CPU upgrade or stay?

[Deathrow]

Im one of these that likes to improve my pc, im an overclocking freak..ok! lol.

Well I currently have a Q6600 at 3.65 405*9.

I would like to hit higher but tweaking the voltages makes no difference so looks like I'm stuck at a fsb wall.

I have been thinking about changing processor but my options dont seem any better than what I have apart from buying a £600 QX.

So any way theres the 9450 and 9550 which only seems to reach 3.4 due to lower multipliers.

Theres the Q6700 with a 10 multi but from reading you cant get 400*10 stable and most people only reach 3.6.

That leaves the QX, the lower range like QX6850 only seem to reach 3.6 / 3.7 from research.

Looking at the high end QX, nice but QX9650 etc can reach 4GHz but the price is just stupid.

So any advice? Maybe I should try dropping my Q6600 Multi to 8 and raising fsb but dont think I'll get higher than 3.6. Although read some people have managed to get 475*8 = 3.8GHz

 

[funkysnair]

to tell you the truth i would be happy with that chip standard lol...

i dont think you would benifit from buying a new chip just for more overclock, your chip as standard would eat mine alive!

to be honest i think you have hit a good overclock there, would just stick with that

 

[Geoff]

That leaves the QX, the lower range like QX6850 only seem to reach 3.6 / 3.7 from research.

You should be able to hit higher then that, I got 3.8GHz on a Q6600, I'd say the QX6850 could hit 3.8-4.0GHz or higher easily, since it has an unlocked multiplier.

 

[taylormsj]

You should be able to hit higher then that, I got 3.8GHz on a Q6600, I'd say the QX6850 could hit 3.8-4.0GHz or higher easily, since it has an unlocked multiplier.

You would think, my mate has one and he cant get 4 . 0 stable with just a multiplier increase, on a striker motherboard under water.

I think the QX are a complete waste unless you like to do DIce or LN2 runs

 

[Ramodkk]

I think your current processor is fine for the moment man.

 

[just a noob]

if its anything holding you back, it would most likely be the mobo, and there are rumors of the qx9650 dropping to around $500 sometime

 

[Nvidia4life]

I would stay. I can tell you're overclock happy! You mentioned no other reason to upgrade other than wanting more speed.
I'm curious if you're hitting a wall with any of the programs you're running, or is it just for the fun of pushing the limits?

 

[shenry]

You could try loosening the timings on your ram if thats what they are in your sig. But really I would stay where you are right now. It is plenty fast enough.

 

[Deathrow]

if its anything holding you back, it would most likely be the mobo, and there are rumors of the qx9650 dropping to around $500 sometime

I think I'm just hitting a fsb wall. I can take it to 1619 and passes all tests, 1620 or over it wont post.

How near is the QX9650 drop? When Nahalem release?

I would stay. I can tell you're overclock happy! You mentioned no other reason to upgrade other than wanting more speed.
I'm curious if you're hitting a wall with any of the programs you're running, or is it just for the fun of pushing the limits?

All my programs are fine (well except probably Crysis on full, lol but no1 can really get that anyway ) I just have fun overclocking and improving benchmark scores

You could try loosening the timings on your ram if thats what they are in your sig. But really I would stay where you are right now. It is plenty fast enough.

When I overclock I use the timings 5 5 5 15 2T but since I cant overclock anymore I tightened them to 4 3 3 8 2T

 

[Timo]

Try to get a second hand QX6850 rig. I was looking for one but it would blow my budget with almost 200 euro's... Without a screen xD