# Old PC CPU Upgrade



## xu^ (Sep 3, 2019)

Hi all ,not been involved with PC's for a good few years, kinda lost interest,but anyway...

I'm running a rather old system with
Q6600 @2.4
Asus PK5 Premium Motherboard
4gb ram ddr2
nVidia  gtx 750 ti 2gb

Used to have it overclocked a few years ago to 3.2ghz for a long time then it started crashing on anything above default 2.4ghz, My question is now would it make "much" difference if I was to chuck a Q9650 @3ghz in over my Q6600?
I think its the fastest CPU my board will take and maybe 1 of the fasted socket 775 CPU's available anyway, would it make much difference, i do a little gaming obviously nothing new,but hoping it would improve frame rates a little.

I've no interest in building a new PC, to be honest and just a little speed boost would be all I need, dont have to time or money to build a new system, but a cpu upgrade and possibly a slightly better gfx card if it would help.

thanks for any suggetions


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## TheMadDutchDude (Sep 3, 2019)

If it’s struggling to maintain a basic overclock or 3.2, I think your motherboard may be on its way out. I don’t think a Q9650 would run very well on it. Set your Q6600 to 333 FSB (3 GHz) and see if it’ll run. If not, the 9650 won’t either as that’s a 333 FSB chip.


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## Wavetrex (Sep 3, 2019)

Don't bother.
The core performance of that chip is completely outdated at this point.

Save your money and think about getting something more modern, even if in the middle-to-low-end side.
For example, a Ryzen 3600 would be orders of magnitude faster than that ancient CPU.
If that is too much, an 1600 would still serve you well and can be had for very cheap today.


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## lexluthermiester (Sep 3, 2019)

TheMadDutchDude said:


> If it’s struggling to maintain a basic overclock or 3.2, I think your motherboard may be on its way out. I don’t think a Q9650 would run very well on it. Set your Q6600 to 333 FSB (3 GHz) and see if it’ll run. If not, the 9650 won’t either as that’s a 333 FSB chip.


Could be voltage.
@xubidoo
Have you tried bumping up your voltage one or two steps to see if it helps? As long as you don't go crazy, you won't hurt it.


Wavetrex said:


> Don't bother.
> The core performance of that chip is completely outdated at this point.
> 
> Save your money and think about getting something more modern, even if in the middle-to-low-end side.
> ...


That was not a useful suggestion. While you're not wrong, the OP did not ask if the system was out-dated, they asked for help getting it running. Context is important.


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## xu^ (Sep 3, 2019)

ok had it running at 3ghz and so far fingers crossed , ran a few games and older 3d mark a few times and so far seems ok...

I know the system is totally out dated and doesnt hold a candle to modern systems, but ive seen a few Q9650s going for around £35-40 on ebay and wondered if it would make much if any difference. 
To get a better chip such as a ryzen, would mean new board,cpu,memory etc and to be honest ive no inclination at all to do it.

Im assuming a Q9650 @3ghz would still out perform my Q6600 @3ghz ?and maybe bumping my gfx up from a 750 gtx to something a little better as long as its cheap 

If its pointless and i wouldnt see any gains then i wont bother ,just thought as they are cheap...


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## lexluthermiester (Sep 3, 2019)

xubidoo said:


> Im assuming a Q9650 @3ghz would still out perform my Q6600 @3ghz ?and maybe bumping my gfx up from a 750 gtx to something a little better as long as its cheap


Yes, and yes. A Q9650 would have high headroom for a solid OC as well. Those can effortlessly go to 3.6ghz(9x400mhz FSB) on a minor bump of voltage(1.375 to 1.4). Additionally, a GTX770 would be an excellent and inexpensive upgrade as well. The gains would be worth the price of admission for those two items.


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## theFOoL (Sep 3, 2019)

Your MB might be able to run a Modded Xeon CPU the Xeon E5450 LINK support chipset LINK


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## lexluthermiester (Sep 3, 2019)

rk3066 said:


> Your MB might be able to run a Modded Xeon CPU the Xeon E5450 LINK support chipset LINK


That is a very involved process. Can't recommend that for a non-geek, which the OP doesn't seem to be.


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## theFOoL (Sep 3, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> That is a very involved process. Can't recommend that for a non-geek, which the OP doesn't seem to be.


ah OK OK well works fine on my system and I'm a geek so   well at least with my Q6600 I was able to go @3.3 and that's it. Anything higher would crash/restart


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## TheMadDutchDude (Sep 3, 2019)

I wouldn't bother changing the Q6600 to the Q9650. The IPC increase isn't worth it, especially if you aren't wishing to upgrade the system anyway.

Let the Q6600 ride strong. It was an amazing CPU back in the day, and I was so happy when I finally got one... this brings back good memories.


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## Wavetrex (Sep 3, 2019)

xubidoo said:


> ive seen a few Q9650s going for around £35-40 on ebay


That is exactly why I've told you to save your money.

That 35-40 quids are wasted money, paying for something that already belongs to your city's pile of household waste ( even if £35 seems little )

Yes, the chips were amazing for the time and I also had some WOW moments, for example when I managed to overclock my Q6600 to 3.75 Ghz (Yes, 56% overclock !).
However, the massive difference to today's chip means that even at that clock the "Core2" architecture is slower than what a modern "Lake" (Intel) or "Zen" AMD runs at minimum (idle) clocks.

Keep those 40 quids, put them in the piggy bank, put some more the next time it's raining and you don't go out... and get a proper system for 2019-2020 when you can (or when your current Q6600 dies completely... which I doubt it will, mine still runs to this day, even after that 3.6-3.75 Ghz torture)


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## theFOoL (Sep 3, 2019)

Would y'all think the Xeon E5450 was a good buy for me? I just wanted to try a Xeon after All. I could switch back


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## TheMadDutchDude (Sep 3, 2019)

You would need to modify your motherboard, your BIOS, and make a few pin modifications. You can’t just plug them in. It’s not that simple. Save your money!


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## theFOoL (Sep 3, 2019)

No no it came like this. Look my link above. They have applied the hack/mod and it actually worked. Just curious if I made the  right choice but as I said I could easily go back to Q6600

There's videos on YouTube that people show how to do it manually but Aliexpress has our backs


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## timta2 (Sep 3, 2019)

The good thing about upgrading to a Q9650 would be that it wouldn't depreciate much, if you decided you wanted to go in a different direction after trying it. You could probably put it right back on eBay or sell it locally for a similar price. 

I personally went from a Q6600 to a Q9550 a number of years ago and while it was a noticeable upgrade, in terms of performance, it was nothing like the increase I got by going to a Core series CPU.


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## eidairaman1 (Sep 3, 2019)

Capped off tbf.

Time for an upgrade.

No matter how much you cpu upgrade you are too far behind. A Ryzen 3 1400 is a viable upgrade.


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## Mussels (Sep 3, 2019)

you wont feel any performance boost by upgrading, since the best for that socket is still really weak by todays standards. Q6600 was the king of its era, and lasted many years longer than it should have.


Todays equivalent is likely the ryzen 3600, if you do plan to upgrade.


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## MrPotatoHead (Sep 3, 2019)

A 120/240gb ssd would breath more life into that old system than the q9650, the extra 600 mhz is negligible with such an old cpu, a small cheap bump in gpu power would also be worthwhile and another 4gb ram, after that there's no point doing anything else and your next upgrade would be a new system, I did something similar with an old hp compaq a few weeks ago and went from barely running windows 7 basic with a dual core E6850, 2gb ram and 160gb hdd to running Windows 10 x64 now with 4gb ram, q9450 and 120gb ssd 

Bare in mind I would only do the above upgrades if they cost next to nothing for good working used parts.


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## lexluthermiester (Sep 3, 2019)

@xubidoo 
Seems to be alot of opinions poopooing the idea of an upgrade from your Q6600. The reality is if you go from that to a Q9650(or even a Q9550) you bump your stock FSB from 266 to 333, bump the stock speed from 2.4ghz to 3ghz and vastly improve your OC potential. Having owned both I can confidently tell you that you will notice an improvement. Keep in mind, a new CPU means new RAM and new motherboard, if you don't want or can't afford those required upgrades, a Q9650 or Q9550 and GPU will serve you well.


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## Chrispy_ (Sep 3, 2019)

As dumb as it sounds suggesting you spend real money on an old DDR2 platform, if you can get a Q9650 for £35 it's not a stupid idea. At the very least it will confirm whether your motherboard is dying or not, at which point you can either keep the Q9650 or sell it on again for a small loss. At least if you find out your board is dying you have a heads up and can start saving to replace it.

The alternative is to buy a whole new platform - something like an Athlon 200GE, A320 board, and 2x4GB of DDR4 for around £130 total. That's going to be better than a Q9650 but it's also four times the price.


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## MrPotatoHead (Sep 3, 2019)

I Looked at a q9650 and couldn't justify the £35 cost for the age of the platform, I got a q9450 for £12 which was a much easier pill to swallow and not too far off the performance of a q9650 in all honesty my use case is different in that this is an oem machine and I can't overclock so it's 300mhz or so in difference which won't be missed, still stand by ssd advice for such an old platform that will be like a night and day improvement imo


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## xu^ (Sep 3, 2019)

Thats my main problem ,buying a cpu for £35 and then maybe another 4gb ram for £9 and whatever a reasonable gfx card would cost ,added up probably would be over £120 , but like i said earlier , ive no inclination to build a PC as its not used that much to be honest.

Even if i skip the gfx card and just stick with cpu+ram its still around £45 ish , decisions decisions lol ,maybe i should just not bother doing anything and leave as is ....arghh!!


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## eidairaman1 (Sep 3, 2019)

xubidoo said:


> Thats my main problem ,buying a cpu for £35 and then maybe another 4gb ram for £9 and whatever a reasonable gfx card would cost ,added up probably would be over £120 , but like i said earlier , ive no inclination to build a PC as its not used that much to be honest.
> 
> Even if i skip the gfx card and just stick with cpu+ram its still around £45 ish , decisions decisions lol ,maybe i should just not bother doing anything and leave as is ....arghh!!



2 choices,

Leave it alone

Save up and get a legitimate upgrade.

C2D/Q has ran its course.


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## MrPotatoHead (Sep 3, 2019)

xubidoo said:


> Thats my main problem ,buying a cpu for £35 and then maybe another 4gb ram for £9 and whatever a reasonable gfx card would cost ,added up probably would be over £120 , but like i said earlier , ive no inclination to build a PC as its not used that much to be honest.
> 
> Even if i skip the gfx card and just stick with cpu+ram its still around £45 ish , decisions decisions lol ,maybe i should just not bother doing anything and leave as is ....arghh!!


Add the ram and ssd that's about £25 then call it a day, next time you get the upgrade itch it's new build time


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## eidairaman1 (Sep 3, 2019)

MrPotatoHead said:


> Add the ram and ssd that's about £25 then call it a day, next time you get the upgrade itch it's new build time



I wouldnt spend anything on it.


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## MrPotatoHead (Sep 3, 2019)

eidairaman1 said:


> I wouldnt spend anything on it.


Depends how long he is going to hang on to it 8gb is pretty much a minimum for win 10 these days as is a ssd, both of which are upgrades to older system that yield noticeable results the cpu and gpu not so much in this case but each to his own


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## lexluthermiester (Sep 3, 2019)

MrPotatoHead said:


> I Looked at a q9650 and couldn't justify the £35 cost for the age of the platform, I got a q9450 for £12 which was a much easier pill to swallow and not too far off the performance of a q9650


That's actually a fair point. A Q9550 would be a good middle-ground and would still provide a solid boost in performance over the Q6600.


eidairaman1 said:


> C2D/Q has ran its course.


While that's not untrue, the OP came here looking for help upgrading. So let's focus on helping them get the most out of their existing system.


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## Valantar (Sep 3, 2019)

I was quite (surprisingly?) happy with my Q9450 until my Ryzen upgrade in 2017, I can't think the OP wouldn't be the same today seeing how their expectations/wants/needs seem to be quite a lot lower. As such I'd go for something like a 9450 if it's as cheap as was mentioned above - mine clocked to 3.52GHz with a Hyper 212 Evo and didn't even really run all that hot. That was on an X48 board, but even a lower end board should do 3.3 or so with a decent chip.

That being said, an SSD is a must, and will deliver a far bigger improvement in perceived performance than any LGA775 CPU upgrade.


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## agent_x007 (Sep 3, 2019)

TheMadDutchDude said:


> You would need to modify your motherboard, your BIOS, and make a few pin modifications. You can’t just plug them in. It’s not that simple. Save your money!


If that picture in link is correct, he actually only has to update BIOS with Xeon uCode.
CPU got cut (to fit into non-moded LGA 775 boards), and has LGA 771 adapter pre applied.

You should see a difference between 2x6MB 45nm and 2x4MB 65nm.
8GB RAM and SSD are pretty much a must for ANY modern-ish use cases.
I would hunt for Xeon 12MB with 8 or higher multiplier (Q9450+), the higher max. multi = the better.

*You need more RAM and SSD before CPU upgrade.*


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## Valantar (Sep 3, 2019)

agent_x007 said:


> If that picture in link is correct, he actually only has to update BIOS with Xeon uCode.
> CPU got cut (to fit into non-moded LGA 775 boards), and has LGA 771 adapter pre applied.
> 
> You should see a difference between 2x6MB 45nm and 2x4MB 65nm.
> ...


Agreed on the last point, I would never ever have been able to live with my Q9450 as long as I did without an SSD and 8GB of RAM. One of the things that triggered the upgrade was actually one of my DIMMs dying, leaving me with only 6GB. That was still workable, but noticeably low when I pushed it. Some 2GB sticks of DDR2 shouldn't cost too much on ebay. And any SATA SSD will work wonderfully, and can carry over into a new PC later or be used as a fast external drive if/when this PC gets scrapped - so no need to skimp on the capacity. 480/500GB is cheap these days.


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## Chrispy_ (Sep 4, 2019)

Ebay!

£12 - Used Q9450 + free shipping
£8 - 2x2GB Samsung DDR2 800 (reliable brand pulled from a working PC) + free shipping
£13 - 120GB Kingston SATA SSD + £1.90 shipping

My HTPC used to be a Q9550 with a Radeon HD7850 and it was happy playing AAA titles from 2013/2014. It seems like little has changed since then:
Core 2 tested in 2019 - Rainbox Six Siege, GTA V, CS:GO, PUBG

Yeah, Core2 is dated and old. But it's not _worthless_. Spending under £35 to make it nicer to use for a couple more years is well worth the effort, IMO - especially if there's not the budget to replace it altogether. CPU and RAM are 90-second upgrades. Cloning or reinstalling Windows to the SSD is a bit more effort but time well spent.

If it were me I'd do a clean Win10 1903 install on the SSD and use the W7 key to activate it. I believe that's still a thing that works - maybe someone can correct me if that's no longer the case!


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## xu^ (Sep 4, 2019)

Thanks for the links Chrispy_ , definitely something to think about, what are the Q9450s like for OC ?


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## Chrispy_ (Sep 4, 2019)

xubidoo said:


> Thanks for the links zig, definitely something to think about, what are the Q9450s like for OC ?


I never OC'd my Yorkfield. I think you're likely to hit 3.2GHz though (it's an 8x multiplier, so 8x 400FSB on 400MHz RAM at 1:1 and you're set)

With a 750Ti holding everything back, I'm fairly sure you're going to be GPU-bottlenecked in any game demanding enough to push the CPU though. Most of the benefits will be from the 12MB of L2 cache and the 333+ FSB. Certainly if you're running at 266 right now a 400MHz FSB would make a non-trivial difference.


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## Valantar (Sep 4, 2019)

xubidoo said:


> Thanks for the links Chrispy_ , definitely something to think about, what are the Q9450s like for OC ?


As I said above I hit 3.52GHz on my Q9450 relatively easily, 24/7 stable for several years on my X48 Rampage Formula with a Hyper 212 Evo cooler. I think that was a 440MHz FSB speed. Can't remember where, but I got my voltages and other info from an online overclocking guide specific to that chip.


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## Tatty_One (Sep 4, 2019)

I went from a Q6600 (albeit with an 8200 briefly in between) to a Q9650 and they  were leaps apart in performance, 25% at stock, when you factor in the improved overclocking headroom and 45nm v 65nm (I got mine past 4.5gig with some help in these forums) then potentially you could be talking 35% improvement but to do that you needed the right board and ram but on most half decent boards 4gig plus should be doable.... on air by the way, if the OP is dead set against any other upgrades I would go for it if really £35-45 quid.

Very old thread of mine (ohhh the nostalgia!)...……… *post 109* 








						Q9650 Overclocking And Feedback Thread
					

DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A1: Auto DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A2: Auto DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B1: Auto DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B2: Auto  AI Transaction Booster: AUTO  CPU GTL Voltage Reference (0/2): Auto CPU GTL Voltage Reference (1/3): Auto  NB GTL Voltage: Auto SB Voltage: auto...




					www.techpowerup.com
				




But is that level of improvement significant in 2019?  No as some have already said.


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## XL-R8R (Sep 4, 2019)

I wouldnt mess with S775 stuff in this day and age - for £50 you could snag something like this ->  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CPU-Moth...-4Gb-DDR3-Gigabyte-GA-H61M-USB3V/123896276148

Pop in another 4GB stick as required for a couple of £ more (as its dual slot/one stick populated) and the i3 will handly beat a Q9650 @ 3.6GHz.



Edit for another combo: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Asus-A88...903420?hash=item2ad35fe47c:g:4MUAAOSwr-ZdTvRK


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## lexluthermiester (Sep 4, 2019)

xubidoo said:


> what are the Q9450s like for OC ?


They OC as well as the Q9650, but on a 400mhz FSB they only hit 3200mhz because of the multiplier. You can push the FSB higher but then you'll be overclocking the ram and other components.


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## Ripcord (Sep 4, 2019)

personally i would go the xeon route. i upgraded a system from a c2d  earlier this yea and it was able to play far cry 5 with no problems, it had a p5qle motherboard which is worse than yours with the same p35 chipset. adding the xeon cpu codes to the bios is straightforward as this was a thing back in the day and someone made an app that dose it all for you.


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## Hyderz (Sep 5, 2019)

whats the pc used for? 
ryzen 3 1200 + a320m motherboard and 8gb ddr4 combo = Should be around $100 from ali express. 
but the entire system is quite old, not even sure if psu can handle the new parts tbh


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## lexluthermiester (Sep 5, 2019)

Hyderz said:


> not even sure if psu can handle the new parts tbh


Rubbish. He would be going from a Q6600, a 105W TDP part, to a Q9450/Q9550/Q9650 which are all 95W parts. Unless the OP buys a super high wattage GPU, there will be very little extra strain on the PSU. Please do your research before you make comments like that.








						Product Specifications
					

quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.




					ark.intel.com
				











						Product Specifications
					

quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.




					ark.intel.com
				











						Product Specifications
					

quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.




					ark.intel.com
				











						Product Specifications
					

quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.




					ark.intel.com
				




People, the OP can do without all the disinformation.


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## Tatty_One (Sep 5, 2019)

My only comment about considering the Q9550 or Q9450 is (if my memory serves me correctly), unlike the Q9650 that has a 9x multiplier, the 9550 has 8.5 and the 9450 has an 8 multiplier, in order to get high overclocks (4gig to 4.5)you need a really good board capable of stabily delivering FSB speed overclocks in the region 0f 460 - 500 and there were even back then not all that many around that were reliable...….. 4gig+ should be doable on a Q9650 on most half decent boards but to get that with a 9450 with the 8 multi it's likely a very top end board would be required and whilst the OP certainly has a good one there is a little more risk involved.


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## xu^ (Sep 5, 2019)

a little update - Ordered and received the 4gb ram sticks Chrispy linked to above and all working fine with 8gb, altho I think overclocking may prove a little harder lol, but for £7.90 for another 4gb ram, I thought why not 

Also ordered and hopefully receiving a Q9450 tested/working tomorrow 

The settings I had for oc the cuurrentQ6600 are not working, no doubt due to the extra ram sticks, but hopefully I can get something out of it when the Q9450 arrives.

I know many of you think this is the wrong route to take, but for less than £20 I've got a small upgrade in ram+cpu which is all I wanted, not interested in having the fastest PC anymore and as long as it does what I want it to do, I'm happy. I may or may not go for a slightly better gfx card such as a gtx960/970 but again depends on the price ,thanks for all your help and suggestions , i may well be asking for some OC help with 4 sticks of ram, had a quick google and seemed its always been a bit of a tricky thing.


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## Tatty_One (Sep 5, 2019)

xubidoo said:


> a little update - Ordered and received the 4gb ram sticks Chrispy linked to above and all working fine with 8gb, altho I think overclocking may prove a little harder lol, but for £7.90 for another 4gb ram, I thought why not
> 
> Also ordered and hopefully receiving a Q9450 tested/working tomorrow
> 
> ...


That thread I linked from way back in my post #35 has loads of info around overclocking both CPU and RAM, although the thread is for the 9650, apart from your lower multi much of it will still be relevant, I think your board is in there too.


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## FreedomEclipse (Sep 6, 2019)

I had an Asus P5Q Pro and a Q9550@3.9Ghz for a long time so if you have any questions - feel free to ask.


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## Mussels (Sep 6, 2019)

for  £20 its not so bad, its when you were spending  £50+ that it was a bad investment


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## Hyderz (Sep 6, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Rubbish. He would be going from a Q6600, a 105W TDP part, to a Q9450/Q9550/Q9650 which are all 95W parts. Unless the OP buys a super high wattage GPU, there will be very little extra strain on the PSU. Please do your research before you make comments like that.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



so how old is the psu?


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## johnny-r (Sep 6, 2019)

I had a Asus P5k-pl se motherboard with a Q9650 CPU, there were great back in 2011/12, now an entry level 6/7th gen CPU like the Pentium G4560 or the new G5400 will outperform that CPU in many ways, just look at the average cpu mark scores:


			PassMark - Intel Pentium Gold G5400 @ 3.70GHz - Price performance comparison
		


it is long outdated now, go for new if you can afford otherwise look for a good 3rd of 4th generation Core i5 / i7, plenty bargains out there, example i5-4670 or i7-4770 or the K version. also lots of 6th gens going up for sale, lots of folks wants to upgrade to AMD Ryzen  

good luck !


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## Valantar (Sep 6, 2019)

xubidoo said:


> a little update - Ordered and received the 4gb ram sticks Chrispy linked to above and all working fine with 8gb, altho I think overclocking may prove a little harder lol, but for £7.90 for another 4gb ram, I thought why not
> 
> Also ordered and hopefully receiving a Q9450 tested/working tomorrow
> 
> ...


Sounds like a good deal  I f you go looking for a new GPU, be wary of fake ones. There's an abundance of old Nvidia GPUs out there that have been modified/hacked to identify as more modern ones, usually selling for "amazing prices" on eBay and the like. From what I've seen they're mostly GTS 450s and similar, but are sold as GTX 960s, 1050s, or similar. If a GPU deal is too good to be true, it likely is.


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## xu^ (Sep 6, 2019)

yes had come across these already, eg a gtx 1050 for £60 ,i thought it sounded a bit iffy lol,did a little checking and found much the same, lots of fakes with modified bios, etc , might not even bother yet ,will see how it goes when i get the CPU up and running.
Did a ram test for 12 hours and no problems so is all good there. It's been 10 years since i did anything like this apart from replacing my original PSU and original gfx card (GTX 260) , Finding it quite fun again, unfortunately funds don't allow for anything more than a couple of very minor upgrades.


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## Chrispy_ (Sep 6, 2019)

The market for used graphics card isn't great. You'd probably need to spend at least £75 for an ex mining card (RX470 or RX570 4GB) with a few caveats.

1) You need to be careful when buying a used mining card. If it's been BIOS-flashed it could be difficult to get working properly and may have been abused.
2) Your motherboard's most up-to-date BIOS update is from 2008. I would not be surprised if the BIOS that old fails to recognise and boot with a more recent graphics card.
3) How confident are you in your PSU? A 750Ti is a very efficient 60W graphics card. If you dump a 165W GTX 970 or 150W RX570 in there, you will nearly double the PSU load.


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## xu^ (Sep 6, 2019)

Chrispy_ said:


> What's your budget for a graphics upgrade?
> 
> There are a lot of 4GB ex-mining  cards from about £75 that are worth buying, though you have to be careful about what condition they're in.
> 
> Below that, pricing of used graphics cards doesn't seem very appealing - at least not in terms of a significant upgrade from the 750Ti.



Did see these mining cards on ebay, but had no idea what they were, not sure on budget really ,as  dont want to spend much but then wont get anything reasonable , and has already been said,this system isnt really worth spending much on.



Hyderz said:


> so how old is the psu?



About 3 years old now i think, 650w , forget the brand as cant remember without taking it out ,was a replacement for my old Antec 550w


EDIT- CPU just arrived, so time to start work


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## Chrispy_ (Sep 6, 2019)

xubidoo said:


> Did see these mining cards on ebay, but had no idea what they were, not sure on budget really ,as  dont want to spend much but then wont get anything reasonable , and has already been said,this system isnt really worth spending much on.
> About 3 years old now i think, 650w , forget the brand as cant remember without taking it out ,was a replacement for my old Antec 550w


Ah okay. If it's an 80+ certified model, even if it's only bronze-rated, a recent 650W PSU is overkill and will handle any modern graphics card.

Spending more money on a graphics card isn't a terrible idea because you can transplant a newer graphics card into the next machine. It's not a dead-end, discontinued platform like your CPU/board/RAM would be. At the same time, it's a gamble because anything you buy may simply be too new for your 11-year old BIOS.


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## lexluthermiester (Sep 6, 2019)

xubidoo said:


> EDIT- CPU just arrived, so time to start work


Nice, keep us updated.
BTW, the following should be of interest.








With games, it a bit hit and miss with current AAA titles, but everything a starting a few years ago run perfectly. Common PC computing tasks like browsing, office stuff and watching video's and whatnot should not be a problem.


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## xu^ (Sep 6, 2019)

CPU installed and working at stock values atm 2.66ghz, but unfortunately, had a bit of a hiccup with the cooler, managed to break a couple of the plastic tabs that hold it in place arghh!!
so after traveling all around the local towns, I managed to find a used stock s775 hs/fan, just couldn't find anything else. So overclocking probably not a good idea with that  while idling typing this, real temp is saying cores are between 39c - 41c, which isn't too bad, but not tried running anything yet.

Does anyone know where I could buy a half-decent hs/fan suitable for OC on my LGA775? , a bit confused with the newer ones as they seem to say they support 775, but they don't look the same... unless it's my imagination.

But anyway, at least it's up and running now eventually


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## agent_x007 (Sep 6, 2019)

To be honest, if it's high profle stock one, it should be OK for 3,2GHz OC.
Just set CPU Voltage at 1,25V and it should be fine.


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## lexluthermiester (Sep 6, 2019)

agent_x007 said:


> To be honest, if it's high profle stock one, it should be OK for 3,2GHz OC.
> Just set CPU Voltage at 1,25V and it should be fine.


This. And with a stock cooler you should be able to 1.275v if the CPU needs it on a 200mhz FSB without worry of over heating.


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## Tatty_One (Sep 6, 2019)

If you do want to replace your GPU on a tight budget , here is an open box/refurbished RX460, they come with a 6 month warranty for peace of mind, a 460 equates in performance terms to a GTX950 so substantially faster than what you currently have............….
https://www.box.co.uk/(Refurbished)-POWERCOLOR-RADEON-RX-460-2_2466863.html *£58.99*

Edit: Half decent S775 cooler* - *https://www.box.co.uk/(Grade-B)-Cooler-Master-Hyper-612-Ver.2-_2557284.html

Review...…………  https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cases_cooling/cooler_master_hyper_612_v2_review/1


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## dorsetknob (Sep 6, 2019)

xubidoo said:


> , a bit confused with the newer ones as they seem to say they support 775, but they don't look the same... unless it's my imagination.


They are Designed to fit multiple CPU's with a mounting kit






						socket 775 cpu cooler for sale | eBay
					

Find great deals on eBay for socket 775 cpu cooler. Shop with confidence.



					www.ebay.co.uk


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## Chrispy_ (Sep 6, 2019)

agent_x007 said:


> To be honest, if it's high profle stock one, it should be OK for 3,2GHz OC.
> Just set CPU Voltage at 1,25V and it should be fine.


Yeah, 3.2 fsb 400 is barely even overclocking by Core2 standards. That generation of 45nm is 3GHz 'stock' in the Q9650. You may not even need extra voltage if you're lucky!


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## agent_x007 (Sep 6, 2019)

Chrispy_ said:


> Yeah, 3.2 fsb 400 is barely even overclocking by Core2 standards. That generation of 45nm is 3GHz 'stock' in the Q9650. You may not even need extra voltage if you're lucky!


Catch is, if you don't know what stock voltage is set at (in BIOS), setting a of the head "locked" one that's too low is quite easy (Vdroop, LLC, etc. can make a reasonable BIOS Vcore value to drop below stable point). Regardless, it all ends with temps you get at load.
Higher Vcore = better stability, but it gets higher temps.
You simply have to make a compromise between speed/higher Vcore, and temps.
I mentioned 1,25V because it's a good starting value for any Core 2 class CPU.


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## dorsetknob (Sep 6, 2019)

You could look on ebay for a c2q extreme CPU (unlocked Multiplier ) and overclock that
ie 

 Core 2 Extreme QX68004 / 42.93 GHz8 MB1130WVT, ESS> Core 2 Extreme QX68504 / 43 GHz8 MB1130WVT, ESS> Core 2 Extreme QX96504 / 43 GHz12 MB1130WVT, ESS> *Core 2 Extreme QX9770*_4 / 4__3.2 GHz__12 MB__1__136W__VT_, _ESS_


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## agent_x007 (Sep 6, 2019)

But... he already bought Q9450 ?
Let's not waste money here.


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## lexluthermiester (Sep 6, 2019)

dorsetknob said:


> You could look on ebay for a c2q extreme CPU (unlocked Multiplier ) and overclock that
> ie
> 
> Core 2 Extreme QX68004 / 42.93 GHz8 MB1130WVT, ESS> Core 2 Extreme QX68504 / 43 GHz8 MB1130WVT, ESS> Core 2 Extreme QX96504 / 43 GHz12 MB1130WVT, ESS> *Core 2 Extreme QX9770*_4 / 4__3.2 GHz__12 MB__1__136W__VT_, _ESS_


You may have missed his earlier post. He has already bought and received a Q9450.


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## xu^ (Sep 6, 2019)

running the Q9450 @ 3.2ghz now , temps in the low to mid-40s while pottering in windows, played Left for Dead 2 for 15 mins and temp was around 50 - 52c  will try something that pushes the machine a little more later, but for now, it doesn't seem to bad, suprised it worked so easily tbh, was expecting problems with having 4 sticks of ram.

But at least it hasn't crashed or locked up so far which is always a plus


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## agent_x007 (Sep 6, 2019)

Default RAM settings on your memory should be 800MHz CL6.6.6.18 CR2T at 1,8V.
With FSB Termination at 1,2V or 1,3V you should be able to get 3,4-3,6GHz out of it.
Higher than that are probably memory limits (increasing DRAM Voltage and/or NB Voltage to make things stable again).


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## lexluthermiester (Sep 6, 2019)

xubidoo said:


> running the Q9450 @ 3.2ghz now , temps in the low to mid-40s while pottering in windows, played Left for Dead 2 for 15 mins and temp was around 50 - 52c  will try something that pushes the machine a little more later, but for now, it doesn't seem to bad, suprised it worked so easily tbh, was expecting problems with having 4 sticks of ram.
> 
> But at least it hasn't crashed or locked up so far which is always a plus


Excellent! Glad it working great for you! Tatty's earlier suggestion of the Hyper heatsink is a good one if you can afford it. If money is a bit more tight and the heatsink you have now continues to do well, perhaps a GPU would be a better next step in the upgrade path. For an upgrade on a limited budget;








						EVGA "Superclocked" Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 (2048MB) Graphics Card  | eBay
					

GPU Model: Nvidia GeForce GTX 770. (You'll just have to drop the settings a bit.).



					www.ebay.co.uk
				



While the same gen as your 750, the 770 is leaps and bounds a better performer. Anything more is going to be bottlenecked by the Q9450 as demonstrated in the video from Phil's Computer Lab earlier posted.
And at 45PB UK, it's affordable.


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## xu^ (Sep 6, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Excellent! Glad it working great for you! Tatty's earlier suggestion of the Hyper heatsink is a good one if you can afford it. If money is a bit more tight and the heatsink you have now continues to do well, perhaps a GPU would be a better next step in the upgrade path. For an upgrade on a limited budget;
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Thanks will deff have a look at that, is it really much of a jump from my 750 ?  , I've just run Wreckfest in medium settings and a solid 30-50 fps, never dropped under 30, so pretty impressive so far.
I don't expect this PC to run new stuff but is a couple of games I'm after 1 of which was Wreckfest, and the other being Age of Empires 2 - Definitive Edition, as well as my older stuff that I play now and then.


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## Chrispy_ (Sep 6, 2019)

xubidoo said:


> Thanks will deff have a look at that, is it really much of a jump from my 750 ?  , I've just run Wreckfest in medium settings and a solid 30-50 fps, never dropped under 30, so pretty impressive so far.
> I don't expect this PC to run new stuff but is a couple of games I'm after 1 of which was Wreckfest, and the other being Age of Empires 2 - Definitive Edition, as well as my older stuff that I play now and then.


GTX 770 is basically twice as fast as a 750Ti. 2GB is pretty limiting in modern games and it's not great performance per £ compared to newer cards - but the one benefit I can think of is that you know your motherboard supports 700-series Geforce cards with its 11-year-old BIOS version.


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## xu^ (Sep 6, 2019)

Chrispy_ said:


> GTX 770 is basically twice as fast as a 750Ti. 2GB is pretty limiting in modern games and it's not great performance per £ compared to newer cards - but the one benefit I can think of is that you know your motherboard supports 700-series Geforce cards with its 11-year-old BIOS version.



You have a point   ,I'm on the latest bios (flashed yesterday) and is dated December 2008  , may well be worth a go then if its that much better, just have to check if i have both a 6pin and an 8pin power connector on my PSU.


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## Valantar (Sep 6, 2019)

The main issue with newer GPUs isn't lack of support from them in the system BIOS (they're PCIe devices, so the BIOS should need nothing more than basic PCIe compatibility to recognize them even if they would naturally be limited to the motherboard's PCIe speed), but rather newer GPUs not supporting legacy boot modes and requiring UEFI boot procedures to communicate with the motherboard when the system is turned on. This is a relatively recent addition - my 2015 Fury X worked perfectly in my 2008 X48 board.


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## agent_x007 (Sep 6, 2019)

My GTX 1080 works on PGA 478 PCI-e board. I think not having legacy boot on vBIOS is not a thing (at least not in most GPUs).


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## Ripcord (Sep 6, 2019)

you'll will be happy i didn't realize that a q9xxx cpu was the same price as a xeon now so i think you went the right route. i think you will notice a difference mainly down to the extra cache memory that cpu has.

as for breaking the push pins on your cooler i have seen them for sale on ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Black-Wh...293745&hash=item23c48fa9c9:g:Wg8AAOSwov5c7eSZ


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## xu^ (Sep 6, 2019)

Ripcord said:


> you'll will be happy i didn't realize that a q9xxx cpu was the same price as a xeon now so i think you went the right route. i think you will notice a difference mainly down to the extra cache memory that cpu has.
> 
> as for breaking the push pins on your cooler i have seen them for sale on ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Black-Wh...293745&hash=item23c48fa9c9:g:Wg8AAOSwov5c7eSZ



Quite happy with it so far, been testing games and running a few benchmarks, much improved over what it was, Wreckfest is now playable on medium settings, whereas before it wasn't good, to say the least 

Thanks for that link, will definitely get those and hopefully bring my freezer pro back to life.


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## xu^ (Sep 15, 2019)

Another little update..

traded in my Gtx 750ti and £20 for a Gtx 770 
Plus got a 120gb SSD on the way, so happy days, should last me another 5 years now    Thanks to everyone for their advice and help, much appreciated when you've been out of the PC market for as long as i had.


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## theFOoL (Sep 15, 2019)

Heck I have a 775 build with a ASUS P5Q-EM (771 Xeon E5450 'bought on Aliexpress with Mod pre-done') and mine runs fine except the 750Ti which I'm going to replace with the 1050Ti 4GB


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