Lga775 upgrade: worth it or not?

[Akagi]

I got my friends one to 4.4GHz on the stock Intel cooler as well! They are cracking little overclockers.

 

[joeyjojo]

I had a Q6600 and it did not perform as well as everyone makes it out.

Depends on the game. I'm still on 775, got a Xeon X3320 for £40 last year (same as Q9300) and paired with an AMD 7850 it plays everything I want it to at 1920x1200: Skyrim on nearly max settings, XCOM, Tropico, Bioshock, etc. Not the most demanding games admittedly but works fine for me.

 

[easyrider]

what mobo have you got op?

Ideally you need more system ram etc... So after some thought you need to move this rig on...

It makes no sense to upgrade it ....as you could buy used new gen stuff for not much more which would wipe the floor with lga 775

 

[UTmaniac]

I really regret not getting 4x2GB DDR3 memory sticks for my crossover MSI x48C Platinum when they were readily available and cheap, while my Q9300 tends to get funny at anything much above 400 FSB, its the maximum capacity 2x2GB DDR2 which is my systems major bottleneck these days (even using a 4:5 divider).

 

[ojrules]

what mobo have you got op?

Asus p5Q pro currently..

I think you're right - about changing rig, ideally i'd like to keep it as close to £100-£120 as possible, does this seem at all possible with second hand mobo and ram?

 

[easyrider]

Asus p5Q pro currently..

I think you're right - about changing rig, ideally i'd like to keep it as close to £100-£120 as possible, does this seem at all possible with second hand mobo and ram?

That mobo would clock a Q6600 to 3.8ghz but you ideally need more ram....

What resolution do you game at ?

 

[AMDIT]

Having a 775 rig at the moment and recently upgrading to SSD and GTX 460 makes it quite a reasonable rig. Looking to upgrade the CPU from Q8200 to Q9550 and then finish its potential.

 

[wam7]

Asus p5Q pro currently..

I think you're right - about changing rig, ideally i'd like to keep it as close to £100-£120 as possible, does this seem at all possible with second hand mobo and ram?

Hmm, I suspect to get the biggest bang for your buck you should see if you can get a Q9550 cpu for around £30 and overclock it on that very good board to 3.5Ghz which pretty much all of them did (P45 and Q9550 were a great match), and then get a Nvidia GTX670 for ~£90. You might be 'bottle necking' the GPU but you would see a massive improvement over what you have now

 

[new boy]

for £20 or so, its worth getting a C2Q as a stop gap. My mate is still gaming with a q6600 @ 3Ghz, and he still manages to play pretty much any multiplayer game with me that we are interested in playing...

 

[Randell]

My 2p

I'm waiting for Skylake. My system is same generation as yours (same mobo family) but with a better CPU (Q9550 @ 3.6ghz) and GPU (3Gb 7950) than you, but runs Skyrim, Elite Dangerous, Arena Commander, Rome II very well at 1900x1200.

My kids system (my cast offs) is a C2D8400 and a 5850 and he is runnning Elite Dangerous at 1680x1050 no problems.

So having waited this long to move to i5/i7, I don't want to buy into old architecture, so I'm waiting for Skylake and DDR4.

I think your best bet is cheap CPU upgrade (Q9xxx) now, save for a better GPU that will last into your next platform upgrade and don't spend money on Broadwell/DDR3.

if I knew Skylake would work on an LGA1150/DDR4 board, I would have been tempted to buy an i5 now, but as its a whole new platform, I've decided to wait.

 

[easyrider]

My 2p

I'm waiting for Skylake. My system is same generation as yours (same mobo family) but with a better CPU (Q9550 @ 3.6ghz) and GPU (3Gb 7950) than you, but runs Skyrim, Elite Dangerous, Arena Commander, Rome II very well at 1900x1200.

My kids system (my cast offs) is a C2D8400 and a 5850 and he is runnning Elite Dangerous at 1680x1050 no problems.

So having waited this long to move to i5/i7, I don't want to buy into old architecture, so I'm waiting for Skylake and DDR4.

I think your best bet is cheap CPU upgrade (Q9xxx) now, save for a better GPU that will last into your next platform upgrade and don't spend money on Broadwell/DDR3.

if I knew Skylake would work on an LGA1150/DDR4 board, I would have been tempted to buy an i5 now, but as its a whole new platform, I've decided to wait.

Good points...I to am waiting for Skylake....But I doubt the OP has the funds for such decadence

 

[apostolis_kt]

My 2p

I'm waiting for Skylake. My system is same generation as yours (same mobo family) but with a better CPU (Q9550 @ 3.6ghz) and GPU (3Gb 7950) than you, but runs Skyrim, Elite Dangerous, Arena Commander, Rome II very well at 1900x1200.

My kids system (my cast offs) is a C2D8400 and a 5850 and he is runnning Elite Dangerous at 1680x1050 no problems.

So having waited this long to move to i5/i7, I don't want to buy into old architecture, so I'm waiting for Skylake and DDR4.

I think your best bet is cheap CPU upgrade (Q9xxx) now, save for a better GPU that will last into your next platform upgrade and don't spend money on Broadwell/DDR3.

if I knew Skylake would work on an LGA1150/DDR4 board, I would have been tempted to buy an i5 now, but as its a whole new platform, I've decided to wait.

Thumbs up on this post.

I recently upgraded from a core2duo to a used Q9550 and clocked it at 4 GHZ and put a used nvidia KFA 680GTX and had 8 gb of ram and added an ssd. Plays everything i throw at it all full settings on 1080p. To be fair i occasionally use the pc and before the upgrade i was thinking maybe i should have gone for a complete DC or Haswell-e upgrade, but i am glad i didnt. The pc is not used as much as i did in the past and is only used for games in 1080p. The only reason to go to a new architecture for me would be when i will go for 4k then i will change the whole thing. You can find used core2quads very cheap (q9550 not that cheap but if the mobo supports it you could find a good one in a nice price)

I am even thinking to take it down to 3.6 since i didnt notice much of a difference in the games i tried anyway.

 

[ojrules]

cheers for this, I think given the advice i'll go for a 775 quad, and then the next big upgrade will be for new architecture.

 

[sastusbulbas]

My son currently has one of my old systems,

Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3P LGA775 Rev A3 ATX motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9550
Corsair XMS2-8500 8GB (4x2) 1066MHz DDR2
Samsung F3 500gb HDD
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB PCI-E Toxic Edition GPU
Be-Quiet Dark Rock Advanced cpu cooler
BeQuiet P8 630w semi modular PSU
Samsung Writemaster DVD optic drive
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Gigabyte GZ-X1 ATX case

To be honest, I find it slow as hell now, and average with old games, I will probably add a few upgrades but would be better getting a new CPU/motherboard/memory.

I am sure a Mini-ITX Pentium K dual core with a 750T Ti and 350w PSU would show this old system up with a fraction of the running costs noise and heat.

 

[easyrider]

My son currently has one of my old systems,

Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3P LGA775 Rev A3 ATX motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9550
Corsair XMS2-8500 8GB (4x2) 1066MHz DDR2
Samsung F3 500gb HDD
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB PCI-E Toxic Edition GPU
Be-Quiet Dark Rock Advanced cpu cooler
BeQuiet P8 630w semi modular PSU
Samsung Writemaster DVD optic drive
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Gigabyte GZ-X1 ATX case

To be honest, I find it slow as hell now, and average with old games, I will probably add a few upgrades but would be better getting a new CPU/motherboard/memory.

I am sure a Mini-ITX Pentium K dual core with a 750T Ti and 350w PSU would show this old system up with a fraction of the running costs noise and heat.

No SSD and a 4870 GFX card its going to be slow...

 

[WingZero30]

My son currently has one of my old systems,

Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3P LGA775 Rev A3 ATX motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9550
Corsair XMS2-8500 8GB (4x2) 1066MHz DDR2
Samsung F3 500gb HDD
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB PCI-E Toxic Edition GPU
Be-Quiet Dark Rock Advanced cpu cooler
BeQuiet P8 630w semi modular PSU
Samsung Writemaster DVD optic drive
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Gigabyte GZ-X1 ATX case

To be honest, I find it slow as hell now, and average with old games, I will probably add a few upgrades but would be better getting a new CPU/motherboard/memory.

I am sure a Mini-ITX Pentium K dual core with a 750T Ti and 350w PSU would show this old system up with a fraction of the running costs noise and heat.

My setup is more or less similar except I have Q9650@4Ghz and Radeon HD7950 gpu. It plays through all games fine at 1080p and for more demanding games, I just turn few settings down. Replace your son's gpu with 670 or 7950 and that rig will become a totally different beast.

Btw is Q9550 overclocked?

No SSD and a 4870 GFX card its going to be slow...

Indeed. The GPU is weakest link in his son's system.

 

[easyrider]

My setup is more or less similar except I have Q9650@4Ghz and Radeon HD7950 gpu. It plays through all games fine at 1080p and for more demanding games, I just turn few settings down. Replace your son's gpu with 670 or 7950 and that rig will become a totally different beast.

Btw is Q9550 overclocked?



Indeed. The GPU is weakest link in his son's system.

Game Load times and boot times also have a slow sluggish feeling to a system....when installed on a mechanical hard drive.and SSD drive alonfg with a decent gfx card would cut through most modern games at 1080p no problem.

 

[Randell]

No SSD and a 4870 GFX card its going to be slow...

ha, you beat me to it.

I agree the CPU isn't the issue in that system. Overclock it to 3.6ghz and add a decent GPU and it be fine in games.

Add an SSD and it'll boot fast.

audio/video encoding would benefit most from a cpu/motherboard upgrade.

 

[darael]

I see you have the same motherboard as me. I'm in the same boat as you, except I have an E8400 CPU. I'm very close to ordering an i5 next week - but more for the power savings then performance boost.

If you want to use your motherboard to overclock, give the Ket's modded BIOS some very serious consideration: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?200109-Modded-ASUS-P5Q-Pro-Deluxe-Premium-BIOS

I've used the final version of the modded BIOS pretty much since I found it available for download. Never had any trouble with it and you'll find forums full of praise for the BIOS.

 

[sastusbulbas]

No SSD and a 4870 GFX card its going to be slow...

My setup is more or less similar except I have Q9650@4Ghz and Radeon HD7950 gpu. It plays through all games fine at 1080p and for more demanding games, I just turn few settings down. Replace your son's gpu with 670 or 7950 and that rig will become a totally different beast.

Btw is Q9550 overclocked?

Indeed. The GPU is weakest link in his son's system.

ha, you beat me to it.

I agree the CPU isn't the issue in that system. Overclock it to 3.6ghz and add a decent GPU and it be fine in games.

Add an SSD and it'll boot fast.

audio/video encoding would benefit most from a cpu/motherboard upgrade.

The old Q9550 system may actually get replaced with a G3258 Mini ITX 750ti set up, not sure but that would certainly be quieter and use less electricity. Not to mention smaller, as the larger ATX cases usually sit on his floor and get kicked.

I have a 120gb Samsun Evo, but it is currently unused within an old Media PC as I was playing with XBMC. Could give him that.

As for the 7950, well I have two, but the cheap Gigabyte case is appaling. Really needs a new ATX case before I do any OC'ing and add a better GPU.

Media PC is an old Asus Maximus II gene, E8500, with 4gb of Dominator GT and a passive cooled HD-5750. That used to have a Q9550 in it with an HD-7950.