I'm game, cant wait to see how it turns out.

Already talked to a seller that has a Q6600 and I will go get the processor later this evening! Only 15 euros!! I remember back then when it was launched it costed more than my entire system! 🤣 😁

Nice, the Q6600 was a very good cpu, once pushed to 3ghz its neck and neck with newer i3's believe it or not.

Sounds like an interesting build. Back in the day I had an E6600 with a 7900GTO GPU. Could only afford 2gb of RAM so I stuck with XP MCE and skipped Vista entirely. At the time I would have loved a Q6600 and more RAM so I think your suggested upgrades are spot on. My Dad bought an AMD Turion X2 laptop around the same time, which came with a free Vista upgrade. We held off updating it for a few years, only doing so when it was upgraded to 4gb RAM and a faster HD. Remember it running really smoothly and wondering where all the hate for Vista had come from.

Interesting to see here a Q6600 benchmarked against some current generation CPUs https://www.techspot.com/article/1313-intel-q … ater/page3.html

Got the Q6600 CPU G0 revision! Already installed but I think the temperatures are a bit on the high side using Intel stock cooler! Idle the BIOS shows 40 degrees and full load it shows 70 degrees which is too much! I couldn't find a period correct cooler so I ordered yesterday a Cooler master 212X cooler - the original version of this cooler appeared back in 2007!
Also got another 4gb of ram that are passing Memtest on their own however it fails when used together with the old kit! Problem solved yesterday by buying brand new 8gb of Corsair RAM with the same revision!
The hard disk is form 2006 and exceedingly slow with atrocious loading times so i decided to replace it with a western digital 1000gb black in order to speed up the system.This is one area where I think a compromise should be made and a SSD should replace the hard disk! Waiting for opinions 😀
The original PSU will do just fine but the case will be reserved for the socket A system so I am thinking of ordering a new case that should provide plenty of airflow for the hot running CPU!
The video card will be a major problem as I think geforce 7600gt will hold back the rest of the system; maybe a 8800gtx would fit here but this will be the last piece of the puzzle!

70 Degrees is fine... in Fahrenheit... 😁 No but Celsius is a little high indeed. I own a Q6600 @ 3 ghz and it does 45-50 under full load, whit a Scythe Mugen cooler on it. Cool and Quiet is my motto.

And Windows Vista... 🤐 I skipped it totally.

if you get a ssd and run vista you will not have trim unless if you use a 3rd party tool. Id use a velociraptor, they were some what popular back in the day before ssd's come down in price.

Jade Falcon wrote:

if you get a ssd and run vista you will not have trim unless if you use a 3rd party tool. Id use a velociraptor, they were some what popular back in the day before ssd's come down in price.

SSD may go against the "Also this build will try to prove that using the right hardware Windows Vista is as capable as its successor Windows 7 and that the “right” hardware was already available in January 2007 when Vista was released. " requirement.

Interesting idea though. I do think vista was a bit early, OK it can run on top end hardware of the era but really it should be able to run on middle ground stuff as well.
Year or 2 down the track hardware caught up, had it on my work laptop and it was ok.

A lot of vista's hate (including my own) was more down to the way things like v2 profiles and libraries for locations such as my docs, UAC, etc, etc. even changing over to 64bit.
By the time Win7 was out people/software had gotten used to this so was much better received.

Vista interests which is why I'll follow this, it doesn't deserve all the hate but doubt I'll ever have a system based on it. If I want a x64 system I'll go with Win7 or x32 WinXP

Cooler master 212x arrived and installed! Temperature now 40 degrees under full load! Can't believe the Intel stock cooler is so bad compared to an aftermarket one! I used a western digital 1.000gb hard drive to install Vista and is way faster than the old one - so no solid state drive! Also I installed and ran some benchmarks but I think the geforce 7600gt is holding back the rest of the system!

You could check out Maximum PC's 2006 Dream Machine if you're after more inspiration. They used a Core 2 Extreme X6800 and 2x 7900 GTX cards.

https://books.google.de/books?id=uAIAAAAAMBAJ … epage&q&f=false

Yes, I'd agree that the 7600GT is holding it back. Back when I had a single core Athlon 64 3700+, and it ran fine with a 7800GT "Superclocked" from EVGA, so with a Q6600, you certainly have enough cpu horsepower for much more powerful graphics.

2006 = 8800 GTX and QX6700 😀

Sorry AGENT_X007 but i already said that the machine will feature regular parts - so no QX6700 or X6800! The main reason is not the price - those parts are really cheap now but the TDP - they are all over 100W which for me is a no go!
I remember purchasing a geforce 8800gt in 2007; would it be OK to put it into the system? I have trouble finding a geforce 8800gtx! I know it would be faster than 8800gts.

nd22 wrote:

Sorry AGENT_X007 but i already said that the machine will feature regular parts - so no QX6700 or X6800! The main reason is not the price - those parts are really cheap now but the TDP - they are all over 100W which for me is a no go!
I remember purchasing a geforce 8800gt in 2007; would it be OK to put it into the system? I have trouble finding a geforce 8800gtx! I know it would be faster than 8800gts.

If QX is too expensive, go for Q6700.
Same thing as QX6700, but without unlocked multi and based on better/newer stepping (G0) [95W TDP].
As for TDP : You do know that Q6600 rev. "B3" has 105W TDP right ?

8800 GT is from late October 2007.
8800 GTS 512MB can be faster than 8800 GTX, BUT it's from mid December 2007.
To me it's kinda too late for 2006/2007 period... but that's how I see it - you do as you wish.

There isn't a lot of 8800 GTX because they die fast (high TDP + no 2D clock with low RPM fan on Idle and card themselves use shitty 1-st generation no-Pb solder). Basicly oven or bust at some point.
This is over 10Y old tech, that wasn't "long lasting" to begin with.

The Q6600 is the GO revision which has lower TDP and can overclock better - however I will not overclock any of my retro machines! For all intents and purposes at stock clocks B3 and G0 provides identical performance! Already I can say that in daily usage the machine is very responsive and has no slowdowns what so ever! Only games are severely limited by the 7600gt!
For the moment the specs are:
1. Q6600 G0 revision - final CPU!
2. Abit AW9D - MAX - with Guru clock - final motherboard!
3. 8 GB DDR2 - 800 Corsair with dominator fan- final memory!
4. cooler master 212x - final CPU cooler, the stock Intel cooler is downright horrible!
5. cooler master haf xb case that I ordered thinking the old Antec case provided insufficient airflow for the Q6600 - NOT final case, maybe some advice here would be nice! The points 5 & 6 don't change in any way the performance, just provide sufficient airflow for the CPU which is idling now at 34 degrees!
6. WD black 1000gb hard drive from 2008 - NOT final maybe I will change it with something older like a velociraptor!
7. Samsung DVD - final ODD!
8. 650W Corsair - final PSU!
9. Geforce 7600gt for the moment because I have trouble finding my old 8800GT or any kind of 8800GTX on the used market!

I feel tempted to point out that I am one of the few people I know of who never hated Vista. When I first got it, was in 2007, on my brand new Dell XPS M1730. To me, it always felt like an overall improvement over XP. It was stable, quick, looked awesome and just felt much more modern than XP. Sure, the UAC got a lot of ridicule in the press, but seriously, that was never a problem. You could disable it. And it's still present in Windows to this day. The funny thing is, I still use that laptop from time to time these days, and I still use Vista on it.

I found on local EBAY a 7900gtx 512mb! Would it be a good choice? How much difference in performance would be between a 7900GTX and a 8800GTX? If only 10% in direct x 9.0c games than I would seriously consider 7900GTX!

Sounds pretty awesome! I really wanted to use a 212 in my build but the socket location on my board is too high and it would interfere with the PSU.

Really looking forward to some pics.

nd22 wrote:

I found on local EBAY a 7900gtx 512mb! Would it be a good choice? How much difference in performance would be between a 7900GTX and a 8800GTX? If only 10% in direct x 9.0c games than I would seriously consider 7900GTX!

I'm pretty sure you're looking at 50-100% spread between the 7900 and 8800. The 8800 was a ridiculously big jump forward at the time.

That said, they really didn't last. I've got perfectly working older hardware (including a 7950gt) that work, but I actually just picked up on a lark an 8800gtx 768mb from the recyclers near my work for 5$ with the expectation it probably wouldn't work... And well it didn't post. Fan spins up and the motherboard seems happy but no video.