Worth Overclocking a q6700?

[Frankieanime158]

So I've been slowly building my PC as I've been able to afford, and I FINALLY got myself an EVGA GTX 960 SCC 2gb.

But, unfortunately it's paired with my older q6700 until I can afford it. I am upgrading to an FX 8350. But I still need to buy

my motherboard and ram. I can only spare buying one piece a month (not next month since I'm getting Black Ops 3).

 

I'm pretty sure my CPU is a bottleneck for my GPU, I'm sure I'd be getting better performace after the upgrade. 

I noticed a cooler on sale on Amazon called "Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo Cpu Cooler with 120mm Pwm Fan" for only

45$, which I can afford. 

When I played the Black Ops 3 beta I was getting 60fps on medium settings, but with rather annoying frame dips, and I'm pretty sure the GTX 960 should be able to handle it fine, it's the CPU holding it back.

So would it be worth getting the cooler to overclock my q6700 until I finally have my build finished around January?

I have no idea how much power I can squeeze out of this CPU, and if it'll even make any difference for higher end games, but I hope

there's something I can do. All help appreciated

 

 

[Epiclol86]

i will be doing about the same thing with a q6600... the q series are really overclockable, you should get ok performance...

[ApolloX75]

So I've been slowly building my PC as I've been able to afford, and I FINALLY got myself an EVGA GTX 960 SCC 2gb.

But, unfortunately it's paired with my older q6700 until I can afford it. I am upgrading to an FX 8350. But I still need to buy

my motherboard and ram. I can only spare buying one piece a month (not next month since I'm getting Black Ops 3).

 

I'm pretty sure my CPU is a bottleneck for my GPU, I'm sure I'd be getting better performace after the upgrade. 

I noticed a cooler on sale on Amazon called "Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo Cpu Cooler with 120mm Pwm Fan" for only

45$, which I can afford. 

When I played the Black Ops 3 beta I was getting 60fps on medium settings, but with rather annoying frame dips, and I'm pretty sure the GTX 960 should be able to handle it fine, it's the CPU holding it back.

So would it be worth getting the cooler to overclock my q6700 until I finally have my build finished around January?

I have no idea how much power I can squeeze out of this CPU, and if it'll even make any difference for higher end games, but I hope

there's something I can do. All help appreciated

You can try but your results will be tied to how good your motherboard is and how robust it's components and features are. You should be able to squeeze at least a 200-400MHz overclock if you have a good board and quality power supply. Otherwise save your money and push through the lower framerates til you finish your upgrade.

[alexhelvetica]

1. The 960 is a waste of space, if you can, please return it and get a R9 280, 285, 380 or 280x.

2. That is expensive for a 212 evo, they are about $25 (I would show you but PC Part Picker is down)

3. DO NOT get a FX 8350!!! Get an i5.

4. Sure, OC that Q6700.

[Frankieanime158]

You can try but your results will be tied to how good your motherboard is and how robust it's components and features are. You should be able to squeeze at least a 200-400MHz overclock if you have a good board and quality power supply. Otherwise save your money and push through the lower framerates til you finish your upgrade.

Well the motherboard is just some stock MB that came in a pre-built PC. Bios is very limited, so thinking of it now, it probably can't withstand or support much. But alright, thanks for the reply

[Frankieanime158]

1. The 960 is a waste of space, if you can, please return it and get a R9 280, 285, 380 or 280x.

2. That is expensive for a 212 evo, they are about $25 (I would show you but PC Part Picker is down)

3. DO NOT get a FX 8350!!! Get an i5.

4. Sure, OC that Q6700.

At first I was going to go with the R9 270x, but power consumption was more, and the GTX 960 was just a bit cheaper at the moment.

But can you recommend a decent mb and i5 combo than? I was going to get the MSI 970 gaming with the fx 8350. So anywhere around the cost of those 2 should be okay. 

[Hecknologist]

If you buy the hyper 212 you can always move it to your new cpu and motherboard when you acquire it. The hyper 212 is cheap and gives a solid drop in temps for the price. I'd definitely recommend looking at other people's overclocking results for that cpu first, to see if it is worth embarking on.

[alexhelvetica]

At first I was going to go with the R9 270x, but power consumption was more, and the GTX 960 was just a bit cheaper at the moment.

But can you recommend a decent mb and i5 combo than? I was going to get the MSI 970 gaming with the fx 8350. So anywhere around the cost of those 2 should be okay. 

Get this instead of the FX 8350 and MSI 970 Gaming:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($183.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: ASRock H97 PERFORMANCE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $263.98

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-21 03:32 EDT-0400

[SkilledRebuilds]

Primarily for Gaming - The 8350 is NOT much of an improvement AT ALL over that CPU. Esp if you can clock that Q6700 up, then move into FX territory...

 

Other tasks, its great, but you could do much better, for less.

 

 

 

Get this instead of the FX 8350 and MSI 970 Gaming:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($183.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: ASRock H97 PERFORMANCE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $263.98

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-21 03:32 EDT-0400

 

 

THIS.

Will have proper GPU usage at 99-100% (optimal) across the board for 99% of games, something I can't say for EVERY FX user.

[dragoon20005]

my Q6600 is rocking at 3GHz on a G41 board

 

it just OC from 266MHz FSB to 333MHz because of the 1333MHz RAMs

 

OCing the Core 2 series is dependent on the board as well as the memory timings

 

any changes to the FSB will affect memory timings

 

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/b/MvtJ7P

 

build in here

[don_svetlio]

At first I was going to go with the R9 270x, but power consumption was more, and the GTX 960 was just a bit cheaper at the moment.

But can you recommend a decent mb and i5 combo than? I was going to get the MSI 970 gaming with the fx 8350. So anywhere around the cost of those 2 should be okay. 

Please refer to my guide for power consumption

[don_svetlio]

1. The 960 is a waste of space, if you can, please return it and get a R9 280, 285, 380 or 280x.

2. That is expensive for a 212 evo, they are about $25 (I would show you but PC Part Picker is down)

3. DO NOT get a FX 8350!!! Get an i5.

4. Sure, OC that Q6700.

This!

Best advice you can hope for

[Frankieanime158]

 

Get this instead of the FX 8350 and MSI 970 Gaming:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($183.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: ASRock H97 PERFORMANCE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $263.98

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-21 03:32 EDT-0400

 

How well will this do in comparison for other tasks? For example, I record music on my computer by plugging it into an external soundboard, and run many VSTis (virtual amps, drums, basses etc). Also, how well does it record games using programs like Bandicam or XSplit? I've done research, and I'm definitely on board with what you've suggested. But my worry is the fewer cores might be (not so good) and recording games as well.

Thanks for going out of your way like this

[Frankieanime158]

Please refer to my guide for power consumption

Yea, this is what I'm starting to consider now

[Frankieanime158]

my Q6600 is rocking at 3GHz on a G41 board

 

it just OC from 266MHz FSB to 333MHz because of the 1333MHz RAMs

 

OCing the Core 2 series is dependent on the board as well as the memory timings

 

any changes to the FSB will affect memory timings

 

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/b/MvtJ7P

 

build in here

Well my only experience with overclocking is using AMD overdrive in an old laptop I had to clock the "turbo boost" to 2.4 manually. So I'm kind of confused at what you just said :b

[alexhelvetica]

How well will this do in comparison for other tasks? For example, I record music on my computer by plugging it into an external soundboard, and run many VSTis (virtual amps, drums, basses etc). Also, how well does it record games using programs like Bandicam or XSplit? I've done research, and I'm definitely on board with what you've suggested. But my worry is the fewer cores might be (not so good) and recording games as well.

Thanks for going out of your way like this

You might be better off with a Xeon, but the i5 would still be fine!

 

FIXED!!! It will need a CPU cooler.

 

Please IGNORE FOR NOW!

The Xeon is not hyperthreaded.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core OEM/Tray Processor  ($234.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: ASRock H97 PERFORMANCE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $314.98

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-21 04:39 EDT-0400

[dragoon20005]

if you worry of lack of treads

 

 

You might be better off with a Xeon, but the other build would still be fine!

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1220 V3 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($192.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: ASRock H97 PERFORMANCE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $272.98

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-21 04:32 EDT-0400

 

note that Xeon is not hypertreaded

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646e31231v3

 

only the 1231 has 8 treads vs the 1220 4 treads

[alexhelvetica]

if you worry of lack of treads

 

note that Xeon is not hypertreaded

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646e31231v3

 

only the 1231 has 8 treads vs the 1220 4 treads

Oh.

I thought all xeons have hyperthreading.

Thankyou for telling me!

[dragoon20005]

Well my only experience with overclocking is using AMD overdrive in an old laptop I had to clock the "turbo boost" to 2.4 manually. So I'm kind of confused at what you just said :b

dont worry 

 

what i was pointing out is that the Q6600 and Q6700 are easily OCable chips given a good board and good RAM and good cooling

 

i got free 600MHz increase without me touching any settings on my new mobo

[Dabombinable]

Primarily for Gaming - The 8350 is NOT much of an improvement AT ALL over that CPU. Esp if you can clock that Q6700 up, then move into FX territory...

 

Other tasks, its great, but you could do much better, for less.

 

 

 

THIS.

Will have proper GPU usage at 99-100% (optimal) across the board for 99% of games, something I can't say for EVERY FX user.

*Or those using Q6***/Q9***

[Frankieanime158]

dont worry 

 

what i was pointing out is that the Q6600 and Q6700 are easily OCable chips given a good board and good RAM and good cooling

 

i got free 600MHz increase without me touching any settings on my new mobo

Oh okay, thanks

[Dabombinable]

Oh okay, thanks

I'll say this as well, in gaming an FX 8350 isn't actually that much of an upgrade-there are CPU that are older and perform better.

[ApolloX75]

Well the motherboard is just some stock MB that came in a pre-built PC. Bios is very limited, so thinking of it now, it probably can't withstand or support much. But alright, thanks for the reply

I'll go into some detail for you:

With a limited BIOS you may not get very far. Overclocking a C2Q is very different from something like Haswell. Unless you have an Extreme series you'll have a maximum multiplier on the Q6700, so to overclock you have to step the FSB up. If you're on a Q6700 era board it'll be a 1066mhz (266×4) FSB, so you can usually get a good board to ramp up to 300 or even 333. Usually the best case scenario is to have a more modern 1333MHz FSB board, which means with a Q6700 you're overclocked just by running the chipset at its native speed, and you can often achieve FSB speeds of up to 400 or more.

The caveat is memory, as your RAM is fed by your FSB too. Some motherboards like high end P35 and P45 series or nForce 700s have the ability to unlink the memory from the CPU FSB setting which makes life easier. Yours unfortunately may not have that option being a prebuilt.

TL;DR overclocking C2Q is usually easy if you have the right tools for the job.

And if you're gonna upgrade I have to agree with the others. An i5 or Xeon is a great investment, and will have a longer usable life over an FX. Especially for your usage.

[SkilledRebuilds]

If your recording gameplay using GPU-assisted technologies, Nvidia's Shadowplay, AMD's VCE codec & OBS or even Quicksync & OBS,.... 4 cores isn't an issue.

1080p/60 is a cakewalk for these tech's.

 

 

If your the kind of guy who ONLY uses the CPU to record his gameplay, it will still do okay..but frame loss will be there (but your CPU is stronk, and will pull ample already)

Why in the world you'd use CPU only recording these days is silly IMO (unless its PAID work) But for Youtubes/Video sharing, its AMPLE.

 

Youtube 1080p/60fps is easily done by the above technologies with little to ZERO performance hit.