Hefty Upgrade (~£700)

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Hey guys

I've decided to give my rig a big overhaul, since it's been about two years since the last big upgrade, and there are some very sexy games on the horizon. Currently using an amd 4400+ and a geforce 8800gtx (which I only got recently, and obviously won't need to be replacing). Part of the reason I want to upgrade is because I'm getting the impression that my cpu is being a rather big bottleneck in recent games, as my fps isn't really up to 8800gtx standard a lot of the time.

So, what started with a "I need a new CPU" has turned into "**** it, I'll just buy half a new PC". Here's where I'm at:
spectl2.jpg


Basically my big concerns right now are:
*Will the heatsink fit on the mobo and in the case (without having to take off the 4-fan-sidepanel on the 832)? I was looking at a Zalman 9700 to begin with but it seems pretty unlikely that it'll fit.

*I'm going for a DDR2/DDR3 board thinking it will save me money and effort in the future, when I'm looking to get ddr3 ram. Is that wise? Or will I probably be buying a new mobo by the time I need ddr3?

*Spent the last couple of months trying to decide between the q6600 and th e6850, and ended up with this. I'm going to be using it for gaming mostly, besides that it's just going to be web browsing, etc, as well as some programming. So I'm thinking, get a nice 4gig dual core clock for now, and in a couple of years I'll be able to upgrade to a high-end quad when it'll probably be more of a requirement.

*The Raptor I'm not entirely sure about, but it sounds pretty handy. I've already got 1tB of storage across 3 hard drives, so I was thinking that a relatively small raptor drive might be a good place to freshly install Vista onto, giving the new OS a nice clean start. Reason I'm going with the new case is because my current Wavemaster has 3 of the 4 hard drive bays filled, and the 4th one is taken up by the freakishly large 8800gtx. So, the new case will give me a bit more room for expansion, hopefully.

Appreciate any reassurance/mockery, hopefully going to finalize the build in the next day or so and get it sent off. Cheers all!
 
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Cerzi said:
Basically my big concerns right now are:
*Will the heatsink fit on the mobo and in the case (without having to take off the 4-fan-sidepanel on the 832)? I was looking at a Zalman 9700 to begin with but it seems pretty unlikely that it'll fit.
The Noctua is not really that big compared to some of the other often-specced coolers. I have one in my Wavemaster with room to spare if that helps you visualise the size.

Cerzi said:
*I'm going for a DDR2/DDR3 board thinking it will save me money and effort in the future, when I'm looking to get ddr3 ram. Is that wise? Or will I probably be buying a new mobo by the time I need ddr3?
I imagine it'll be at least a year before DDR3 becomes cheap enough to consider. Maybe someone will argue with that, but that might help you decide. Either way you can't really go wrong.

Cerzi said:
*Spent the last couple of months trying to decide between the q6600 and th e6850, and ended up with this. I'm going to be using it for gaming mostly, besides that it's just going to be web browsing, etc, as well as some programming. So I'm thinking, get a nice 4gig dual core clock for now, and in a couple of years I'll be able to upgrade to a high-end quad when it'll probably be more of a requirement.
Similar argument to the RAM I think. Another year and quad will be nicely supported; again your choice is fine.

Cerzi said:
*The Raptor I'm not entirely sure about, but it sounds pretty handy. I've already got 1tB of storage across 3 hard drives, so I was thinking that a relatively small raptor drive might be a good place to freshly install Vista onto, giving the new OS a nice clean start. Reason I'm going with the new case is because my current Wavemaster has 3 of the 4 hard drive bays filled, and the 4th one is taken up by the freakishly large 8800gtx. So, the new case will give me a bit more room for expansion, hopefully.
I haven't used a Raptor but I wouldn't buy one because I haven't heard a good enough argument for the really big price mark-up. That's obviously a pretty subjective reason and if you are happy to pay the money, go for it.
Finally, please tell me you are going to use the Wavemaster somehow, or at least give it a good send-off :(
 
mmmalas said:
for the same amount of money, you can get q6600, next gen games will be utilizing the extra cores like alan wake
Yes, they might use the extra cores but is there going to be a noticeable difference when compared to the E6850? I'd doubt it very much - I'm sure the graphics card will still be the limiting factor.
 
the noctua has an official mobo compatibility list at: http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_nh_u12f&lng=en and it works with all types of p5k, and the few mhz u get on a dual wont be noticable in none multithreaded programs, but in multithreaded ones, the quad will be much better. and when ddr3 is affordable, the 45nm cpu's and x38 etc will be out so not much point in getting a ddr3 mobo now because the affordable ddr3 will probably be too new to work on the current p35 mobos
 
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Thanks guys, plenty of food for thought.

Like I say, I don't really have a problem with storage space at all (and won't for a long time), so couldn't justify another 500gig drive at 7200rpm, which is why a 72gig one at 10000rpm is more appealing- enough space to keep Vista on, and a few of my favourite, longest-loading games. Any extra space would be wasted, really.

As for the fans, I've heard others say the Zalmans are pretty loud, too... The Akasa ones are a tiny bit cheaper too so I can justify buying an extra one (bringing my total to 6 case fans, hah - maybe overkill, but the 832 has room for 9 in total so may as well make use of some of them).

I've read countless threads about the e6850 v q6600 debate, and I'm 90% sure I want the dual core. I won't be using it for encoding, and despite all these claims that multi-threaded games will run considerably better on the q6600, the current state of things (ie. supreme commander) appears to be the opposite, with the e6850 outperforming.

I also got my 4400+ about two years ago with future-proofing in mind, and two years on the only game to have really benefitted from it is SupCom, which was only released about 6 months ago. So I spent 18 months with a CPU that really wasn't being used properly, and in hindsight I think I would've been better off going with a much cheaper single-core and just upgraded to a dual core a few months ago to play SupCom. With that in mind, I'm thinking that getting a Q6600 now would be like making the same mistake all over again; in two years time when I next need to upgrade my CPU, will I be frustrated that a dual core has been outperforming my quad for the majority of the time, and that the whole concept of futureproofing was a waste of time and money?

As for the wavemaster, I'll probably be selling it, has served me well though. Just the 8800gtx has bullied it out of my favour!

Oh, one other thing: I've been running on an Enermax Noisetaker 600W for about a year now, I'm assuming that this PSU will be fine handling the new kit? (will be running 4 hard drives total, 6 case fans, mobo, gfx, cpu, wintv, wireless card, x-fi)
 
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Cerzi said:
Like I say, I don't really have a problem with storage space at all (and won't for a long time), so couldn't justify another 500gig drive at 7200rpm, which is why a 72gig one at 10000rpm is more appealing- enough space to keep Vista on, and a few of my favourite, longest-loading games. Any extra space would be wasted, really.

would say to have a scout round for a drive cage to reduce the noise from it :)
 
Cerzi said:
*I'm going for a DDR2/DDR3 board thinking it will save me money and effort in the future, when I'm looking to get ddr3 ram. Is that wise? Or will I probably be buying a new mobo by the time I need ddr3?

That version of the motherboard is DDR2 only, you need the P5KC if you want support for both.
 
Tripnologist said:
Most of them do. It doesn't mean it's good thermal compound.
The Noctua compound is decent: no difference between that and the AS when I tried both. You get a full tube of it too rather than it being pre-applied which is nice (well, nice depending on whether you like to do it yourself or not).

Edit: forgot to comment on it the first time round: the Zalman fans are noisy. I switched from three Zalmans to three Nexus fans and the difference was really really noticeable. Best and cheapest upgrade I'd made in a long time actually :D
 
Growlingfish said:
Yes, they might use the extra cores but is there going to be a noticeable difference when compared to the E6850? I'd doubt it very much - I'm sure the graphics card will still be the limiting factor.

Depends what games you play, if it's fps games (which don't use huge ammounts of physics calculations) then the cpu you have opted for would be best..

If you play more RTS games (supreme commander comes to mind ;)) then the quad will show you a significant increase...
 
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