Thnking of Upgrading. Is now the right time?

jwhalley

jwhalley

jwhalley

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185
Hi guys,

Since my current computer built in 02 is starting to look like it belongs in a museum, I thought it might be worth upgrading.

With the Q6600 G0 stepping having rave reviews, i was thinking of going for that with something like the Asus PK53 motherboard (to allow for the possibility of getting a Penryn and/or DDR3 memory) with something like a GeForce 8800 GTC OC 320/640 video card..

However as always there is something just around the corner and thus i'm vary of upgrading. My two main issues are:-

1) Whilst the board can cope with Penryn DDR3, would i be better of waiting till Jan/Feb and get a penryn and ddr then.

2) When Intel goes 'native' with the Nehalem, am i right in saying that P35/X38 motherboards won't support these? If not, would it be better waiting till this new generation before upgrading.

3) Finally, the P35 doesnt support PCI-E 2.0. Would it be better going for a X38 motherboard to give the possibility to upgrade, or indeed wait till jan feb and get a X38 with nforce 700 gfx card then?

Thanks for your help
 
There's never a good time to upgrade.

I adopt a two year upgrade road path otherwise I'd be upgrading and wasting my money all the time. In fact, I've just upgraded. I've gone for what youhave selected. I know this will be fine for the next 2 years (minimum) regardless of what's around the corner.

I say, go for it.
 
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Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (DDR2 & DDR3) Motherboard http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-086-GI&tool=3&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913

+

Q6600 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-161-IN

+

2GB Geil PC6400 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-058-GL&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813

That's a damn cost-effective and decent upgrade imo, all you need to add is the upcoming 8800GTand a decent PSU like the Corsair HX520 and you'd have great machine which will last a good year and a half before you need to worry about upgrading it for more performance. :)
 
Thanks for the Quick informative responses. I am very close to splashing out. Just have a few more questions if you would humour me.

1) Since i plan to be overclocking my Q6600 to at least 3.2Ghz, i was thinking of going for the Crucial Balistix http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-093-CR&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=817 Do you know if the Gigabyte motherboard supports this speed of Ram, as whilst i am a big Asus fan, i have heard that the PK5C equivalent to the Gigabyte one is having trouble with ram faster than 800Mhz

2) With regards gfx cards, the 8800GTS is in my price range. However there are so many variants of it, so:-
a) 320MB vs 640MB. I do plan to get Samsung SM-245B 24", thus resolutions of 1920x1200. However the benchmarkings i have seen only show small advantages even at this resolution. Is it worth spending the extra 60 quid or not?
b) There seem to be different versions. Standard, OC, OC2. Is it worth getting an OC/OC2, or just getting the standard version and manually overclocking
c) Is it worth plumping out the extra 100 quid and getting http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-051-OK&tool=3 as i see at high resolutions GTX is showing a noticable increase over GTS.

Once again, thanks
 
1) Gigabytes are very stable and overclockable... it doesn't matter what stock speed memory you put in there the mobo will be fine running it up until the limit of your RAM/CPU capability.

2)
a)Wait for the new 8800GT to come out (it's coming out VERY soon), it has a marked performance increase over the 320MB GTS as well as a healthy 512MB of RAM http://myevilprocessor.blogspot.com/2007/10/geforce-8800-gt-512mb.html

b) Just go standard with a good brand-name (BFG) and overclock it yourself.

c) Personally i'd say not.
 
Cheers again Richdog.

Looking at the GT, whilst i have seen it beating GTS on benchmarks at low resolutions. The specifications indicate to me that at high resolutions the GTS would still have the edge. I think i'll wait for the benchmarks to be released and then either go with this or the new GTS coming out (though this would be a month's wait :()

Going for one of the newer chips would also suggest to me to go with an X38 motherboard seeing as they are both PCI-E 2.0 compatible.
 
jwhalley said:
Looking at the GT, whilst i have seen it beating GTS on benchmarks at low resolutions. The specifications indicate to me that at high resolutions the GTS would still have the edge.
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean there... the benchmarks show it beating th GTS at 1900*1200 with AA/AF so...
 
Ah yes, i see the benchmarks here....

http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=194951

...show it outperforming the GTS at high res.

Interestingly, the benchmark was done on a P35 motherboard which only had PCI-E 1.1. Have you seen any benchmarks with it done on an X38 board with PCI-E 2.0, as it could tempt me to go for an X38 if a large boost was shown.

I also read the release data for this was tomorrow, but dont see any suppliers such as OCUK listing it on pre-order.
 
Hi, as a follow on, as a whole, looking at getting something like this as a setup. Does it seem reasonable? Is there anything you would change? For example will the Noctua fans be adequate for an overclocked Q6600? Cheers for your opinions

Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 G0 Stepping
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler
Noctua NF-S12 1200RPM 120mm Silent Case Fan

8800 GT Graphics
Thermalright HR-03-PLUS (8800 GTX) VGA Cooler
Sharkoon Silent Eagle 1500 92mm Fan

Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU
3 xNoctua NF-S12 1200RPM 120mm Silent Case Fan
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
Samsung SM-245B 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor
 
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