Upgrade!

[vincentn44]

Ok right now I have a e6400 at 2.13 ghz that I'm thinking about overclocking for the first time . Since that won't last me long I'm thinking about upgrading to

Quad core (q6600) at 2.4 ghz

Dual Core (e6850) at 3.0ghz

OR should I wait for a few months until something better comes out


I won't be overclocking to ridiculously high speeds and if I do it will be with the stock fan :/.
Or do you guys reccommend some other Intel cpu I should upgrade to thats not too expensive?

System Specs

Core 2 Duo E6400 @ 2.13 ghz

Memory: 2 sets of CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) 4-4-4-12

Motherboard: Asus P5K Vanilla

Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC ATX 430W Power Supply

EVGA Nvidia 8800GT 512 mb

ThermalTake Swing Midtower case with 120mm fan

All with no extra cooling whatsoever besides stock

 

[myocardia]

What are your planned uses for this system? And you won't be overclocking much at all with a Q6600, as long as you're using the stock heatsink.

 

[vincentn44]

Im an extreme gamer and plan to use it mostly for gaming and web browsing. No video rendering or stuff like that.

I probably won't get my processor until around next year january or february anyway

 

[myocardia]

Well, "gaming" entails quite a bit, since some games are almost completely CPU-bound, while others are almost completely GPU-bound, while other games are more in the middle. For instance, flight simulators and MMORPG's* are CPU-bound, while nearly all FPS's** are GPU-bound. But, honestly, if you're not going to be spending any money until next year, my advice would be to wait until next year, and see what's available then, along with their current prices.




*MMORPG= multiplayer online role playing games
** FPS= first person shooters

 

[vincentn44]

Well I mostly play fps games but like I heard Crysis will utilize all four cores. Im just wondering if I should "future proof" if I am at all by getting a quad core.

 

[myocardia]

There's really no such thing as future proofing, when it comes to computer gaming. I've been having to upgrade since the original Doom, and I'm still upgrading. If you were to buy a Q6600, it would likely delay you needing to upgrade your processor, since the new thing is "quad support" in the newest games. Of course, I highly doubt any game manufacturer is going to code their game to make it unplayable on a dual-core any time soon, since the vast majority of the gaming PC's on the planet still only have a dual-core.

 

[vincentn44]

yeah but im not sure about getting 4 cores and a lower speed which might last me longer or a reliable dual core thats faster

or if i should wait

 

[myocardia]

Well, whether you get a Q6600 or an E6850 is up to you. Today, the E6850 will provide better performance in most games, but in 6 months, that most likely won't be the case. The problem here is that the game designers/coders don't come ask us, so we're only guessing, just like you. I can say this: you can overclock a quad-core, but it's completely impossible to overclock two more cores into a dual-core.

 

[vincentn44]

hmm thx for your input
guess ill just wait until janurary and see
im probably gonna get a quad core cause i don't wanna upgrade in about a year

 

[swing848]

Originally posted by: vincentn44
Ok right now I have a e6400 at 2.13 ghz that I'm thinking about overclocking for the first time . Since that won't last me long I'm thinking about upgrading to

Quad core (q6600) at 2.4 ghz

Dual Core (e6850) at 3.0ghz

OR should I wait for a few months until something better comes out


I won't be overclocking to ridiculously high speeds and if I do it will be with the stock fan :/.
Or do you guys reccommend some other Intel cpu I should upgrade to thats not too expensive?

We cannot give you much advice on overclocking your present computer until you tell us what motherboard, RAM and power supply you have.

 

[vincentn44]

Core 2 Duo E6400 @ 2.13 ghz

Memory: 2 sets of CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) 4-4-4-12

Motherboard: Asus P5K (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16813131180)

Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC ATX 430W Power Supply

EVGA Nvidia 8800GT 512 mb

ThermalTake Swing Midtower case with 120mm fan

All with no extra cooling whatsoever besides stock

 

[myocardia]

So you don't even have any case fans? If so, you'd need to add fans, before trying to overclock much at all. And it seems the P5K vanilla overclocks just fine, at least according to the google links I found, so your motherboard won't be holding you back. Your power supply may not be strong enough for both an overclocked C2D and an 8800GT, though. Try reading the how to overclock C2D's thread, it's got more information than you should ever need.

 

[vincentn44]

Well I have one 120mm case fan and another 92mm fan i can put in but with stock will the quad core overclock more than the dual core or vice versa?

I still can't decide which one to get cause they're the same price

BTW this is my mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131180
not sure what "vanilla" is referring to

 

[myocardia]

You have the vanilla version, as opposed to the Deluxe, the Super, the SuperDuper, etc. version. But that's no problem, because it will overclock just fine, as opposed to the P5B vanilla, which had hardly any overclocking potential at all.

And dual-cores always overclock higher with the stock heatsink, because they have half as many cores, so they put out roughly half the heat. Which one you decide to buy is up to you. Like I've already said, today the 3.0 Ghz dua-core will outperform the 2.4 Ghz quad-core, in almost all games. In six months, though, that's very likely to change, though there's no way to be sure, unless you happen to have a time machine.

 

[Markfw]

I hate my P5K on my quad-core, dumped it, but it does OK on dual-core, but with only 2 sticks of memory.

 

[NoSoup4You]

Considering my wimpy X2 4400+ is still not preventing me from enjoying games at max settings and large resolutions (1600x1200), I'd wager there's no real reason to upgrade to anything other than a quad core (assuming you already have a C2D). Even then, we're talking minimal gains in frames per second. You'd be so much more better served by adding another 8800 GT or simply upgrading to the next flagship video card that will inevitably replace the 8800GTX (9800GTX?).

 

[kmmatney]

Originally posted by: vincentn44
Well I have one 120mm case fan and another 92mm fan i can put in but with stock will the quad core overclock more than the dual core or vice versa?

I still can't decide which one to get cause they're the same price

BTW this is my mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131180
not sure what "vanilla" is referring to

The one 120 mm case fan should be fine. I just have one 90 mm case fan running at 5 volts. You should be able to get a good overclock out of your cpu to last a while. There are VERY few games that make use of 4 cores, and its not like there are a ton of them coming out soon. Even then, the increase in performance is not linear. You video card will still be the bottleneck for most games at higher resolutions.

 

[darkxknight]

my plan is to get a midrange dual core for my new build and maybe 6 months down the road get a penryn. since you already have a midrange cpu, just wait it out at LEAST until penryns are out.

 

[vincentn44]

hmm seems ill just get better cooling and try to overclock my cpu with the guide and use that until a new processor comes out

any cooling reccommendations?

 

[Denithor]

Agreed. OC your e6400 to 3GHz if you can get there (should be doable based on your system) and don't worry about it until late next year when you can get a Penryn quad for <$200.

If you can get your e6400 to even 2.8GHz you are so not-cpu-bound it's not even funny.
Check out this benchmark of overclocked e6300/e6400 chips from nearly 18 months ago showing the performance of these processors versus stock AMD X2s and other faster C2Ds.

 

[vincentn44]

hmm are you sure i can do it with stock cooling
and if i had better cooling how far could i get it?

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: vincentn44
hmm are you sure i can do it with stock cooling

Most people get between 2.8 Ghz & 3.1 Ghz with stock cooling, the higher almost always being with good case ventilation (fans).

and if i had better cooling how far could i get it?

There are no guarantees in overclocking, ever.

 

[MyLeftNut]

Just oc your e6400. Even at 3.2ghz, it still has quite some time to go before you really need to upgrade. I have mine running at 3.7 and I won't but upgrading for at least another year, but that's just me.

 

[vincentn44]

Overclocked my e6400 from 2.13 to 2.73
Ordered my tuniq tower today and hope it comes on monday
Im living with the e6400 for at least a few more months :/

 

[Denithor]

With a tuniq on there you should be able to go north of 3GHz (depending of course on your particular processor).

My e6400 @ 2.8GHz provides more than enough power for my gaming needs, I don't plan to upgrade until it begins to feel slow (or the Penryn quads become too cheap to resist).