Hmmm upgrade my C2D to i5?

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Soldato
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4 Nov 2004
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Bought BF BC2 the other day and found out that my system really is a lot more ancient than I thoguh it was. Valve games run fine (TF2 etc), but BC2 is unplayable even on LOW with everything turned right down (1680x1050). Not a massive gamer anymore, but still like to be able to play games, plus lvoe to tinker and overclock.

Current:
E6300 (very slight overclock as gigabyte mobo is useless)
4gb Kingston ram
Gigabyte cheapy P31-DS3L
X1900XT (8800GT has decided to BSOD randomly a lot:()
Corsair 520W

Was tempted to just pickup a 5770 and see what happens, but as my E6300 can't be overclocked much with this board (used to overclock up past 3.2ghz on my RIP Asus P5B-D) I was tempted by a cheapy 2nd hand Q6600 or maybe even a Q9550. But that CPU won't be far off the cost of an i5 750, so I would only have to get some new memory and a new board on top and could gain back some funds from selling on my E6300, mobo, DDR2 and X1900xt.

So far looking at:
i5 750
Gigabyte P55-US3L (cheap overclocking + only want a single gfx)

Not sure on what memory I would need, but am lokoing for settling at a nice 3.8ghz overclock on the i5. What type of memory would I need as I'm only really familiar with DDR2 and C2D tech (but did build a simple i5 system for the parents) ?
 
1600mhz.

Its usually only a couple of pounds more than a slower kit.

You can use memory dividers to keep ram within specification, while pushing the CPU to silly speeds.
 
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Your mobo is not useless. I have personally had a E2180 to 3.6Ghz on a P31 DS3L and i have seen others on here with other cpu's, most notably a Q6600 also at 3.6Ghz. That board was a stonking board when it came out as it offered overclocking options normally seen only on much more expensive boards. I can't see how you are struggling with it.
 
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yes agree gigabyte boards are amazing for overlclocking - you must be doing something wrong perhaps with the ram you have (correct underclock ratios??)

i really dont think upgrading to the i series is worth it now, not with 6 cores well on their way.
 
You're wanting to improve game performance, but are looking at upgrading the CPU rather than your x1900?

Sort out the overclock, as people have said there's nothing wrong with that board, and spend the money on a decent GPU.
 
Cheers guys.

Well I just can't get the damn thing stable, and with it having a low multi I have to crank teh fsb which teh board doesn't seem to like. Might have another little play to see what I get.

I'm not just looking a replacing CPU, GPU replacement is the first thing, but was wondering how much extra I'l really get out of an i5 system or cpu upgrade as well as the GPU.

5770 sems great value so I'l order one of them ready for some heavy weekend gaming :D
 
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