Upgrade 8-Year Old Q6600 Build ?

[jchunter]

I'm thinking of bringing the old beast up to date and would like to get some opinions on this first plan.

I would leave everything* in the Antec 900 case intact except to replace the existing mobo with an ASUS Z97-E/usb3.1, an Intel i5 4690k CPU , G.Skill Ripjaws 16GB DDR3 1600, and Windows 10. I would want to overclock to about 4.5 GHz but don't want to create a space heater...

* Thermaltake 850W PSU , NVIDIA GTX280, 250GB SSD, WD Raptors, etc.

EDIT: Thinking of using old Tuniq Tower 120 heatsink, which always worked fine on the Q6600 when overclocked to 3.6MB/s. Will I have problems with mounting it on the i5 4690k socket?

 

[ninjacore]

As long as you have the necessary adapter for an 1150 socket mobo, that cooler should be fine. Not sure what fan you have on the cooler at the moment, but an upgrade in that department might yield a few degrees and probably be quieter as well. The current fan probably has some decent mileage on it

What's your budget for the upgrade? And what will you be using the PC for?

 

[tachi1247]

I don't think socket 115X existed when that heatsink was released. You're definitely going to need to source a new backplate and probably an adapter for the actual mount. The holes certainly won't line up between socket 775 and 115X.

Provide us with your budget and what you are going to use the PC for.

Unless you are extremely strapped for cash it makes a lot more sense to go with skylake than to build a haswell system (especially a higher end one at that). You're not going to save much money with this system so you might as well get the latest and greatest Z170 chipset with DDR4.

 

[ninjacore]

Unless you are extremely strapped for cash it makes a lot more sense to go with skylake than to build a haswell system (especially a higher end one at that). You're not going to save much money with this system so you might as well get the latest and greatest Z170 chipset with DDR4.

EDIT: I wrote the below with an ITX build in mine. See EarthDog's post for ATX-relevant numbers, which are a lot closer.

I would have agreed with you up until a few days ago when I started looking into a Skylake build.

Even if you find a great deal on a 6th gen chip (I grabbed a 6600k for $200 in the classies, making it the same price as the haswell equivalent), the motherboard and ram price differences aren't negligible.

The minimum difference for new parts is gonna be $100 and you're picking from far fewer options (competition) in the motherboard department. Z170 boards and ddr4 kits are still being released.

That price gap widens if you're willing to grab a used Z97 combo.

Unless you're benching or have a definite need for the features of z170, I don't think it's worth the current price jump.

 

[EarthDog]

$100 difference for mobo and ram? Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

DDR4 2800 CL15 @ $65 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...231931&cm_re=DDR4_2800-_-20-231-931-_-Product
DDR3 2133 CL9 @ $45 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...231476&cm_re=DDR3_2133-_-20-231-476-_-Product

ASRock Z170 Ex4 @ $155 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157633&cm_re=Z170-_-13-157-633-_-Product
ASrock Z97 Ex4 @ $144 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...503&cm_re=z97_extreme4-_-13-157-503-_-Product

$31 difference there. You can also go cheaper on the DDR4 and still be as fast as the DDR3 by getting DDR4 2400 Mhz (you can go down on the DDR3 too, yes). I chose 2800 Mhz and 2133 MHz because they are both what most would considering to be the 'sweet spot' between performance and cost.

There are fewer options in Z170 boards (61 vs 131), but how many boards do you need to choose from?!

That is about as apples to apples as one can get. The cheapest Z170 boards are $99, while the cheapest Z97 is $70.

 

[ninjacore]

I've had my head buried in the ITX sand, which shows a little more separation.

For ATX, you nailed it. (Why did I fall in love with small builds!?!)

 

[jchunter]

Thanks for your good advice.
I agree that DDR4 is the new fastest memory technology but SATA Express and USB3.1 are also important. Strangely, I found the later features on a very economical DDR3 ASUS z97-E (on sale at NewEgg for $115) but only on the much more expensive DDR4 mobos... Not clear how to use SATA Express to get more speed from SSDs, yet but that is its stated purpose.

I still have to locate the right Tuniq Tower backplate...

 

[ninjacore]

Just FYI, the holes around the CPU socket (for heatsink mounts) are aligned the same on 1156, 1155, 1150, and 1151 motherboards, so an adapter for your heatsink made for any of those will work for a Haswell mobo (1150).

 

[tachi1247]

Thanks for your good advice.
I agree that DDR4 is the new fastest memory technology but SATA Express and USB3.1 are also important. Strangely, I found the later features on a very economical DDR3 ASUS z97-E (on sale at NewEgg for $115) but only on the much more expensive DDR4 mobos... Not clear how to use SATA Express to get more speed from SSDs, yet but that is its stated purpose.

I still have to locate the right Tuniq Tower backplate...

Sata express is pretty much dead already. It never actually caught on and pcie storage solutions and m.2 already have a strong hold on the non sata storage market.

If you're looking at usb 3.1 on z97 make sure it supports 10 gb/s. Rev 0 of 3.1 does not.

 

[EarthDog]

Dead? It just came out in 2013 and was first seen on Z97/X99 chipsets. Its coming out on all Z170 chipsets. Only time will tell, but, its too new too call it dead IMO. It hasn't had time to fail.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA_Express

 

[wagex]

 

[ninjacore]

View attachment 169283

 

[Suppressor1137]

Hahaha, classy guys. love the images. It fit all too well.

Sata Express just doesn't have a whole lot of devices available that are...necessary. When I first heard about it, I wasn't too excited. I just had this thought of "Oh, Cool. Another option is available. No idea what would use this kind of bandwidth, but that's cool.", Saw the NVM drives, and said "Oh, cool. A use for those drives." Then I saw M.2, and U.2. "God damn it, Why do I even try to keep up with technology anymore?"

I guess we have to move forward, and the only way to do that is to experiment with technologies. Sata Express seemed like a haphazard answer to compatibility and performance, With m.2 and u.2 being a much more...elegant answer, with no compatibility in mind.