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[ithorien]

Latest beta drivers from late March.

I think at this point it's obvious something is pretty messed up on my PC and i'm tired of posting about it here, but I don't really have the option of just chopping out parts and replacing them to see if it helps, so what are some suggestions so I can figure this out?

Try Corky's suggestion but more. Turn everything down and see what happens to your FPS (I don't remember how many options there were). Then start turning things up 1 by 1.

Do you get this on any other game or just Bulletstorm?

 

[scorcho]

I sure hope it does. What is the expected leap in performance again ? What would be the eventual best budget replacement to my i3-2100 ?

~20% over Sandy Bridge, supposedly

 

[Sanic]

Yeah, I get worse performance than I seemingly should on pretty much everything.

I've done a few tests on several games and generally, lowering the graphics settings down increases performance if i'm not already getting 60+. So for example in JC2, setting everything to low gives me a locked 60+.

It's when I have everything set high/maxed that things get a little harder to pin down. Some games just perform generally poor (Bulletstorm) and others have a wildly inconsistent framerate. TF2 runs at a locked 60, until enemies come onto the screen and start shooting or whatnot, and then it dives down to ~30. Same goes for JC2. If i'm sailing above some trees out in the wilderness, i'll get 60fps. But as soon as some enemies or buildings come into play, my framerate drops like a rock.

I'm also noticing that i'm getting split second drops in framerate often. I don't want to call it micro stutering, since it doesn't happen constantly, but every 30-45 seconds in TF2, for example, my framerate will drop to ~20 for a second or two.

Something just doesn't seem right here but like I said, i'm not getting completly consistent results across everything to where I can objectively point something out as the culprit. I'm almost tempted to reinstall Windows to see if there's some obscure software issue, but I really wanted to wait a couple of months until I purchased a new HDD+SDD to do that.

 

[Corky]

Yeah, I get worse performance than I seemingly should on pretty much everything.

I've done a few tests on several games and generally, lowering the graphics settings down increases performance if i'm not already getting 60+. So for example in JC2, setting everything to low gives me a locked 60+.

It's when I have everything set high/maxed that things get a little harder to pin down. Some games just perform generally poor (Bulletstorm) and others have a wildly inconsistent framerate. TF2 runs at a locked 60, until enemies come onto the screen and start shooting or whatnot, and then it dives down to ~30. Same goes for JC2. If i'm sailing above some trees out in the wilderness, i'll get 60fps. But as soon as some enemies or buildings come into play, my framerate drops like a rock.

I'm also noticing that i'm getting split second drops in framerate often. I don't want to call it micro stutering, since it doesn't happen constantly, but every 30-45 seconds in TF2, for example, my framerate will drop to ~20 for a second or two.

Something just doesn't seem right here but like I said, i'm not getting completly consistent results across everything to where I can objectively point something out as the culprit. I'm almost tempted to reinstall Windows to see if there's some obscure software issue, but I really wanted to wait a couple of months until I purchased a new HDD+SDD to do that.

What resolution to you plat at? Just cause 2 is quite demanding when you're running everything max. Bulletstorm was just badly optimized imo, and I also had problems with TF2. And I was on a 3.8ghz i5-760 and two overclocked gtx 460s.

However, given all that it might very well be something that's messing up your performance. Have you tried using older drivers? Do you use driversweeper and stuff like that when you change drivers? Have you tried OCing your cpu?

 

[Sanic]

Here are my specs, for reference:

AMD Phenom II X4 840 3.2GHz
ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 460

Running with 4GB ram on Windows 7 64bit. Nothing is overclocked.

What resolution to you plat at? Just cause 2 is quite demanding when you're running everything max. Bulletstorm was just badly optimized imo, and I also had problems with TF2. And I was on a 3.8ghz i5-760 and two overclocked gtx 460s.

However, given all that it might very well be something that's messing up your performance. Have you tried using older drivers? Do you use driversweeper and stuff like that when you change drivers? Have you tried OCing your cpu?

I play at 720p. There's been no difference between the latest stable and latest beta drivers, which are all i've ever had on this installation of windows. But no, I never used driversweeper or anything like that when I switched from stable to beta.

 

[Shambles]

Here are my specs, for reference:

AMD Phenom II X4 840 3.2GHz
ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 460

Running with 4GB ram on Windows 7 64bit. Nothing is overclocked.



I play at 720p. There's been no difference between the latest stable and latest beta drivers, which are all i've ever had on this installation of windows. But no, I never used driversweeper or anything like that when I switched from stable to beta.

You should be slaughtering TF2 with your setup. When you're looking at framerates remember to disable vsync. With vsync on your card will limit you to 30 fps as soon as it can't hit 60. So if the game was to drop to 59 fps it would drop you to 30 fps. The 840 is really an Athlon part at heart, it does not have an L3 cache that all other phenoms do. Even still you shouldn't be having any problems with TF2. It would be handy if you had a friend with a game rig where you could swap cards and compare results. First I would really suggest overclocking your CPU and see if that helps. Should be able to get to 3.7Ghz without too much trouble.

 

[ithorien]

I'm also noticing that i'm getting split second drops in framerate often. I don't want to call it micro stutering, since it doesn't happen constantly, but every 30-45 seconds in TF2, for example, my framerate will drop to ~20 for a second or two.

This happens to me in certain games. I was just playing the Rift invite, and everything on max the game runs at 57-60 cap (TB+Vsync through D3Doverrider), then will just drop to 30 from time to time. Not sure what that is either. Happens in Witcher, doesn't happen in Crysis 2 or Shift 2.

 

[ZZMitch]

Well if you're asking wether or not the 6950 2gb is a good or not : it's def a good card, one of the best bang for the buck cards out there.

If you're asking about a certain manufacturer I'd like to recommend the msi twinfrozr one or the asus direct II cu one. Excellent cooling on those cards.

edit : also, how are you soo sure that it's your gtx 460 that's "crashing" ? Do you get drivercrashes? Reboots?

Thanks for the info, and yeah I know it is the card, I have been researching the issue for a long time and I am experienceing what is being discussed in this thread- http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=187401

And my crashes I mean either bluescreens, freezes or that driver has stopped responging and has recovered error.

I wanted to upgrade anyway, so getting rid of my crashing issues is just a bonus.

 

[Coldsnap]

Might be a stupid question but is the stock intel i5 2500 chip have a PWM fan?

Slowly trying to figure out mine and another members problem. I read that our mobo will only let you go below 40% of the fans speed if it's not a PWM. So my hypothesis is the intel 2500 stock fan is not PWM so that is why our RPMs stay the same when we try to lower it on speedfan. If not them I give up lol, will probably get a manual fan control and connect it to cpu and just circumvent whatever bios setting is messing me up.

 

[Corky]

Here are my specs, for reference:

AMD Phenom II X4 840 3.2GHz
ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 460

Running with 4GB ram on Windows 7 64bit. Nothing is overclocked.



I play at 720p. There's been no difference between the latest stable and latest beta drivers, which are all i've ever had on this installation of windows. But no, I never used driversweeper or anything like that when I switched from stable to beta.

Alright.

My first thought is that there has been alot of "driverresidue" from when you keep changing drivers. And conflicting driversoftware can mess things up in severe ways. Your setup seem great and should not have any problem playing games with high settings @720p with good performance.

I hate when people suggest this but a format and fresh install of windows and gpudrivers might solve any potential software issues. Which I suspect is the problem, because hardware tend to either work well or be broken, I've never heard of non-software related cases where gpus only performed at x% of their regular performance.

 

[Sanic]

You should be slaughtering TF2 with your setup. When you're looking at framerates remember to disable vsync. With vsync on your card will limit you to 30 fps as soon as it can't hit 60. So if the game was to drop to 59 fps it would drop you to 30 fps. The 840 is really an Athlon part at heart, it does not have an L3 cache that all other phenoms do. Even still you shouldn't be having any problems with TF2. It would be handy if you had a friend with a game rig where you could swap cards and compare results. First I would really suggest overclocking your CPU and see if that helps. Should be able to get to 3.7Ghz without too much trouble.

I had vsync off when I was checking my framerate in TF2, so that wasn't the issue. Overclocking I would like to do, but just haven't gotten around to it, and I would like to get my issues sorted out first.

Alright.

My first thought is that there has been alot of "driverresidue" from when you keep changing drivers. And conflicting driversoftware can mess things up in severe ways. Your setup seem great and should not have any problem playing games with high settings @720p with good performance.

I hate when people suggest this but a format and fresh install of windows and gpudrivers might solve any potential software issues. Which I suspect is the problem, because hardware tend to either work well or be broken, I've never heard of non-software related cases where gpus only performed at x% of their regular performance.

While it'll be a hassle to reinstall windows and all of my software (and then do it again in a few months) I really hope that this is the issue, because of all of the problems I could have, this would be the easiest to resolve.


I'm gonna run 3dmark now and see what I come up with.

 

[Corky]

While it'll be a hassle to reinstall windows and all of my software (and then do it again in a few months) I really hope that this is the issue, because of all of the problems I could have, this would be the easiest to resolve.


I'm gonna run 3dmark now and see what I come up with.

Yes, as you said, hopefully it's "only" software related. Keep us updated with the benching. Also you could try to do a "nice and clean" reinstall of drivers. Uninstall your current drivers, run driversweeper, reinstall the latest whql 460 gtx drivers and run the bench again. Although it seems that 3dmark2006 is rather cpudependet so keep that in mind.

And in the future use triplebuffering with d3doverrider instead of the insoftware vsync. much much muuuuch better.

 

[clav]

Question: Would it be better for me to -

1. Upgrade my E2180 (OC to 3 GHz) to a Q6600 + an aftermarket cooler? I have a tiny PC case so I have to look into something like the Scythe Shuriken to fit my needs. Running on a stock cooler right now.

2. Upgrade the motherboard and CPU to an AMD Phenom II X4. That means throwing away whatever is on my current board away and keep the 7GB of DDR2 RAM I have + 9800 GT ECO card.

Which would be a cost-effective solution? I was reading how to this day even old Core 2 Quads perform just as well as the Phenom II X4s.

 

[Sanic]

3dmark06 results: http://3dmark.com/3dm06/15622811

 

[Corky]

3dmark06 results: http://3dmark.com/3dm06/15622811

Could you please use the absolute default options/settings? It's the best way to go about running things like 3dmark and the like, it's much easier to compare and understand the score. I looked at the settings and saw a 1280x800 resolution.

 

[Kintaro]

Just a quick question for the PC gurus. Is there anything I can upgrade that would significatly boost performance? Currently running...

Athlon II X4 630
4 GB DDR
750 GB WD HDD 7200 RPM
GeForce GTX 460 1 GB

 

[Sanic]

Could you please use the absolute default options/settings? It's the best way to go about running things like 3dmark and the like, it's much easier to compare and understand the score. I looked at the settings and saw a 1280x800 resolution.

I did use default settings. I'm using the free version, it doesn't let me change anything.

 

[scogoth]

Slowly trying to figure out mine and another members problem. I read that our mobo will only let you go below 40% of the fans speed if it's not a PWM. So my hypothesis is the intel 2500 stock fan is not PWM so that is why our RPMs stay the same when we try to lower it on speedfan. If not them I give up lol, will probably get a manual fan control and connect it to cpu and just circumvent whatever bios setting is messing me up.

Stock fan should be PWM. All 4 pin fans are PWM.

 

[Corky]

I did use default settings. I'm using the free version, it doesn't let me change anything.

Oh I see, well 15000 is on the lower side of what your system should perfrom, as seen in the score histogram of similar systems. You could make a push to do that whole clean driver reinstall and use a nonbeta set of drivers and see if the score changes at all.

 

[Sanic]

Oh I see, well 15000 is on the lower side of what your system should perfrom, as seen in the score histogram of similar systems. You could make a push to do that whole clean driver reinstall and use a nonbeta set of drivers and see if the score changes at all.

Looks like that'll be my project for tonight then appreciate the help, Corky and others. I'll post back in a day or so once I get everything up and running and run some tests again.

 

[Corky]

Just a quick question for the PC gurus. Is there anything I can upgrade that would significatly boost performance? Currently running...

Athlon II X4 630
4 GB DDR
750 GB WD HDD 7200 RPM
GeForce GTX 460 1 GB

Your system is actually nice and wellrounded, if anything you should do a full upgrade ( if you think you need it, otherwise wait until you really do ).

Looks like that'll be my project for tonight then appreciate the help, Corky and others. I'll post back in a day or so once I get everything up and running and run some tests again.

Np, hopefully ( wishfully ) fixing your drivers will fix your problems. If not, we can take it from there.

 

[Kyaw]

Oh I see, well 15000 is on the lower side of what your system should perfrom, as seen in the score histogram of similar systems. You could make a push to do that whole clean driver reinstall and use a nonbeta set of drivers and see if the score changes at all.

WTH

I just run 3dmark06 and i got around 14500.
and i have...

Phenom II X4 940 @ 3.6
480gtx 1.5gb
4gb 1033hz RAM

what's going on?
Is 3dmark06 more dependant on CPU or something?

 

[ZZMitch]

Does this card look like a good deal to you guys? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127562

It is right on the edge of my price range with the mail in rebate.

 

[Kyaw]

You should get the reference 6950 card. (stock cooler)
That way you can flash it to 6970 speeds.

 

[Shambles]

I had vsync off when I was checking my framerate in TF2, so that wasn't the issue. Overclocking I would like to do, but just haven't gotten around to it, and I would like to get my issues sorted out first.




While it'll be a hassle to reinstall windows and all of my software (and then do it again in a few months) I really hope that this is the issue, because of all of the problems I could have, this would be the easiest to resolve.


I'm gonna run 3dmark now and see what I come up with.

It might be easier for you to re-partition a small segment of your hard drive and reinstall windows on that. It will leave your original installation alone and you can simply wipe the 2nd partition after and merge it with the original again. Overclocking might give you an idea if you are being CPU limited.

 

[mkenyon]

Just a quick question for the PC gurus. Is there anything I can upgrade that would significatly boost performance? Currently running...

Athlon II X4 630
4 GB DDR
750 GB WD HDD 7200 RPM
GeForce GTX 460 1 GB

You could upgrade the Proc to a 970 or 1100T, and the videocard to a 6950, 5870, or even SLI 460s if your mobo can do it. It wouldn't be a blow your mind upgrade, but it would extend the life of your system.

Probably better to wait and do a full system upgrade once you can't stand your current performance.

 

[ithorien]

Looks like that'll be my project for tonight then appreciate the help, Corky and others. I'll post back in a day or so once I get everything up and running and run some tests again.

When you clean with driver sweeper, iirc, you can do it from safe mode, so do that. Also, clean twice, make sure the old drivers are all gone.

 

[ZZMitch]

You should get the reference 6950 card. (stock cooler)
That way you can flash it to 6970 speeds.

Well I care more about temps and sound I think, and I probably wouldn't be flashing it anyway.

 

[Absinthe]

Load temps have changed dramatically.

Yesterday after I installed the 212+ was at 58 under load, now at 52 under load at 4.0Ghz.

I'm assuming the thermal paste needed time to set? Or because my voltage is lower, 1.12v vs 1.232v for the 4.0 overclock. Not really sure why the drastic change

 

[Sanic]

When you clean with driver sweeper, iirc, you can do it from safe mode, so do that. Also, clean twice, make sure the old drivers are all gone.

I should still clean my drivers on a fresh install of Windows?

 

[eznark]

Shipped the monitor but nothing else. When did newegg become so ridiculously slow?

 

[ithorien]

I should still clean my drivers on a fresh install of Windows?

Oh no, I thought you're going to try to clean drivers first, format later. If you're just going to wipe, don't bother with drivesweeper, just install drivers after install.

Load temps have changed dramatically.

Yesterday after I installed the 212+ was at 58 under load, now at 52 under load at 4.0Ghz.

I'm assuming the thermal paste needed time to set? Or because my voltage is lower, 1.12v vs 1.232v for the 4.0 overclock. Not really sure why the drastic change

Yea, usually there's a time frame for the compound to cure, depends on the compound, example:

Arctic Silver 5:
Break-in period: 200 hours (Break-in period will occur during normal use.)
Temps will drop several degrees over the break-in period measured with a thermal
diode in the hottest part of the CPU core.
Céramique:
Break-in period: 25 hours (Break-in period will occur during normal use.)
Temps will drop several degrees over the break-in period measured with a thermal
diode in the hottest part of the CPU core.
Arctic Alumina:
Break-in period: 36 hours (Break-in period will occur during normal use.)
Temps will drop several degrees over the break-in period measured with a thermal
diode in the hottest part of the CPU core.
Matrix:
Break-in period: 300 hours (Break-in period will occur during normal use.)
Temps will drop several degrees over the break-in period measured with a thermal
diode in the hottest part of the CPU core.

Shipped the monitor but nothing else. When did newegg become so ridiculously slow?

Rush processing is still good, but if you order past noon PST, they take their time.

 

[dollartaco]

I'm thinking about building a system around a chipset that has good legs, say, a socket that will be around for at least three years so I can swap CPU, and upgrade the GPU as needed. I am processor agnostic, although I generally overclock the shit out of things.

Suggestions?

 

[Cheech]

Shipped the monitor but nothing else. When did newegg become so ridiculously slow?

newegg got really huge, really quick. They went from a pissant operation to one of the biggest pc hardware distributors in the country in a few short years.

I've noticed the same thing. However, their prices are so good, I got my company to start using them for all kinds of PC expenses. Saved tons of money over CDW. They didn't start accepting corporate POs until relatively recently, which also accounts for a lot of recent growth.

 

[clav]

Question: Would it be better for me to -

1. Upgrade my E2180 (OC to 3 GHz) to a Q6600 + an aftermarket cooler? I have a tiny PC case so I have to look into something like the Scythe Shuriken to fit my needs. Running on a stock cooler right now.

2. Upgrade the motherboard and CPU to an AMD Phenom II X4. That means throwing away whatever is on my current board away and keep the 7GB of DDR2 RAM I have + 9800 GT ECO card.

Which would be a cost-effective solution? I was reading how to this day even old Core 2 Quads perform just as well as the Phenom II X4s.

Anyone?

What about an overclocked E8400 to 4 GHz? Would that be a worthy upgrade?

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/balanced-gaming-pc-overclock,2625-16.html

I was reading this.

Did anyone here own a E21XX overclocked processor before?

 

[·feist·]

Question: Would it be better for me to -

1. Upgrade my E2180 (OC to 3 GHz) to a Q6600 + an aftermarket cooler? I have a tiny PC case so I have to look into something like the Scythe Shuriken to fit my needs. Running on a stock cooler right now.

2. Upgrade the motherboard and CPU to an AMD Phenom II X4. That means throwing away whatever is on my current board away and keep the 7GB of DDR2 RAM I have + 9800 GT ECO card.

Which would be a cost-effective solution? I was reading how to this day even old Core 2 Quads perform just as well as the Phenom II X4s.

Anyone?

What about an overclocked E8400 to 4 GHz? Would that be a worthy upgrade?

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/balanced-gaming-pc-overclock,2625-16.html

I was reading this.

Did anyone here own a E21XX overclocked processor before?

Bold = NO.

Least costly route that would yield the best results would be to pick up a used Q6600 for ~$100 or so (Q9x50 would be even better, but you're unlikely to find one for a price that's worth it). Don't pay $140+ for one.

What motherboard & case do you have? Do you know the specific models?

 

[TheExodu5]

What feist said. Also, definitely don't go the E8400 route. No one should ever upgrade to a dual-core CPU today.

 

[AwesomeSauce]

I'm kind of in the same boat as claviertekky. Right now i'm trying to nail a decent priced q6600 on ebay, get some cheap ddr2 ram, and a 1tb hard drive.

 

[SonofdonCD]

Just ordered my Radeon HD 6850 card off Newegg.com. It came with a Steam copy of Total War: Shogun 2, I think. Not into RTS games. Does anyone want the code when I get it?

So this is my computer. I bought half last year, and upgraded the other half. Tell me if Crysis on High is good with this setup @ 1080P:


Bought June 2010-
1 x MSI 880GMA-E45 AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
1 x AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus 2.9GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
1 x A-DATA Gaming Series 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
1 x Western Digital Elements 1TB Desktop External Hard Drive

Bought April 2011-
1 x OCZ StealthXstream II OCZ600SXS2 600W ATX12V v2.2/ EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Power Supply
1 x A-DATA XPG Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
1 x PowerColor AX6850 1GBD5-DH Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

 

[Zimbardo]

picked up a few items from NCIX:

noctua d14 $69
western digital black sata2 7200rpm 1.5TB hdd $89
g skill sniper se 1600mhz, 9-9-9-24, 1.25v (2x4) 8gig ddr3 ram. $100


some extra stuff to play around with anyway ...me like!

 

[BloodySinner]

Does anyone want the code when I get it?

For free? Sure.

 

[Ajemsuhgao]

This should hopefully be the last time I ask for advise on video cards for a while...


Originally I was going to get this one:

EVGA GTX 460 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 - $199.99. $179.99, after MIR.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130596

Then I went to Microcenter, and ended up finding a card that was cheaper, and didn't look like it was a huge drop in specs(to me, at least. I don't know crap about video cards):

Zotac GTX 465 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 - $169.99. $129.99, after MIR.

http://www.microcenter.com/single_p...edium=email&utm_campaign=E1027+eNews+20110412


Then today, I got an email from newegg about sales they have going on. I noticed that there was another 460 on sale, albeit an SE.


EVGA GTX 460 SE 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 - $149.99. $119.99, after MIR.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...x-_-DesktopGraphicsVideoCards-_-14130591-L03C


For the price, which of these should I get? Any of them will be better than what I current have(Zotac 9600GT 1GB).

 

[luffeN]

Can someone help me with the overlocking thing?

Quad Core Q6600, DDR2 dual channel with 400mhz DRAM frequency. FSBRAM is currently 3:4.

FSB is currently at 300 and the DRAM at 800 according to BIOS. how high can I go? is the RAM too old? I have Slot#1 1024MB Corsair PC2-6400 (400 MHz) Slot#2 2048MB Kingston PC2-6400 (400 MHz) Slot#3 1024MB Corsair PC2-6400 (400 MHz) Slot#4 2048MB Kingston PC2-6400 (400 MHz).

Can I go up to 3.4 GHz with my quad core without touching the Vcore? Motherboard is an Asus P5Q Pro.

cpu cooler is arctic cooler freezer 13.

 

[clav]

Bold = NO.

Least costly route that would yield the best results would be to pick up a used Q6600 for ~$100 or so (Q9x50 would be even better, but you're unlikely to find one for a price that's worth it). Don't pay $140+ for one.

What motherboard & case do you have? Do you know the specific models?

What feist said. Also, definitely don't go the E8400 route. No one should ever upgrade to a dual-core CPU today.

Thanks for the replies.

ASUS P5K-VM (MATX)
Ultra Microfly Case
350 Watt Ultra (75% efficient) PSU
7GB of DDR2800 (mixed RAM, 1 + 2 + 2 + 2)
1 GB BFG 9800 GT ECO (does not use power connector)

The case looks like this:

The clearance for an aftermarket cooler on my case makes it difficult to select one. I could probably saw it off, but I would prefer not to do so.

Here's a picture for reference:

See how there's a bar there? It's perfect with the stock cooler. From the motherboard to that bar, it's about 3.25 inches ~ 8.25 cm. That makes it difficult for me to select a cooler should I decide to go the Q6600 upgrade.

Currently, the E2180 at 3 GHz runs 35-37 degrees C idle, and 43-45 under load. I bought it at the time for value as I read a bench of benchmarks how these lines of processors basically scored benchmarks nearly identical to the Core 2 Duos and their respective clock speeds.

--------------

My thought process in upgrading to another dual core processor was that looking at some games and stuff I do. The Q6600 doesn't seem to provide much boost as I can't find data benchmarks on this. Most people are asking recommendations in forums which is kinda a cluster fuck.

If you look up recommendations for getting a Q6600, a lot of them say it's not worth it since having a higher clocked dual core yielded better results. Plus, a lot of Q6600 owners complain about heat issues, and I'm a bit afraid that my rig will be too hot to handle a quad core 65nm chip. Are these people wrong? A lot of them complain their oc Q6600 idles at 60 degrees, which would be a 20 degree increase from what I'm used to seeing on my computer.

I considered the AMD route because I thought newer quad chips made on a smaller lithography scale (45nm) would benefit by having a lower heat temperature and more overclockable features. Plus, I wouldn't have to buy new RAM board for around the same price of buying a Q6600.

I know the advantages of quad are there when programs use them, but for the programs I use so far outside of Sony Vegas, all of them use dual-core, Starcraft 2 especially since Blizzard doesn't want to code for quad core computers.

Judging from this: http://www.techspot.com/review/305-starcraft2-performance/page13.html
It looks like the Q6600 sucks. Why bother upgrading to quad then? Is it really worth that $100 when it can be put on a better upgrade that can be better or just simply a faster clocked dual core?

Maybe, I'm not seeing something correctly here, and this is why I'm hesitant in pursuing an upgrade to the Q6600 as suggested earlier.

Again, thanks for the responses. It's just I have to justify the money I spend and make sure it's worth it.

I'm hesitant starting over since I do have 7 GB here I want to use.

 

[BloodySinner]

Just out of curiosity. Do the stock Intel CPU coolers make as much noise than AMD ones or not?

 

[clav]

Just out of curiosity. Do the stock Intel CPU coolers make as much noise than AMD ones or not?

In my experience they're a bit quieter, but that may vary.

Generally, stock coolers are crap. AMD heatsinks are slightly better, but in terms of noise, not so much.

 

[TheExodu5]

The stock Sandy Bridge cooler isn't terribly loud (probably because the chips run so cool), but it's whiny. I don't mind air wooshing, but I hate mechanic whine.

 

[eznark]

Rat 7 showed up today. Glorious.

 

[The_Inquisitor]

Well, ran prime95 last night w/ my new CM H 212 + intstalled. I paid 12 dollars after rebate at fry's for it.

My max was 64 on core0. No failures OC'ing from 2.66 to 3.357.

Two questions

1) Should my temperatures continue to drop w/ the stock paste over the next 3-5 days as paste cures?

2) Core0 tends to run 5-7 degrees warmer than any other core. I know that is the norm, but could it be because adequate contact is not being made with the cooler?

Right now with a few things on I am

40
33
37
31

 

[scorcho]

I'm hesitant starting over since I do have 7 GB here I want to use.

Understandable, but if you go for a complete system upgrade now, you can buy 8GB of DDR3 for ~$80. I think NewEgg has had some deals over the last week or so that have pushed it down to $70.

i upgraded from a Q6600 @ 3.1ghz to a 2500K @ 4.3ghz and the speed gain is very noticeable.