What to spend my money on?!

Silenced

Silenced

Silenced

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Hey OcUK,

I'm trying to think what the hell I should spend my money on.

My current rig is -

Q6600 2.4GHz
HD4870 1GB
San Francisco 2 Mobo (I think)
3GB 266MHz RAM

Now, I was wondering, what should I get, should I get a new heatsink for my CPU to cool it more, 70c isn't to my liking with the stock one to be honest. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-029-AR

OR, should I buy a cheap graphics card until my PSU that can power my 4870 returns (Should return by Fridayish)

OR, should I buy a new motherboard as mine is stock and has very strange connections, since it was built for the PC that I had as a pre-built. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-058-DF&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1155 is the motherboard and http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-149-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=817 as RAM for it.

I'm really lost what to get for the moment. I have about £140 that I can spend, I'm really thinking of getting the mobo and ram, but I'm unsure for the moment as I'll need to install 64-Bit Windows.

Any help OcUK?
 
Silenced said:
I'm really lost what to get for the moment. I have about £140 that I can spend, I'm really thinking of getting the mobo and ram, but I'm unsure for the moment as I'll need to install 64-Bit Windows.

Any help OcUK?
Click to expand...

You don't have to install 64 bit windows jsut because your getting 4 gig of memory. It just means windows won't recognise 0.7 gig of it - it's no biggy.

If you were going to get the new mb and memroy, i would still get a new HSF too just so that you can clock the cpu comfortably - more bang for your buck and it will give you a better understanding of your mobo settings in the process.
 
Plec said:
You don't have to install 64 bit windows jsut because your getting 4 gig of memory. It just means windows won't recognise 0.7 gig of it - it's no biggy.

If you were going to get the new mb and memroy, i would still get a new HSF too just so that you can clock the cpu comfortably - more bang for your buck and it will give you a better understanding of your mobo settings in the process.
Click to expand...

Well yea, I know you don't have to, but I'd really rather be able to use all of it. Just the annoyance is to re-install all of my other programs.

Ok, one question, what is a HSF? I'm guessing it's the Heatsink, and yea, about that, I'm unsure if I want to even overclock since it will decrease the lifespan and void warranty wont it? Also, I don't want to break it xD
 
If money is tight this is cheaper than the HSF you were looking at and gives great results - just be wary of the fitting; i found it a complete b*tch to put on.

My temps are 22 idle and i haven't seen it go above 35 loaded - i even used the pre-applied paste. I did intend to change it after the sytsem was stable but it was so hard to get on and as my temps are great that i'm never taking it off unless i really have to!

Edit: You wont break your chip if your sensible about your target clock - you can even keep your stock voltages at low clocks. There's no danger of breaking your chip at low clock speeds especially if keeping stock voltages - and you wont affect your warranty. The worst is that you shorten it's life span - marginally. It's only risky when attempting big overclocks and large voltage increases - and even then, if the temps are stable, most will probably last longer than you're prepared to live with them.
 
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mjones1 said:
HeatSinkFan.
How is your cpu running so hot on stock clocks?
Click to expand...

I have no clue, that is how it's always ran, it's on stock fan and heat sink too.

Plec said:
If money is tight this is cheaper than the HSF you were looking at and gives great results - just be wary of the fitting; i found it a complete b*tch to put on.

My temps are 22 idle and i haven't seen it go above 35 loaded - i even used the pre-applied paste. I did intend to change it after the sytsem was stable but it was so hard to get on and as my temps are great that i'm never taking it off unless i really have to!

Edit: You wont break your chip if your sensible about your target clock - you can even keep your stack voltages at low clocks. And you wont affect your warranty.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I think I will get the Arctic one, as it is on special, special always makes me feel like I'm getting better value for money.

And hmm, what would be a sensible target from 2.4GHz? 3GHz? That would probably give a big speed boost too.
 
Silenced said:
And hmm, what would be a sensible target from 2.4GHz? 3GHz? That would probably give a big speed boost too.
Click to expand...


It's a lottery overclocking there are a lot of factors involved - the cpu's ability to clock, mb, memory, and your ability to balance your BIOS settings.

Having said all that if you go for a modest clock you may only have to change the vCore voltage and watch your memory timings - read overclocking sticky. I would look for 2.8Ghz to 3Ghz, for someone like you, as this should be easily attained without any hassles - I stress should be.
 
Plec said:
It's a lottery overclocking there are a lot of factors involved - the cpu's ability to clock, mb, memory, and your ability to balance your BIOS settings.

Having said all that if you go for a modest clock you may only have to change the vCore voltage and watch your memory timings - read overclocking sticky. I would look for 2.8Ghz to 3Ghz, for someone like you, as this should be easily attained without any hassles - I stress should be.
Click to expand...

Hmm, reading that, it seems very complicated, which is why I don't really want to.
 
Obviously, if your not comfortable don't do it - peace of mind is far better.

EDIT: but if you change your mind it's not difficult and there are plenty of people on the forums who would be willing to guide you through it, once you've looked at the sticky. The sticky is important as it will help you ask the right questions if you run into problems - even if you have difficulty understanding it - it can be confusing thread to someone totally new to the process.

Good luck with what ever you decide on - the upgrade would be good experience for you and it's probably worth that alone.
 
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"HeatSink & Fan"

I'd spend £30 on a decent cooler to bring your temps down nicely - 70 is a little warm for my liking.

An extreme overclock will reduce your CPU lifespan, but bumping it up to 3gHz with a new cooler won't do it any harm. Intel rate their CPUs at something like 60-80 years - even if it halfs the lifespan, the chip will be gone long before that.

Think of it as a free 30% faster CPU :-0
 
Plec said:
Obviously, if your not comfortable don't do it - peace of mind is far better.

EDIT: but if you change your mind it's not difficult and there are plenty of people on the forums who would be willing to guide you through it, once you've looked at the sticky. The sticky is important as it will help you ask the right questions if you run into problems - even if you have difficulty understanding it - it can be confusing thread to someone totally new to the process.

Good luck with what ever you decide on - the upgrade would be good experience for you and it's probably worth that alone.
Click to expand...

Well yea, I think I'll have a look at my tempuratures when and if I get the HSF.

Audigex said:
"HeatSink & Fan"

I'd spend £30 on a decent cooler to bring your temps down nicely - 70 is a little warm for my liking.

An extreme overclock will reduce your CPU lifespan, but bumping it up to 3gHz with a new cooler won't do it any harm. Intel rate their CPUs at something like 60-80 years - even if it halfs the lifespan, the chip will be gone long before that.

Think of it as a free 30% faster CPU :-0
Click to expand...

Ok, well, thats a nice piece of information to know, I think I might see my temps and then I'll decide from that.


So what do you think I should get, should I get the HSF for now and then the mobo and the RAM later, or should I get it the other way around? As the HSF is on offer and so is the RAM I might just get that now.
 
Heatsink first. If you find it doesn't lower your temps enough then there's no point overclocking anyway.

RAM can be now or later - that OCZ stuff is tempting though!
 
Audigex said:
Heatsink first. If you find it doesn't lower your temps enough then there's no point overclocking anyway.

RAM can be now or later - that OCZ stuff is tempting though!
Click to expand...


Yea, I knew HSF first. And yea, thats a point.

Also, I'm thinking RAM now just because it's on offer, getting so tempted, need 250 posts before I do it, I'm not paying £11 for postage!
 
Yeah - I'm waiting for tomorrow to place my order xD

Shame there isn't an 80 day/300 post and 120day/200 post option, then we'd both be sorted xD

That ram is very cheap, if you have the £33 I'd go for it now.
 
Audigex said:
Yeah - I'm waiting for tomorrow to place my order xD

Shame there isn't an 80 day/300 post and 120day/200 post option, then we'd both be sorted xD

That ram is very cheap, if you have the £33 I'd go for it now.
Click to expand...

Lol, I hopefully will be done by tomorrow or Monday.

And yea, I have the money, I'm going to go for it soon.
 
cant really break anything overclocking if you raise the values in "small steps" (usually up 1 notch at a time)
computer will only: freeze, bluescreen or not boot into windows this just means its not "stable" yet. you still should be able to access the bios at the start to change settings... 99% nothing will break or be damaged, simply putting back to stock settings or adjusting your overclock settings pc will be running ok with no harm done.

the trick is find the right balance of bios overclock settings, usually its just check/unlink ram and raise FSB value example your q6600 is 1066 FSB just raise it to 1333 "slowly", maybe up a notch or 2 on the cpu volts as a last resort to get stable, all this is for a sensible overclock:)

definitely need better cooling thou
 
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ShaolinDreams said:
cant really break anything overclocking if you raise the values in "small steps" (usually up 1 notch at a time)
computer will only: freeze, bluescreen or not boot into windows this just means its not "stable" yet. 99% nothing will break or be damaged, simply putting back to stock settings or adjusting your overclock settings pc will be running ok with no harm done.

the trick is find the right balance of bios overclock settings, usually its just check/unlink ram and raise FSB value example your q6600 is 1066 FSB just raise it to 1333 "slowly", maybe up a notch or 2 on the cpu volts as a last resort to get stable, all this is for a sensible overclock:)

definitely need better cooling thou
Click to expand...

Ok, that gives me more confidence. Firstly I want to get a new mobo, mine is crap right now.

I will give it a go soon, only need a little more money.
 
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