Watercool my Q6600 or Upgrade?

[Skyllz]

Now that I got room and good airflow(HAF-932), I debating on either upgrading my P5Q/Q6600 to a i5/i7 setup or watercooling my Q6600 and push it a little more(running 3.2 on air right now, 3.6 under water would be easy I think).

I would keep my GTX260c216 for now. Maybe add a second one or upgrade to a 3XX series once they will have been out for a couple months.

Anyone been there lately? What did you end up doing and why?

I should also note that due to a massive brainfart of mine, I have a 4gb dual channel DDR3 kit on my desk I cant use right now That would fit nicely in a i5/i7 setup.

This machine is used for folding, gaming, browsing. Nothing else. Folding is nice but i'm not trying to push it here. Gaming is where it's at for me. Folding is something I leave running when i'm not home.

Would I see a large improvement? Worthwhile improvements at the least? Or would I only be throwing money out the window like my wife tells me all the time.

[misterd]

Originally Posted by Skyllz

Or would I only be throwing money out the window like my wife tells me all the time.

So it's not just mine telling me that? Wow I bet we could start a club
You should be able to do at least 3.4 on air, my G0 did. However for gaming, you'd see more of a difference with SLI/Crossfire then with a whole new setup.. if you're talking frames sure it would be faster, but going from 30 to 35 or 30 to 60 what's going to be the bigger jump. (i just pulled some numbers from my ass for examples sake)

Assuming you have the PSU for SLI, but from your post you don't have a motherboard for it since the p5q is crossfire only. So either you go to i5/i7 or stay with what you have and watercool it for fun. Your gaming experience isn't going to change enough without buying new video cards. Hope this helps a bit.

[Skyllz]

Originally Posted by misterd

Assuming you have the PSU for SLI, but from your post you don't have a motherboard for it since the p5q is crossfire only. So either you go to i5/i7 or stay with what you have and watercool it for fun. Your gaming experience isn't going to change enough without buying new video cards. Hope this helps a bit.

So what you are saying is i'm pretty much video card limited even on my current setup then?

I got a Corsair TX750 for power supply, no power problem there for a while.

I also have a P5Q-EM(1 PCI-eX16 slot only...) so if I keep that, that means a single better video card later + watercooling

If I swap that out of a i5/i7 setup, i'd get an SLI board and probably add another GTX260 down the line for cheap, seems to be a "fairly" hot setup still. Should be for a while anyway.

And I beleive we are only seeing the "first gen" of i5/i7 chips out, i'm sure some hot stuff is coming down the line too.

Hmmmm...

[martin_metal_88]

well...Take a little back. A good WC will cost you about 500$ and some pain to put it all in one. I5 860 ( 350$ ) + GA-ep55-UD4P (170 ) and use your ddr3 laying here. For just a little over you get a CPU wich OC better performe better ( even no OC ) and run cooler then your Q6600...I think it worth the upgrade. Or you can buy my Q9550 and my mobo + ram, let me get a I5:P take the choice youw ant to;)

Ask for more.

[axle182]

I can relate. I had a 680i LT with E6750 with one 8800 GTS 512. Be careful as its a slippery slope! lol. This is what i did -

Wanted to go true SLI, and after research, found id be better off with a 780i+ board.
Found a XFX 780i SLI locally for $140 BNIB.

Got the second 8800GTS 512, and ran SLI for my first time. LOVED it. Huge gain from the one 8800. Second 8800 GTS cost me $100.

A friend decides he wants a gaming pc but doesnt want to spend alot. This is where it got fun lol.

New parts for me, I found a E8400 locally. I then bought 2x GTX285's ($700 only big purchase and only purchase that wasnt second hand!). Also added 4gb ram (2x2) so i had 6 in the XFX running vista Ultimate.

Mates needed a PS so i got a 1000w Corsair for mine.


Personally what I would do, id leave the CPU till last, and get yourself some decent graphics first. That means upgrading your MB, id go second hand, check out kijiji, Craigslist, and on here. Ive seen a few 780i which i can recommend for around $150. You could also find a board that accepts the 4gb of DDR3 and still runs a 775 chipset. Im sure in my research there was a few out there.

I wouldnt do the big upgrade just yet. I got my E8400 for under $100 locally. But it should be good for over 4ghz. Mine is WC (isnt cheap to be honest) but its quieter. Concentrate on your graphics, if you find a board that runs DDR3, then use the 4gb you have or grab some more DDR2, the net is full with second hand DDR2 ram. Do it all on the cheap for now, and do a big upgrade to i7 or i5 when the time is right. There is alot of good second hand equipment out there :D

[stoanee]

Originally Posted by Skyllz

Or would I only be throwing money out the window like my wife tells me all the time.

You are throwing money out the window unless you are folding for humanity!!! (and HWC)


Sell the cpu and mobo, they are getting old. Get a I7/I5 with a good sli mobo, throw on a Coolermaster 212+ with an eye to watercool down the road. Pick up a rad, pump/reservoir, cpu block and goodies then OC away with modern equipment. You will be set to switch vid cards when they get even better.

[Squeetard]

I agree with stoanee. My i7 with a gtx 26O/192 plays all games on max with the fps locked at 6O. Get an i5/p55.

[Skyllz]

Originally Posted by Squeetard

I agree with stoanee. My i7 with a gtx 26O/192 plays all games on max with the fps locked at 6O. Get an i5/p55.

Seems to be the most economical thing to do and get a good kick in performance while keeping the door open for later upgrades.

Sounds like a plan.

Anyone wants a P5Q-EM/Q6600 G0/2gb Kingston Hyper-X kit? Will be forsale tonight with a picture in the FS section

[Squeetard]

I got a huge boost in FPS going from a q66OO to my i7. Like 2O% across the board. Pretty much the same boost a GPU upgrade gets you, I was very impressed.

[Gellidius]

i'm doing 3519 MHz on my cpu @ 1.41v; with all cores at 100%, room temp around 23C, core temps hover around 50C with the Vendetta II cooler; which i find quite good.
just a suggestion...(low cost) ;-)

I tried 3.6GHz for a short while but i thought the needed voltage was somewhat too high for long temp reliability.