yours. The q6600's are still tasty even today! (Try to find one with a "G0" marker instead of the older B3 model which is 105W instead of the cooler 95W of the G0.)

 

[Matt1970]

I would do it. E7200 Passmark score 1650 vs 2973 for the Q6600. That's a decent overclocking board too.

 

[DJK6]

Blue max where do i locate the "G0" or"B3" marker?

 

[DJK6]

From what I've found: Slacr = G0 stepping
SL9Um = B3

 

[Essence_of_War]

As in Microsoft Flight Sim X? That thing has CRAZY-high requirements and a quad-core (and good video card) are a must!

I didn't think that MS Flight Sim X could take advantage of 4 cores.

 

[Blue_Max]

I didn't think that MS Flight Sim X could take advantage of 4 cores.

I'm no expert, but I seem to recall there was a service pack that added multi-core support - it was pretty drastic! :awe:

 

[imported_systemcrash]

I had the same e7200 until few weeks ago looking for possibles upgrades.

If you want only to change the cpu only... the best bang for the buck would not be a Q6600 but a X5450 or E5450.

I'm not sure about gigabytes but I know that Asus motherboard can accept those cpu with some small mods

Good luck.

 

[nenforcer]

If you want only to change the cpu only... the best bang for the buck would not be a Q6600 but a X5450 or E5450.

Both of those chips are LGA771. He needs the LGA775 versions

Dual Core
=============

Core 2 Duo E8400 / Xeon E3110

Quad Core
=============
Core 2 Quad Q9450 / Xeon X3350
Core 2 Quad Q9550 / Xeon X3360
Core 2 Quad Q9560 / Xeon X3370

I wouldn't recommend a .65nm Kentsfield Q6600 that is sort of a step backwards coming from a .45nm E7200 Wolfdale. (other than the fact that is a quad core and not a dual core).

 

[jihe]

Both of those chips are LGA771. He needs the LGA775 versions

Dual Core
=============

Core 2 Duo E8400 / Xeon E3110

Quad Core
=============
Core 2 Quad Q9450 / Xeon X3350
Core 2 Quad Q9550 / Xeon X3360
Core 2 Quad Q9560 / Xeon X3370

I wouldn't recommend a .65nm Kentsfield Q6600 that is sort of a step backwards coming from a .45nm E7200 Wolfdale. (other than the fact that is a quad core and not a dual core).

I am pretty certain he's talking about the 771 to 775 mod. I am running an E5440 on my old ip35-e right this moment . And it can overclock like a beast, though I keep it stock for speedstep.

 

[SPBHM]

this mod is not that simple,

if you can get the Q6600 G0 $50 or something and use it a 3GHz it's a GREAT CPU for the money