Old hardware question

[Ruru]

Q6600 & 8GB. When running stock, Q9400 is only 266MHz faster (2.66GHz vs 2.4GHz) but has less cache (2x3MB vs 2x4MB).

 

[holyprof]

As someone who have used both CPUs: my own with Q6600 / 8GB DDR800 RAM and in the office: Q9400 / 4GB DDR800 RAM with better timings,
I can assure you the system with 8GB was much faster in everything including: word processing, Excel, image processing (GIMP), video editing (the 10-15% cpu power advantage can't make up for lack of RAM) and gaming. Only things the office Q9400 PC beat mine was in synthetic CPU benchmarks that fit into the 3GB free RAM it had.
That was back in 2006. Now the operating system alone needs approx 2GB (at the time, windows XP was fine with 300MB) and most applications including browsers are much more memory hungry, and the webpages are much, much heavier than they used to be in 2006.
At the moment, my PC has only 2 tabs in firefox with nothing else running (not even antivirus) and allocated memory is 4.7GB (operating system + browser + disk cache). On the 4GB system you will already be experiencing swappig to disk and feel your PC slow and unresponsive.

 

[revin]

Back in my early days here there was a LOT of testing that I helped in with<P4EE3.4> and then my Q6700 and the ole Bliss and then the HD38xx and even up to 16Gb of ram it was Really sweet. But most of it was 4x2 Gb of killer 2.2.2.5 stix which I may end up tossing together the stuff for my grandson to fool around with.
And YES it did run Crysis
Go with more RAM you wont regret it

 

[8BitZ80]

8GB of RAM is the way to go, however I found that running four RAM sticks does affect overclocking stability. Although who cares, overclocking is more of a bonus than a requirement. I'm using a laptop right now with 8GB of RAM and even doing office work uses more than 4GB.

 

[E-Bear]

System is build and ready to go to good family.

 

[theFOoL]

Hmm might go to back 4GB (2x2) as if the 8GB (2X4) Could cause issues. Thanks for the tip but my system has the ASUS P5Q-EM though has the Xeon E5450 Modded CPU but Wish me Luck

 

[Liquid Cool]

I used to run those OEM boards from HP when I had no money. Not too long ago either. If it was mine, I'd just grab the Q6600, 8GB's of memory, a cheap SSD, and an NVS 300 graphics card with one of these psu's. I never used a case.

That combo got me through some pretty tough times(not that I"m doing any better now...).

Best of Luck E-Bear...,

Liquid Cool

 

[lexluthermiester]

System is build and ready to go to good family.

So what did you end up with?

Hmm might go to back 4GB (2x2) as if the 8GB (2X4) Could cause issues. Thanks for the tip but my system has the ASUS P5Q-EM though has the Xeon E5450 Modded CPU but Wish me Luck

According to ASUS, that board should be able to handle upto 16GB of ram;

P5Q-EM - Support

www.asus.com

 

[theFOoL]

So what did you end up with?


According to ASUS, that board should be able to handle upto 16GB of ram;

P5Q-EM - Support

www.asus.com

I know that I was just referring to the overclock. If the 2x8 was the issue but guess not I'd assume

 

[Ruru]

Also 4GB DDR2 DIMMs weren't really a thing for us consumers.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I know that I was just referring to the overclock. If the 2x8 was the issue but guess not I'd assume

Oh, I see what you're saying.

 

[E-Bear]

So what did you end up with?


According to ASUS, that board should be able to handle upto 16GB of ram;

P5Q-EM - Support

www.asus.com

Q6600 8 gigs ddr2 800 Thermaltake 430w, wd green sata2 16m 1 terrabyte and i put them windows 7

 

[theFOoL]

I can almost say Windows 7 even after the January 21st isn't going anywhere anytime soon. So many customization and modifications for the OS. Even after the date it'll probably still get updates regardless what MS says. mean I have my 775 Build with Windows 7 with modified themes and a boot logo (fish cycle ) just All this makes W7 great

I will edit this post with the theme, program to allow themes to Apply (you'll have to copy the theme to Windows / Resource Folder) and the program to allow wallpaper to the login screen

SOON... LINK

 

[Ruru]

Win2000 2003-2005
WinXP 2005-2009
Win7 2009-2015
Win8.1 2015
Win10 2015 ->

Not using 7 anymore (at least in systems connected to the interwebz), just because of its age.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Q6600 8 gigs ddr2 800 Thermaltake 430w, wd green sata2 16m 1 terrabyte

Intel IGP or did you give them a video card?

i put them windows 7

As far as Windows 7 goes, I'm a big fan. However, I'm also an expert/power user and know how to protect myself from threats on the net when support expires next month. These folks you're giving that PC to aren't going to have the same knowledge and skill. It might be best to get them Windows 10. Win10 Keys are dead cheap these days and are fully legit;

URCDKeys Xmas Sale: Get Genuine Windows 10 and Office 2016 at Up To 90% Off

As we head closer to Xmas, the Holiday spirit grows and so do shipping times, but not for digital goods! URCDKeys says that's never too late to stuff your virtual stockings with genuine, globally-valid software. With discounts as deep as 90% we can hardly argue with them. It's a great...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[johnspack]

Back in the day, I replaced my trusty e8400 with a q9450 at one point. Couldn't oc it as much, but the 4 cores made up for it. And also instead of win7, have you considered kubuntu?
It looks much like older windows with a start menu. Also lubuntu, which will run in 500mbs ram and also looks like windows. With wine it will run most older win apps and games.

 

[E-Bear]

Intel IGP or did you give them a video card?


As far as Windows 7 goes, I'm a big fan. However, I'm also an expert/power user and know how to protect myself from threats on the net when support expires next month. These folks you're giving that PC to aren't going to have the same knowledge and skill. It might be best to get them Windows 10. Win10 Keys are dead cheap these days and are fully legit;

URCDKeys Xmas Sale: Get Genuine Windows 10 and Office 2016 at Up To 90% Off

As we head closer to Xmas, the Holiday spirit grows and so do shipping times, but not for digital goods! URCDKeys says that's never too late to stuff your virtual stockings with genuine, globally-valid software. With discounts as deep as 90% we can hardly argue with them. It's a great...

www.techpowerup.com

So buy me one key and send to me in PM. I will gladly install it for them.

Back in the day, I replaced my trusty e8400 with a q9450 at one point. Couldn't oc it as much, but the 4 cores made up for it. And also instead of win7, have you considered kubuntu?
It looks much like older windows with a start menu. Also lubuntu, which will run in 500mbs ram and also looks like windows. With wine it will run most older win apps and games.

If I need replace the OS I will go with Zorin 15 which is a copy of Windows 7 but with baseof Linux.