upgrading from q6600/ddr2

Moon54

Cool, yeah the Q6600 is still a decent CPU,
and with the 6950 card in there the PC will rock!

ShadowHearth

So it works well? Noticable increase in performance?

So I guess cheap upgrade turned out well?

fl4pj4ck

been busy playing :P sorry for the delay

I spent what I wanted to spend (e200) but instead getting a new CPU+mobo+8gig I got a new GPU (linky).

The 4870 I had was a reference one, with stock cooling (pic here) and the new one is shiny Asus Direct CuII 6950 2gb (pic here). Needles to say the difference in performance is huge (of course talking about gaming performance), Q6600@3.6 + 6950 means Ultra settings in BF3 vs Low with 4870.
The system is very stable, I played very intensively for several hours, so I'd say the PSU will manage. The only think I'm not happy with is the level of noise. Previous card with reference cooling was much more quiet than the new one (but about +30 Celsius, upto 100C, when 6950 comes to about 70C. This is with my case open, so will need to check when I close it again. So this is the only downside, but quite a big one for me. Well it seems everything comes at a price.

Summarizing, I'm quite happy with the upgrade. I already unlocked the extra shaders, which according to tests I've found give +5/+10% boost. I'm not thinking about squeezing more from GPU's clock/memory as it looks like I won't be needing it. My 22" is 1680x1050 so I think I'm sorted. For how long - the time will show.

Thanks everyone for their input, and if you have any more questions just ask

ShadowHearth

fl4pj4ck wrote: »

been busy playing :P sorry for the delay

I spent what I wanted to spend (e200) but instead getting a new CPU+mobo+8gig I got a new GPU (linky).

The 4870 I had was a reference one, with stock cooling (pic here) and the new one is shiny Asus Direct CuII 6950 2gb (pic here). Needles to say the difference in performance is huge (of course talking about gaming performance), Q6600@3.6 + 6950 means Ultra settings in BF3 vs Low with 4870.
The system is very stable, I played very intensively for several hours, so I'd say the PSU will manage. The only think I'm not happy with is the level of noise. Previous card with reference cooling was much more quiet than the new one (but about +30 Celsius, upto 100C, when 6950 comes to about 70C. This is with my case open, so will need to check when I close it again. So this is the only downside, but quite a big one for me. Well it seems everything comes at a price.

Summarizing, I'm quite happy with the upgrade. I already unlocked the extra shaders, which according to tests I've found give +5/+10% boost. I'm not thinking about squeezing more from GPU's clock/memory as it looks like I won't be needing it. My 22" is 1680x1050 so I think I'm sorted. For how long - the time will show.

Thanks everyone for their input, and if you have any more questions just ask

i have gtx570 with same cooler. it is fat, small bit noisy, but thats what you get with such leap in performance. enjoy your gaming!

fl4pj4ck

quick question then: does the fans change the speed all the time? up and down, and up and down... all the time

ShadowHearth

fl4pj4ck wrote: »

quick question then: does the fans change the speed all the time? up and down, and up and down... all the time

yes if they are set to auto, they will adjust themselfs to the load gpu gets and its temperatures. you can ofc put it manually at what speed you want it to be too.

Monotype

Incidentally, what model did you get that had the unlockable shaders and where did you buy?

fl4pj4ck

http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/AMD_Series/EAH6950_DCII2DI4S2GD5/
bought from guy on adverts.ie

ShadowHearth

So Iguess we now know 2 cards tat can be opened to be 6970?

ED E

ShadowHearth wrote: »

This.

My old pc os dell xps 420 q6600 3gb ram. It had 8800gt and I upgraded to 6870. Perfoamce boost was incredible. Bf3 on high settings at 1080p like a boss.
Q6600 is not that bad when if comes o games. Yes it can show sign of ageing on CPU hungry games like sc2 or shot port of gta 4, but let's be honest: not many games out there that are so CPU hungry.

As much as I love 2500k setups ( and own one now myself ) I still don't think it will make you much good with your budget if you want gaming performance. Get new gpu, way more efficient.

You think you guys have it bad? Pov old me is still on an E6700! Yes, dual core. I jumped from a 8800GTX to a 5770HAWK and now she's running dual display(one 1920) and plays most games just fine for my requirements(LoL and DOTA2 aint so hard).

@OP: If you want I'll give ya €50 for the Q6600 if you're interested in selling.

fl4pj4ck

have a second pc with e6700/2gb/8600gt and it's still quite fast.
@ED E: I'm keeping it at the moment, but I'd say it's worth a bit more given it's G0 proven to work @3.6 rock solid.