PC Upgrade questions

[Mark]

So, I wasn't going to upgrade my main PC, but after seeing what prices are like the other day, I might have other plans now. I'm thinking a Northwood P4 2.8 to Q6600 might be worth it. :)

So, the question is, what RAM is best for the following CPU:

Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 G0 SLACR, 95W, S775, 2.40 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache, Retail

Would like to keep the costs under reasonable control, so 2GB. :)

Also need a PCI-E card that'll do a reasonable job (coming from an X800XT) without breaking the bank. Suggestions welcome (and yes, I don't mind changing brand).

[LeperousDust]

Do you really need to upgrade Mark? I'm not trying to put you off, but what are you being held back with at present? I know what you're like for upgrading for upgradings sake, i'm just keeping track :)

[Dymetrie]

Gonna echo Alex...

But, this (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/ATI+Radeon+X1600+Series/ATi+Radeon+X1650+PRO+512MB+PCI-Express+?productId=27248) is the one I picked up and is pretty spangly :D

[Mark]

You're right about my (over-)spending habits, so good to check. My biggest recent purchases have been (in date order), new TFT (replacing 3yo one that was obviously getting tired), 2TB big disks for my media box (most of that on RMA right now :(), and the 5yo XP1700+ to E6600 Linux upgrade, and lots of odds-and-ends replacing bits as they die or get beyond useful.

This is my main PC at home - currently a P4 2.8 Northwood purchased 26/06/2003 (I skipped the whole Prescott generation), with 1GB RAM and an X800XT purchased when they were fairly new.

I don't need the upgrade just yet (as in not today). The current system is plenty fast enough for most things. However, as I work from home, and new (and bigger) projects are on the horizon, and I've also started getting the odd random BSOD or three recently (admittedly most of those have been due to over-stressed sound or graphics hardware), and I'd like to run Vista in the not-too-distant future, I'm thinking this PC is probably not going to be good for all that much longer.

PS - I won't be purchasing until at least Thursday. Going to monitor the BSOD situation and see if any more signs emerge. That's a handy cooling-off period too.

[Richard Slater]

Right, this is an area this is confusing me somewhat. As far as I can tell you can run any speed memory with the Core 2's however best performance comes when you can synch the memory FSB and the CPU FSB.

The Options you have for DDR2 is:

PC2-3200 (400MHz)
PC2-4200 (533MHz)
PC2-5300 (667MHz)
PC2-6400 (800MHz)
PC2-8500 (1066MHz)

so for the Q6600 (1066MHz FSB) you can either go for the PC2-4200 (2:1 CPU:Memory FSB) or PC2-8500 (1:1 CPU:Memory FSB), now the general advise would be to go for a 2:1 ratio as a 1:1 is very expensive for CPUs with a FSB equal to or larger than 1066MHz (i.e. Q6600 1066MHz, E6550 1333MHz, etc). Also remember if you are going to overclock you want to overspec your memory.

In summary, you need PC-4200 (or PC-5300 if you are going to Overclock)

[Mark]

OK, looking at prices, all Corsair XMS2...

PC2-4200C4 £51.02
PC2-5400C4 £52.33
PC2-6400C4 £66.55
PC2-8500C5 £140.82

Last time I got PC-6400C4, but if PC-5300C4 will do. :)

[Mark]

Having seen Stan's temperature comments in Matt's thread, I thought I'd resurrect my thread rather than trashing his. Long intro followed by short questions at the end (in bold to save time reading). :)

As can be noted above, I'm considering the Q6600, as the price difference between that and the E6600 isn't that great (certainly nowhere near twice the price). As I've already said, I have good reasons (e.g. it's somewhat likely I'll end up running Oracle in a VM at some point soon), but I'll admit I'd like to be folding on it when doing nowt else.

It's looking like the Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme is the current king of air cooling, so though it's expensive, I suspect it's probably not a bad bet, though the attachment mechanism for it looks decidedly dodgy to me. Anyone had experience with this cooler?

However, if it's looking like temperatures are getting even close to the 80C mentioned in Stan's thread, then I'll reconsider, and fast. So, my question to Stan is, was that overclocked, and if so by how much, and is it likely to do that at stock? :)

[Stan_Lite]

It was clocked to 3.0GHz on stock volts. As you will have noticed from my post in that thread, idle temps were around the 42C mark - which isn't too bad.
IIRC, the load temps at stock were in the low to mid 70s but I can't remember offhand and unfortunately, I'm not in a position to check for you.

Stands to reason really, when you have two E6600s working flat out in the same CPU, there is going to be heat - as I'm sure you're more than aware.
Sorry I can't be more help. If I wasn't away, I'd gladly check for you but unfortunately, I won't be home for nearly 4 weeks :(

As for the Ultra 120, I haven't used one as yet (although I might do if it's as good as it's reviews) but it does look a bit on the fiddly side. I was a big fan of the Si120 when it was on the go.

[Mark]

Don't worry about that - what you can remember is fine with me. It certainly does stand to reason, as you say.

The Ultra-120 does less fiddly than the Noctua (a lot less in fact), but the Noctua looks a lot more secure. The mounting bracket on the Ultra 120 just doesn't seem secure to me (you're only supposed to finger-tighten the screws, for example).

Here's the installation instructions for expert appraisal: :)

http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/main_support_installation_u120_extreme.htm


Edit - one point of reassurance received from my enquiries elsewhere - that Q6600 will have been a B3 stepping, so the G0 SLACR version should be a little less likely to be able to fry eggs. :)

[semi-pro waster]

The Options you have for DDR2 is:

PC2-3200 (400MHz)

Just a bit curious here, are you sure about this one? I thought that ordinary DDR was PC3200 (400mhz) as the most common speed but I've never seen DDR2 at those speeds, I thought it started at PC4200 but I could well be wrong. :)

Otherwise I'm in agreement, I'd pick PC5300/5400 as standard or if there was going to be a bit of mild overclocking only with PC6400 or above if there is likely to be slightly more serious attempts made.

Mark, you should be able to pick up an X1950pro for about £70 and that is a good jump up from an X800XT, I think an X1650 is more like a step sideways although I haven't checked the benchmarks recently. :)

[Mark]

Fear not, I've never heard of PC2-3200 either. :)

I don't mind jumping ship on the graphics card front. To that end I have a 7300GS sitting here that was destined for another task (solving driver hell on my Linux box), but that could wait and it could go in this one if it's not too much of step down. I have no idea how these things compare. :huh:

[Dymetrie]

I posted GFX

[Stan_Lite]

Edit - one point of reassurance received from my enquiries elsewhere - that Q6600 will have been a B3 stepping, so the G0 SLACR version should be a little less likely to be able to fry eggs. :)

Hell yeah.

95W compared to 110W - should make a huge difference - the IHS may not melt :D