Thinking of purchasing a new processor

[TwwIX]

I currently have e4300 Allendale running at 2.66GHz. I could probably overclock even a bit further but i am worried about stability issues and i am somewhat tempted to get a new processor now.


I was thinking either the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale or Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield. Both good overclockers, i hear.

 

[giant384]

up the voltage at all?

 

[TwwIX]

up the voltage at all?

as in Vcore? Yes,i did. Currently at 1.3250v

 

[Barney Fife]

Once you reach where you're trying to go with your OCing (Your target, or the ceiling) whichever comes first, stress-test system (preferably with Prime95) for minimum of 8hrs (Usually, it means running P95 and going to sleep).
If the system isn't stable, P95 will halt the test. Then you need to do some more actual tweaking: CPU frequency, V-core Volts, CPU/RAM multiplier, CPU/RAM/Bus speeds, Ram timing and volts, PCIe speed, Etc. Whenever you do tweaking; run P95 again, until 8hrs of prime stable is achieved.

Good Luck.

 

[TwwIX]

I Am aware which settings i have to play with. I Am not that of a noob when it comes OCing a system.
By the way, i am using Orthos not Prime95 to stress test the cpu. It's practically the same thing just for dual cores. I just feel like it's time to upgrade to a better and more recent core.

 

[Barney Fife]

I was just trying to help. Maybe proofreading would help the situation. Your OP seems to imply rather different, or I misunderstood.

BTW P95 does also utilize dual-cores.

Good Luck.

 

[giant384]

ive heard that better ram can increase your cpu overclock.

 

[Asus]

What do you want to improve by upgrading the CPU?
Anything in mind or just upgrade because.

 

[jeepcartruck]

I'm also deciding between the E8400 and Q6600. I'm building a DAW so I probably won't be OC'ing much. It's hard to justify spending $60 more on a proc that's over a year old now.

Another thing is RAM speed. Without OC'ing the Q6600 (266MHz FSB), DDR2 800MHz RAM would be running 533MHz. To get my RAM up to it's rated speed, I would need to OC the Q6600 to 3.6GHz, which is too much when all I want is a stable system.

If I don't plan on OC'ing would the E8400 be the better choice?

 

[Operational]

If you are trying to decide between a quad core, or a higher clocked dual core as an owner of a quad core I'd recommend a higher clocked dual core. I've had my 6600 for about 10 months now and in that time hardly anything has taken advantage of all 4 cores.