Right well.....where do I start!?
System specs might will be useful I suppose.
Q6600 running at stock.
Abit Fatal1ty FP-IN9 mob (with a horrible nForce chipset)
2 x 2gb 1066 DDR2
H50-1 Cooler
2 x 8800gts 320mb in SLI
1 x 74gb WD raptor and other HDD's
650W OZC SLI certified PSU
All housed in an Antec Skeleton
Im a serious gamer. Budget will be a bit under £1000, but the less spent the better.
I want to upgrade, but im honestly not too sure which route to take. For definate ill be getting 2 x HDD's in RAID0 - not going to get SSD's as I cant afford one large enough to install all my games to. No point just having one for the OS as always loaded into a game.
Everyone, and myself included know the Q6600 is an AWESOME little chip, and its a great overclocker. Well not for me. I have an nforce chipset. The highest I can get it to is 2.79 stable. I know OC'd these can match an i5 chip easily. The graphics cards are getting a little dated now, and I need a bit of a boost. Yes I am an nvidia fanboi.
The options ive got down to are:
#1
Get a new motherboard (eg Asus P5q) and OC the Q6600 to 3.xxghz. Then get a rather large graphics card (Nvidia gtx 470). When next gen intel chips come out, do a mobo/chip upgrade and add another gtx470 in SLI.
#2
Same as the above option, but go for an Asus board that supports DDR3 ram - then I could use the RAM in the next gen build?
#2
Get a whole new rig. I7 920DO, mobo, DDR3 RAM, new PSU etc. However I wouldnt be able to afford the rather large card. Most prob have to drop down to the GTX2275 range. The plus side about this option is that I can sell my old rig for around £250 to put towards the cost.
#4
Someone hypnotises me and makes me go to ATI. Same as option #3 but I get a 5870. Or maybe even 2 x 5850 in crossfire for some naughty looks inside the Skeleton. (sell the 8800's on the bay)
Any spare cash I save will be going towards a 120hz monitor
Question - will an OC'd Q6600 be a bottleneck for a GTX470/5870/5850-crossfire? Will my current PSU handle a single GTX470, or 5870 with an OC'd chip?
I thank anyone for reading this so far - I just need to ask other people otherwise my head is going to explode being sat here wondering what path to take!
System specs might will be useful I suppose.
Q6600 running at stock.
Abit Fatal1ty FP-IN9 mob (with a horrible nForce chipset)
2 x 2gb 1066 DDR2
H50-1 Cooler
2 x 8800gts 320mb in SLI
1 x 74gb WD raptor and other HDD's
650W OZC SLI certified PSU
All housed in an Antec Skeleton
Im a serious gamer. Budget will be a bit under £1000, but the less spent the better.
I want to upgrade, but im honestly not too sure which route to take. For definate ill be getting 2 x HDD's in RAID0 - not going to get SSD's as I cant afford one large enough to install all my games to. No point just having one for the OS as always loaded into a game.
Everyone, and myself included know the Q6600 is an AWESOME little chip, and its a great overclocker. Well not for me. I have an nforce chipset. The highest I can get it to is 2.79 stable. I know OC'd these can match an i5 chip easily. The graphics cards are getting a little dated now, and I need a bit of a boost. Yes I am an nvidia fanboi.
The options ive got down to are:
#1
Get a new motherboard (eg Asus P5q) and OC the Q6600 to 3.xxghz. Then get a rather large graphics card (Nvidia gtx 470). When next gen intel chips come out, do a mobo/chip upgrade and add another gtx470 in SLI.
#2
Same as the above option, but go for an Asus board that supports DDR3 ram - then I could use the RAM in the next gen build?
#2
Get a whole new rig. I7 920DO, mobo, DDR3 RAM, new PSU etc. However I wouldnt be able to afford the rather large card. Most prob have to drop down to the GTX2275 range. The plus side about this option is that I can sell my old rig for around £250 to put towards the cost.
#4
Someone hypnotises me and makes me go to ATI. Same as option #3 but I get a 5870. Or maybe even 2 x 5850 in crossfire for some naughty looks inside the Skeleton. (sell the 8800's on the bay)
Any spare cash I save will be going towards a 120hz monitor
Question - will an OC'd Q6600 be a bottleneck for a GTX470/5870/5850-crossfire? Will my current PSU handle a single GTX470, or 5870 with an OC'd chip?
I thank anyone for reading this so far - I just need to ask other people otherwise my head is going to explode being sat here wondering what path to take!
