So, I've just attempted to up the clock speeds a little on an AM3+ mobo running an FX6300. Didn't like that very much and now I'm experiencing regular temperature spikes and shutdowns. Tried most likely recovery options with no success, no visible issues with motherboard but until I come across another AM3+ MB I can't really check the CPU alone. Until such a time I want to continue playing some games, currently thrown together a system with a Q6600 and 650TI & 8GB 1066 Ripjaws, it's just going to do for now. My question is, would it be worth while picking up a Q9650 for the 775 and perhaps just upgrading to a 4gb GPU? Am I likely to get the performance required for average gaming? It's been a while as i'm sure you can tell reading this!
Your AM3 system is having issues even if you remove the overclock? You could, not sure if it would make a massive difference, depends what you play and what the performance is like at the moment.
Set back to the stock 3.5Ghz, bios reset to defaults, watercooled. The CPU was reading at a constant 90 degrees, I did actually try running a stress test but of course 20 seconds in it just flaked out and died. To be honest for now the most taxing game i'll be running is the TT: Isle of Man which is very taxing but I was below the system requirements previously anyway. I think it'll be alright but could be misjudging it and maybe it would make more sense to replace it with an 1156 setup instead.
No, it would not be worth it. Benchmarks done by a variety of sites show that CPUs from before Sandy Bridge (2600k, socket 1155 era) have a dramatic negative impact in games. Now given your relatively low need for CPU power one could make an argument for going used, however while you could pretty easily pick up a cheap relatively modern used CPU the problem is that used mainboards and RAM aren't anywhere as easy to find at decent prices. So I'd recommend going for a complete overhaul to something modern that offers a good value proposition like the i3-8350k or the i5-8600k rather than throwing good money after bad by attempting CPR on a system from a decade ago.
Still have a Q9650 in my retro rig for XP & 7 era games with securom, running at 3.6 with an FSB only boost on an air cooler that's rock solid. Not worth the upgrade over the Q6600. I jumped to it from a cheap pentium dual core and haven't regretted the purchase but can't say it's a good idea from a Q6600, even if it's cheap (it's a 10 year old CPU). It's a serviceable CPU for older games but for anything newer, as suggested go for at least a Sandy 2nd hand, it will last far longer. Having said that, most 775 mobos were DDR2. I have no idea what your ram is but if it's ddr2 you're best off going the whole hog up to ddr4 - even though it will cost you, it's the best long term option. Also, keep in mind that all 775 CPUs aren't getting Spectre/Meltdown fixes at all. Think that's Sandy and newer if it matters, hence the suggestion to go 2600k or better.
Looking like it's going to be a full upgrade then! To be fair, running the FX6300 & 4GB DDR3 I was fine playing most of the games that I do but it was seriously limited obviously. With the Q6600 I'm running 8GB DDR3 but I suppose I can only put it off for so long.
If you have DDR 8GB DDR3 is still viable (and fine on my laptop) - while I made a point of getting a 775 mobo with DDR3 support (worth it even though I got burned on the original sticks having a voltage of 1.8V, which don't work on anything else), my current Haswell build is also DDR3 based and I have no intention on upgrading it until 2020 at the earliest - Sandy/Ivy/Haswell are solid 2nd hand options if you need to save money by not buying DDR4 sticks but unlocked devil's canyon (haswell refresh) i7 CPUs are still £160+, which I'm not convinced is good value for a 4-5 year old CPU. Skylake and newer are DDR4 (with some budget Skylake boards being DDR3). The GPU is arguably something that may be more important but it's still being supported by nvidia - and if you're not planning on gaming much may still be OK.
Would I be mad in thinking then it's perfectly viable to pick up an i5 2500k, suitable 1155 board, keep my 8GB DDR3 and upgrade my GPU? I've been away for so long I don't really know what to expect as far as new releases are concerned and what sort of stresses they're likely to put on each component. I'm still shocked to the core when I hear people say some hardware is a decade old, seems like yesterday we were clawing to get our hands on it, but I suppose that's to be expected!
God no. I went from an i7 2600 with an R9 380 to a i7 4790k with an R9 380 and noticed no appreciable difference in computing. I suppose if I was regularly doing heavy rendering/ripping I would've noticed some improvement there but I already had SSD and plenty of RAM so nothing really changed for me. On the flip side I went from an R9 380 to a 1060-6GB and I noticed I was able to push demanding games to Ultra without a sweat. It doesn't even spin up the fans to do it. If you can get 16GB ram in the board you purchase you might want to do that, but if not ... meh.
In this case, I feel like sticking with an FX CPU is going to be fine for my uses, just adding a better performing GPU and more memory, sure it isn't going to stand up for years to come but i'm sure i'll be fine until next year. That is of course, assuming that it is just my board that bit the dust.
Finding a cheap 1155 board is going to be the kicker there... If you are going to get a newer platform than 775, I'd highly suggest looking into Ryzen 3 quad cores. They're only around £100 for a new chip, with a board and memory to suit. Far better value for money, and it allows for CPU upgrades if required.
My friend is happily gaming on an FX6100 and 8GB RAM with an R9 380. Granted for historical reasons he's on a 1280x1024 monitor though.
Yeah, this sounds more sensible than investing money moving from one ancient platform to a slightly-less-ancient but still EoL platform like Sandy Bridge.
If you want a serviceable, but cheap(ish) gaming rig to see you over until you're ready to commit to a proper upgrade, a budget B350 board and a 2200/2400G will tick the box - could be retired into a media PC/back-up machine that still contains the modern things you might need further down the line? Considering a 2200G can be had for under £80, and gives you the ability to game/have video output without a dedicated GPU, seems a no-brainer!
TBH, unless you're one of those weirdos who think that you have to play everything at 144FPS, a Q6600 is fine. Hell, I wish I still had my 920.
Can't really agree with this, I'm afraid. I upgraded from a S775 setup last year and I did so because it was really toiling with games like GTAV and even Shadow of Mordor. The exact same GPU plus a nice new i7 and said games absolutely flew. I think that if you have a 2500k or newer then you probably can manage fine with many games, but C2Q or C2D CPUs are pretty ancient beasts now.
