New old school cpu or new monitor

SuperDuperMe

SuperDuperMe

New Member
Hey guys this is mostly a cpu question but ill come to the monitor later.

So i may have some money this weekend if a sale goes well for a cheap cpu upgrade (please dont say wait and save your money as i have no money to save, unemployed and all that jazz)

so my options are based on ebay, core 2 quad cpu (q6600 or q8200 by the looks of it and based on my budget)

or a new monitor. Now the reason i say a new monitor is that when i play my pc on my 1080 tv i get a decent performance boost ( i guess this is due to the fact that my cpu is less of a bottleneck or more performance is used by my gpu and less strain on cpu) However, would a new cpu increase my performance boost more than a new monitor?

I currently play on a 1366x768 monitor hence the bottleneck (or w.e you want to call it)



So TL;DR new cpu or new monitor, which will have more of a perfomance gain.

Other specs are in my sig.

My budget is £70 and is stuck to the absolute unless someone can find me a new platform used for cheap (like an i3 2100/mobo/ram used or something - not that i think that is likely but hey you never know :P)




This is a hold me over until i can find a job and start saving for something a bit more modern.
 
A cheap monitor should help the performance over a tv, not decrease it, I have no idea what is going on there. But, if you are happy with your monitor, get a cpu.
 
I never said anything about a monitor decreasing performance.

My current monitor is 1366x768. which bottlenecks my gpu due to the strain on my cpu.
My tv is 1080 so the increase in gpu useage obviously takes away from the cpu so i get better performance generally.

Please read the OP :P

Im happy with my current monitor but i want to know what would give me better performance, a higher res monitor to take strain off my cpu or a better cpu.
 
I have a Q8300 and it still plays games well Mike. I'd say grab a Core 2 Quad of any sort from eBay, preferably a Q9xxx or Q9x5x chip if you can as those were the later chips supporting faster memory, but a Q6xxx or a Q8xxx chip would be good. In the long run, a quad-core CPU is going to be more helpful / more use to you than a new monitor is.
 
mikeb2817 said:
I never said anything about a monitor decreasing performance.

My current monitor is 1366x768. which bottlenecks my gpu due to the strain on my cpu.
My tv is 1080 so the increase in gpu useage obviously takes away from the cpu so i get better performance generally.

Please read the OP :P

Im happy with my current monitor but i want to know what would give me better performance, a higher res monitor to take strain off my cpu or a better cpu.
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okay, what I would do if I was you would be to hook it up to your TV and set teh resolution to 1080p and try it out and see if you are happy. If so, then go the new monitor route. If you are not happy, then go for a better CPU and you will still be good.
 
Think im going to take the new cpu route. I mean surely games are going to use quads much more in upcoming games. SO i guess that would be better than a new monitor.

Also iv abused my current c2d in that its fan etc is ****ed. So probably best to get rid of that as soon as :P

Thanks guys.

BY the way which is better, q6600 or q8200.

vistakid10 said:
I have a Q8300 and it still plays games well Mike. I'd say grab a Core 2 Quad of any sort from eBay, preferably a Q9xxx or Q9x5x chip if you can as those were the later chips supporting faster memory, but a Q6xxx or a Q8xxx chip would be good. In the long run, a quad-core CPU is going to be more helpful / more use to you than a new monitor is.
Click to expand...

Damn i wish i had your top comp in your sig :P

Back on track though :P i cant afford a q9xxx chip. Theyre extremely expensive, even on the bay :P
 
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mikeb2817 said:
BY the way which is better, q6600 or q8200.
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The Q6600 is the faster of the two, see here http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/53?vs=52 but note that really there's not an awful lot in it. If you want to overclock though, definitely avoid the Q8xxx chips and get the Q6600. It's an overclocking champ and you can easily get to 3.4GHz on air with it - that's a whole gigahertz overclock.

mikeb2817 said:
Damn i wish i had your top comp in your sig :P
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:D It's a nice machine. :)

mikeb2817 said:
i cant afford a q9xxx chip. Theyre extremely expensive, even on the bay :P
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Yes they are still pretty expensive. I remember I was looking for a Q9300 or something like a Q9550 or Q9650 for a friend of mine to replace his crummy Pentium Dual-Core and I remember the prices being high.

Happily, the Q6600s are still pretty cheap. For £70, this is a good deal (Buy it Now too!) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Cor..._Processors&hash=item33760e8b79#ht_1585wt_905

I'd say the Q6600 is what you want if you upgrade your CPU. It will definitely give you the best price:performance. :) Especially if you overclock it.
 
yeah the Q6600 is an awesome CPU. I recently helped my friend with cable management and clearing the dust out of his case and saw his epic C2Q and I wanted to steal it lol.
 
Raz3rD said:
yeah the Q6600 is an awesome CPU. I recently helped my friend with cable management and clearing the dust out of his case and saw his epic C2Q and I wanted to steal it lol.
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Yeah I'd get the Q6600, Mike. :) Awesome chip, even like 5 years on. :D As I said, overclocks well too!
 
Q6600 it is then. Although vista kid i wont be buying that one you provided a link for :P

Its 62 quid on cex with a 12month warranty so ill get that :P


EDIT: Actually shit i just though, isnt there 2 q6600 in existence?
 
mikeb2817 said:
Q6600 it is then. Although vista kid i wont be buying that one you provided a link for :P

Its 62 quid on cex with a 12month warranty so ill get that :P


EDIT: Actually shit i just though, isnt there 2 q6600 in existence?
Click to expand...

Nope, only one. Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz for LGA 775 - that's it. :)

Get the cheaper one with the warranty.

Enjoy the chip, are you gonna overclock it?
 
For about the same sort of price you can get this http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/cooling/cpucoolers/f13.html I have one of those on my 2500K (which is overclocked to 4.3GHz). It's a great cooler but just be aware it is massive - you can see some pics of it here on my system if I want to see just how large it is http://www.computerforum.com/9727-post-pic-your-pc-here-912.html#post1766847 as you can see you can populate all 4 RAM bays with full height DIMMs and it will still clear them (just).
 
No, i was selling my old camping gear from when i was a cadet. The guys basicaly pulled out now i believe as iv not heard anything from him :( Dreams made and shattered within 2 days lmao. Ah well. Guess ill be waiting until the damn job market opens up somewhat :P
 
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