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Upgrading 775

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I have XFX HD5770 that I picked up on ebay for half price due to a faulty fan - the snag was that it spins 100% all the time. Thats not really a worry to me and the price resulting from that was incredible :D 62 GBP including Postage as opposed to new 5770's retailing at over 120 GBP.

I did a little bit of a search and found out that what Azuza said about DDR3 is true...
I don't quite understand why higher bandwidth DDR3 doesn't improve speed - it actually is slower than equivalent DDR2 modules.
Yet I could buy 8GB of them and a suitable board for the price of 4GB DDR2 modules I need to be able to overclock past 2.21ghz.

My current memory requires CL7 to run properly and my board can only support up to CL5-ish (board is Asus P5KPL-am - bought for 26 GBP). So it gets stuck at 310 FSB and due to timings and things, it just won't clock higher.. There would be no point buying Q9550 NOW as it would be running underclocked. But as soon as I can resolve this RAM situation and clock past 1333, mission is a go.
 
I agree that buying a Q9550 would not be a good choice, thats why I suggested a Q6600. A Q6600 at a FSB of 1333 would give you a 3 ghz chip and at 3 ghz the Q6600 would be slightly faster than a Q9550 at default (almost not worth mentioning the difference).

If your going to buy a new board I'd say go for the newer tech and replace the MB/Ram/Processor. But if you want to stick with what you have and invest later the Q6600 is the cheapest place to go.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=672822&page=2

There are still a lot of people on the forums running Q6600's.

Like I said, how much do you want to spend? less than 100$ then Q6600. 200ish then Core I3 / cheap Z77 board / 8 gigs DDR3 ram.
 
He can't go over 310mhz fsb, because of his E6300. If he had a q9550s (65 watts cpu), he could easily run-it at 400mhz fsb with his memory still running stock. A [email protected] is easily worth a q6600 @ 3.6 or 3.7ghz. and with a lot less heat and voltage required.

A [email protected] would push a 5770 to pretty much it's limit.
 
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I agree Glussier but a Q6600 go's for 60$-80$ used. A Q9550 is double that at least in price and at that point it's a lot of cash for older tech. Price is king here, what kind of performance upgrade can he get with an upgrade with spending the least amount of cash.
 
I agree Glussier but a Q6600 go's for 60$-80$ used. A Q9550 is double that at least in price and at that point it's a lot of cash for older tech. Price is king here, what kind of performance upgrade can he get with an upgrade with spending the least amount of cash.

100% with you on that.
I'd suggest to save some money though and go for the newer tech. But still the focus should be price/perf ratio, for this particular scenario.

OP, good to hear you're alive and well. Push that chip, and use ram dividers!
 
Your always going to be better off with a newer set up I guess if you are putting out the money for a newer MOBO and RAM etc of course.

The easy solution would be a Q9550 I suppose, is what I put in my wife's rig ATM and have my sister in law running pretty well on an older Q6600.

As much as I loved the ole Q6600 the Q9550 is better IMHO, even as much as I could OC that Q6600.

Pretty much goes without saying I guess but *shrug*
 
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I can't use RAM dividers.. Don't have any manual setting, they just jump to some value, like now they are 3:2, and thats sort of about it.. Perks of a cheap MOBO.
And I can't push past 310 FSB because of my RAM. I used to run it at 333 stable, everyday. But I bought more ram and replaced it without thinking much about my purchase and it turns out my board can't take it so well. But I won't put the old ram in because its half capacity.... Which would cancel out any speed difference it would make in gaming.
+ there are people running E6300 at speeds exceeding 3.5ghz so I think its possible... just need the right hardware to support it.

So it seems a Q6600 is a lot better for my budget. Even at my current speed it would run at 2.79ghz, close enough to stock 9550 2.83 and since there is literally only 1 year difference between the cpu's, it should be fine.
Couple that with a cheaper but sturdy DDR3 compatible board and some decent DIMMS (low timing ones this time... I learned my lesson) and I should be pushing 3-4 ghz.
 
3Ghz on a Q6600 is a walk in the park (most times). 4Ghz is probably out of reach. The highest I was ever able to get my Q6600 up to was 3.6ghz (which was a 1.2Ghz overclock, thats DAMN good in my book) but 3.4 was pretty easy to do even with a crappier board.

You never mentioned how much your looking to spend total on this upgrade. Have you considered the classifieds section of this forum? Maybe you can find some sort of combo-price deal that may fit in your budget and do what you want?
 
I've done 3.2ghz on a stock cooler, with semi decent temps, on a crappy msi board with ddr2 ram, and a Q6600.
Not jaw dropping but decent for some 720p gaming with a 9600gt :p
Anyways, if you happen to find a CHEAP ddr3 775 board and a q6600 it should be ok for a really cheap upgrade. I wouldn't reccomend it though, but well.
 
Cheap P45 board costs about as much as a Q6600...


The budget im looking at is not defined specifically - but it's around the $150 mark, all in. Im just looking for THE cheapest possible way of squeezing as much horsepower as physically possible but it has to be reliable and capable of O/C.

On a side note: how does performance vary between chipsets? How much better is P45 and in what way than a G31 which I currently own?

Does anyone know anything more about ASUS P5G41T-M? For example what timings it supports? I found it very cheap, looks promising and I have so far had good experience with their boards.
 
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p45 let's you overclock WAY further fsb wise...
You should get a g41 board with ddr3 and some 1600mhz cl9 ram (I'd insist on the samsung 30nm ddr3 here...cheap and awesome!)
Those boards are CHEAP and will perform ok for what is worth, and you get to keep the ram.
If you manage to sell your dual core chip and get a q6600 you should be golden for some time.
 
I couldn't find those Samsung 30nm anywhere though. I know they must be great but I just can't find them anywhere.

But if I can get RAM/MOBO combo that fits specs theoretically at any speed, I should be fine with a G41 than shelling out on a P45. Ill have a look, if there will be one within my budget, great, ill get that. But if not I will be okay with a G41 - its not the last computer I will have, it doesn't need to be the best of outdated hardware.

Im just worried that CL9 chips will have too loose timings to work with a cheap G41 board. Thats one thing that stops me from overclocking my current setup, I would prefer lower timings. Also the board I mentioned only supports up to 1333mhz ram I think. It might go higher in O.C but I can't find any supported timings info anywhere.

A DDR2/DDR3 board sounds nice, anyone know a decent one that would run DDR2 4GB 1066mhz CL7 with support for DDR3?
 
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and of course you guys all forget to ask the most important question. What are you current specs because his current processor has an FSB of 1066 where as the Q5550 has an FSB of 1333mhz which means assuming his current motherboard supports only 1066mhz and works with his processor his cpu will be downclocked to the lower FSB so thats what 2.26ghz clock on that 5550.

whats your currrent motherboard?
 
We didn't "forget" as it's not an issue in this discussion. He's not going to a Q9550 (assuming thats what you ment to say) as its already been pointed out many places that while it would be the best fit its too expensive to go to at it's current market value. He has also mentioned in the post in a few areas how poor his current board is at over clocking with no ram dividers and being unable to get the E6300 very far in it's default state. So if he's looking to get a good overclock it's a fore-gone conclusion that a new board would be needed.

The problem is at 150$ there are not really any choices other than the Q6600 and a good used DDR2 board. It's going to cost you 20-25$ to get 4 gigs of DDR3 ram (cheap as hell but still thats money you could spend towards your board).

BUT if thats what you have to do this is the best board I could find for sale online. I have no idea how good it actually is. (Assuming you want to buy it "new" someplace and not used)

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-DP45SG-...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1339743378&sr=1-1

So thats 75$. Plus 25$ for the DDR3 ram leaves you 50$ to find a Q6600. If you try to go with a socket 1155 board that can overclock the cheapest you'll find one is around the same price (newegg has a cheap Biostar Z77 board for 80$) and with ram being the same you'd end up having to pick a Pentium G530 or G620, something in that range of power. That would still be a major upgrade but I would have doubts on the power of the board simply because, well, cheap is typically another way of saying "not much flexability other than default" when it comes to motherboards.
 
We didn't "forget" as it's not an issue in this discussion. He's not going to a Q9550 (assuming thats what you ment to say) as its already been pointed out many places that while it would be the best fit its too expensive to go to at it's current market value. He has also mentioned in the post in a few areas how poor his current board is at over clocking with no ram dividers and being unable to get the E6300 very far in it's default state. So if he's looking to get a good overclock it's a fore-gone conclusion that a new board would be needed.

The problem is at 150$ there are not really any choices other than the Q6600 and a good used DDR2 board. It's going to cost you 20-25$ to get 4 gigs of DDR3 ram (cheap as hell but still thats money you could spend towards your board).

BUT if thats what you have to do this is the best board I could find for sale online. I have no idea how good it actually is. (Assuming you want to buy it "new" someplace and not used)

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-DP45SG-...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1339743378&sr=1-1

So thats 75$. Plus 25$ for the DDR3 ram leaves you 50$ to find a Q6600. If you try to go with a socket 1155 board that can overclock the cheapest you'll find one is around the same price (newegg has a cheap Biostar Z77 board for 80$) and with ram being the same you'd end up having to pick a Pentium G530 or G620, something in that range of power. That would still be a major upgrade but I would have doubts on the power of the board simply because, well, cheap is typically another way of saying "not much flexability other than default" when it comes to motherboards.

in the begining he wanted a Q5550, no one asked hey whatre you specs so yes you guys DID forget.

Future ref first question if the specs arent already listed (as in this case) you ask "Whatre you specs?"
 
I still think yorkfields are much nicer than kentsfield's. The 9550 might be a little more.. but you get alot more cache, some lower temps.. and its at 3ghz pretty much.. its stock clocks of 2.83 would probably be stronger then a 3ghz q66. Ive had 2 q6600s both did 3.8 on a bit of a push, topped out at 3.9, but not very useable. My 9550 does 4ghz (barely, but stable) on my x48 board.
 
Okay, to clear some general confusion up:

I said already my board is an ASUS P5KPL-AM. It DOES Support 1333, in fact, I already ran my E6300 at 1333.... Only reason it fails to do so now is because of the ''upgraded'' RAM which won't allow my CPU to go past 310 fsb due to timing issues etc.

I have a 700W PSU, HD5770, Soundblaster SB VX 5.1 sound card and 4gb of DDR2 Komputerbay ram (1066mhz @ CL7) - in essence my current computer is the epitomy of cheap computer hardware. RAM was a hasty purchase, I didn't think it through and now it bugs me.

But that is not to say that I don't enjoy the benefits of more capacity it gives, letting me play more demanding games in relative comfort.

My PREVIOÜS motherboard was trurly pitiful, only letting my core to run at 1.4ghz. That was terrible yet comfortable for some time untill I became much more interested in my hardware. The current ASUS board does let me get to higher speeds but the memory doesnt. I doubt it would even be a question of dividers - timings are just too much to handle, booting up black screens because memory can't load in correct time and that's that.. I tried overvolting it but that didn't work either. So I had settled on the fastest working config, it runs at 472mhz CL6.


As for buying hardware, I do not mind buying second hand. That is actually the preferred method for me to buy hardware. It worked out well in the past, more than well actually. Its effective and much cheaper than buying new hardware that is overpriced compared to what people are willing to pay for it used (but working so technically its like new - because if something isn't broken, I simply cannot tell a difference between used and new - maybe OC does some damage but I only bought non-oc hardware so far).

So I am fairly open to scouting ebay all day long looking for the cheapest possible way around this issue. I will keep you posted.

Onething to add: with a Q6600, as it stands with my current setup, it would be overclocked from 2.4 to 2.8ghz straight away, pretty much evening out the field between itself and the superior 9550. Any further board/ram upgrades would push that up past 3ghz.
 
kommanderkodiak, why are you coming into the post and then making it sound like everyone who's trying to help so far are "incompetent" by "forgetting the most important thing". If you read everything we have already found out quite a bit even without asking that question. He's on an E6300 with DDR2 ram that runs at CL7 and is running a Radeon 5770. His current MB has no memory dividers for helping with OCing and he's currently stuck with a FSB of 310Mhz making his E6300 run at 2.17ghz which isn't much over his default. Maybe you didn't mean to but when you posted it that way it came across (at least to me) as a little "passive aggressive" and snippy.

Groov3st3r it sounds like you should have no issues with a Q6600 in your current setup. I'd honestly just get that and then have fun. You know you can hit 310FSB with your current setup, and a Q6600 at a 300FSB will run at 3Ghz, a hell of a lot faster than your current one + quad vs dual. For the price you can't go wrong.
 
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