New q6600 system: recommendations requested!

simonjp · Rated PG Joined: 20 Jul 2007 Posts: 2

Hi all!

Would like to put together a Q6600 system (who wouldnt?!). For background my current core components are:

dfi lanparty rdx200
AMD Opty 185 @ 3Ghz with cnps 9700
2GB OCZ Gold 400 @ 466
SB Audigy4
Wifi card
Gainward 8800GTS
Nvidia 185
3x320GB sata + 1x120GB ata
1xDVD-RW
tagan 530w u22

This might be a bit overkill detail but you'll see why Smile

I plan the following:
Q6600
Asus P5K Deluxe
4GB ram (maybe 8GB)

Ok so here is what I'd like to know
- will the 530W be enough to take on a 3.2+ q6600 + 8800gts etc or should i get something bigger? am thinking of a tagan 800w.
- i want to do water cooling and think of the following:
-- danger den parts: TDX CPU block, 8800GTS block, D5 pump
-- there are also cheaper zalman parts - any good?
- suggestions for the ram parts...

was aiming to share a pump and radiator and to do two loops one for cpu and one for gpu, sharing a dual 120mm fan radiator. good / bad idea ? the radiator would be in a custom built holder outside the case, together with the resevoir and the pump.

alternatively i can do air to start with to cut down the Â£Â£Â£... any idea how good the 9700 is on the q6600? I dont seem to be too good at fitting them as my case and cpu run pretty warm (+50 idle for the cores on the 185 according to core temp as i write this).

also for fun, how much +% would a 3.2 give over my opt @ 3 ? (any guesses taken, but i estimate 20-30% in most things)

finally, roughly how much Â£Â£Â£ for the following bits & bobs:
the dfi motherboard
ocz ram
the 185
the cnps if i choose to get wet
Wifi pci card
SB audigy 4
and the u22 if i change it.

Thanks for any tips & responses in advance!

simonjp

acruxksa · Posted: Fri, 20 Jul 2007 18:51:17 Post Subject:

I can help you with some of this.
First off, your psu should be fine for the time being. I wouldn't use it for SLI or powering your water cooling setup though.

I had a cnps 9700 cooling my q6600 for several months and it did just fine. (1.35v @ 3.0 Ghz). It kept loaded temps below 60c which is what you would be shooting for.

I can't really say which hardware to get for water cooling, but Danger Den and Zalman are pretty well known. I would add Swiftech to the list and see what you can come up with. For cooling the GTS and the quad I think you would be happier with a 120.3 radiator (sized for 3 120mm fans).

I've had good luck with my current G.Skill ram (2 - 2Gb modules) but you should know that you will need to use a 64bit OS to take full advantage of 4Gb or more of ram. 32bit OS's will only use something between 2.8 and 3.5 GB depending on your systems other hardware.

A q6600 at stock speed of 2.4Ghz will show a 20-30% increase over a 3.0Ghz opty 185 in most benchmarks.

simonjp · Rated PG Joined: 20 Jul 2007 Posts: 2

Thanks for the response! I might skip my water setup for now as its a little cost prohibitive.. maybe early q1 i can think about that (After recovering from xmas!)
Thanks for the radiator tip; Swiftech did the 120.2 radiator. i can do 120.3 as well, it would still look pretty nice out the outside done well.

I've been using xp64 for over a year now (used to have 4gb of the ocz stuff).

Thanks again - good to know i'm on the right lines.

**Doctor Feelgood** · Posted: Fri, 20 Jul 2007 19:08:12 Post Subject:

Hi and welcome! Wave

Just to make sure you saw it, this thread has a bunch of good information, including other Q6600 owner's setups and what is working for them... LINK

sloth151 · Rated PG Joined: 11 Sep 2007 Posts: 5

Just got my new memory in today and overclocked to 3312mhz with a 368 FSB and 9X multiplyer. Memory is at 920mhz with a 1.25 modifier. Cpu at idle stays around 41c and has load temps into the high 40's. Vcore is at 1.3325V. Memory is at default 2.2v and remains at default 4,4,4,12 timings. I suppose I could push for more if I increased voltages, or relaxed memory timings or reduced the memory modifier. I assume the gains will be minimal. Perhaps I will try, perhaps not. So far 100% stable at these settings. Video card is at 630/1000.

OS Vista 32bit
Memory bandwidth in Sisoftsandra 7030 MB/s
3dmark 06 score 11456

Cpu: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz (G0 stepping)
CPU Heatsink: ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm
Motherboard: ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel
Memory: Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Video: EVGA 320-P2-N815-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB