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Best bang for buck CPU for modern games

Caporegime
Joined
24 Dec 2005
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why does everyone <3 the Q6600 so much? i had one at 3.2GHz for a while, and it was pretty good, but it put a lot of strain on the motherboard. you really need a good motherboard & good cooling to get one above 3.0GHz and have it still working a year later. also, it may struggle on games that only make use of 2 cores, especially if it is not overclocked.

at the moment, the i3 for £75ish is pretty good, a lot of games still don't benefit from having more than 2 cores, and it is easy as hell to overclock to 4GHz with pretty much any setup.

or the i5 for £150 or i9 for £200 are good too if you got the money to spare.

This post makes no sense. Read the OP
 
Associate
Joined
23 Sep 2010
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1,030
I'd be tempted to go with Big.Wayne's overclocking tips. Q6600s are cracking chips, and the quad core is useful for gaming now, but I'd save the money and put it towards a Sandy Bridge system if you can.
 
Associate
Joined
8 Apr 2008
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230
Yet another +1 for a second hand q6600 or q6700. But only after you have at least tried to OC the current set up.

I paid around £70 with shipping a few months back if I recall correctly from a well known auction site and have got it running 3.4 at the moment, albeit with a better cooler.
 
Capodecina
Soldato
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1 Aug 2005
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Flatland
Sorry to hijack the thread a bit, but I have a Q8400 and very much plan on playing The Witcher 2. Will I get good fps esp with those NPC heavy environs?
 
Soldato
Joined
27 Oct 2005
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13,687
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Netherlands
why does everyone <3 the Q6600 so much? i had one at 3.2GHz for a while, and it was pretty good, but it put a lot of strain on the motherboard. you really need a good motherboard & good cooling to get one above 3.0GHz
Rubbish, my p5b deluxe does it fine, the OP's board has the same chipset, the OP doesn't want to change his mainboard. A simple AC Freezer 7 Pro is fine. If you want silence something like a Scythe Mugen is great and will keep it cool easily at this OC.

and have it still working a year later.
Rubbish, mine is fine after YEARS of use at 3.2...

also, it may struggle on games that only make use of 2 cores, especially if it is not overclocked.
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A q6600 @ 3+ ghz struggle in games? Right :confused:. I've not noticed any problems. Dual core is crap too when you want to game while doing something else cpu intensive at the meantime, I would never go back to a dual core, even a 4ghz e8xxx or an i3...
 
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