I have core2duo PCs out the wazoo. I keep getting them donated to me from family members that upgrade and ask if I want the old stuff. I love making HTPCs and either using them or giving them away so I always accept.
Our bedroom HTPC, which is used on and off, is a Dell Precision 390 running on an E6600 (2x2.4ghz I think?). I have now in my inventory of spare parts 2 Q6600 chips, which is more or less the best the P390 could handle (can't go up to 7xxx or 8xxx).
I'm wondering if its worth the cost in heat/noise/electricity to upgrade or if it won't make any difference. This is a consumption only device (no transcoding) and it has a ATI 4350 GPU in it (so not a lot of CPU usage in things like blu-ray). The only thing I'd like to see is a bit of a snappier startup/WMC startup/snappier guide menu. The chip is free so the only tradeoff is the increased heat/noise and electricity use.
I'm leaning towards just throwing the Q chips on ebay and putting the cash towards a future upgrade when the Precision either dies or no longer meets our needs.
E6600 to Q6600? When do you stop upgrading your HTPCs?
-
hooraah
- Posts: 37
- Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2011 3:43 pm
- Location: West Palm, FL
-
HTPC Specs:
-
cwinfield
- Posts: 575
- Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2013 1:14 am
- Location: Monroe, NC
-
HTPC Specs:
Sounds like even a small SSD to throw the OS on will be the upgrade your looking for. The Q6600 gets pretty hot 105W and uses quite a bit of electricity, even using intel speedstep.
-
hooraah
- Posts: 37
- Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2011 3:43 pm
- Location: West Palm, FL
-
HTPC Specs:
Wow, I knew the TDP was higher but didn't know the Q6600 went all the way to 105W. The E6600 is 65W so yeah, that answers that for me, mostly because of the increase in fan speed that will have to happen for the increase cooling which adds noise.cwinfield wrote:Sounds like even a small SSD to throw the OS on will be the upgrade your looking for. The Q6600 gets pretty hot 105W and uses quite a bit of electricity, even using intel speedstep.
Anyone want a Q6600 chip?
-
mike_ekim
- Posts: 174
- Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2014 4:12 pm
- Location:
-
HTPC Specs:
I stop upgrading when I get to the point that debugging/troubleshooting isn't fun anymore. Sometimes I just wanna watch TV and not be an IT guy. 
Agreed, a SSD gave me a dramatic improvement in menu/interface response time.cwinfield wrote:Sounds like even a small SSD to throw the OS on will be the upgrade your looking for.
-
STC
- Posts: 6808
- Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2011 4:58 pm
- Location:
-
HTPC Specs:
*hides 95w Q6700*hooraah wrote:Anyone want a Q6600 chip?
Wow, this one is five years old now... time does fly. Still working like a champ, no need to update it.
By the Community, for the Community. 100% Commercial Free.
Want decent guide data back? Check out EPG123
Want decent guide data back? Check out EPG123
-
hooraah
- Posts: 37
- Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2011 3:43 pm
- Location: West Palm, FL
-
HTPC Specs:
The Q6600 chips I have say "Intel '05" unless I'm reading that wrong.STC wrote:*hides 95w Q6700*hooraah wrote:Anyone want a Q6600 chip?
Wow, this one is five years old now... time does fly. Still working like a champ, no need to update it.
Crazy. I've actually had the opportunity to upgrade some of my HTPCs many times to newer platforms that have come along (newer 775 boards, i3s, phenoms, etc) but then you have to do a reinstall, and setup mediabrowser, and all the network links, and credentials.....too much work for a little gain. I agree with you - as long as its working no need to update it. Thats why I especially like drop-in CPU upgrades where I don't have to rebuild the whole machine.