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Ancient System - upgrade time?

benlanky

benlanky

benlanky

Associate
Joined
1 Aug 2005
Posts
477
Evening

As you can see from my sig, I haven't changed much in my system for about 2 years, so it is getting a bit ancient.

I have been playing BF3 and MW3, but spend more time on BF2 than anything else... Alan Wake is on its way to me now and I'm tempted by the 6850 deals that are on at the moment.

Looking at a comparison (http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/539?vs=513) I am going to see a huge difference, but will the rest of my system cope and is it worth the bother?

I use a Samsung 22" screen and a secondary Sony 19"" too.

Thanks, I think I just need a nudge ;)
 
benlanky said:
Evening

As you can see from my sig, I haven't changed much in my system for about 2 years, so it is getting a bit ancient.

I have been playing BF3 and MW3, but spend more time on BF2 than anything else... Alan Wake is on its way to me now and I'm tempted by the 6850 deals that are on at the moment.

Looking at a comparison (http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/539?vs=513) I am going to see a huge difference, but will the rest of my system cope and is it worth the bother?

I use a Samsung 22" screen and a secondary Sony 19"" too.

Thanks, I think I just need a nudge ;)
Click to expand...

Is your Q6600 clocked?
 
6850 will be fine mate, I had a Q6600 with a 5870 which is a faster card in at 3Ghz and didn't bottleneck the card. Just remember CPU limited games will always run slower on a slower CPU and GPU limited games will always push the limit of the graphics cards.

They do seem a good price I see but have you thought about maybe a 2nd hand 5870 on the members market ? They are selling for around £90-100 now. Also you could even stick a GTX 480 in that system too if you need more power, but not worth sticking anything higher than a GTX 480 with a Q6600. Just make sure your PSU is upto the job if you decide on a GTX 480. I know the 4870's were power hungry cards too.
 
Lol @ Calling a Q6600 based rig "ancient".

It'll be fine, my backup rig is a q6600 with a GTX 460 and it still plays 90% of what I throw at it in acceptable framerates at 1080p.
 
Well, it seems ancient with all the recent developments in processors, but I can still play everything on it :)

I'll have a look for 5870s too, but I was attracted by the supposedly low noise and power consumption of the 6850 too, the 4870 sounds like a helicopter and uses almost as much fuel!

I need to look at the clocking on the Q6600 again too, as it doesn't seem to be running at 3.1 at all......
 
benlanky said:
Well, it seems ancient with all the recent developments in processors, but I can still play everything on it :)

I'll have a look for 5870s too, but I was attracted by the supposedly low noise and power consumption of the 6850 too, the 4870 sounds like a helicopter and uses almost as much fuel!

I need to look at the clocking on the Q6600 again too, as it doesn't seem to be running at 3.1 at all......
Click to expand...

I've been running a Q6600 @ 3.6 for the last three years, and there still isn't a game I run that is CPU bound. Longest time I've ever had a CPU in twenty + years of having a PC.
 
That's why I went for a Q6600 as I thought it would outlast most other processors and it has, so far. I need to have a good look at the overclocking before doing anything else, but it looks like the 6850 would be a good upgrade.
Now off to trawl for a relevant Q6600 overclocking guide......
Thanks
 
benlanky said:
That's why I went for a Q6600 as I thought it would outlast most other processors and it has, so far. I need to have a good look at the overclocking before doing anything else, but it looks like the 6850 would be a good upgrade.
Now off to trawl for a relevant Q6600 overclocking guide......
Thanks
Click to expand...

To start with just try changing the FSB, then monitor temps with something like core temp.

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/
 
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