My motherboard of three and half years recently died so I've decided to go a head and upgrade my system as I'm going to need to install Windows 7 again anyway. So I've already got a Radeon 5870 sitting around being an expensive paper weight (hopefully my board dying hasn't taken it with it) so it's purely new CPU, new motherboard and new RAM to go with it. I had 4GB of RAM before along with a QX6700 so they're the baseline. Budget is on the generous side, anywhere between £500 and £750 quid and I'm looking for some decent overclocking ability. Oh and a new air cooler too as well. Whatever the best one out there is at the moment.
New core components
- Thread starter Kiro-San
- Start date
TBH those are still pretty good, I'd consider saving your money, grabbing a 2nd hand P45 chipset board (such as one of the Asus P5Q series) and a cooler and sticking with that until the next releases from AMD/Intel in less than a year.
Akasa Venom Cooler
Titan Fenrir Cooler
It'll hurt if you spend £500+ now then see shiny new stuff coming out in 8-12 months, unless you've already sold the chip & RAM, in which case Stulid's suggestion is fine.
AMD® Phenom™ II X6 and Intel® Core™ i7 Debate
Skim past any abusive posts . . . check the benchmarks . . . you may be able to save a packet £££
Skim past any abusive posts . . . check the benchmarks . . . you may be able to save a packet £££
Hmm I hadn't considered going for a different C2D supporting chipset motherboard. I must admit I am loathe to replace the RAM/CPU/cooler (doubly the RAM as it's new). Is a P45 based board the best bet for a S775 replacement? Obviously X48 was the high end Intel chipset and P45 the mainstream but is the premium (assuming I can even find a X48 board) worth it. Ideally I'd like quite a good overclocker given I have a multiplier unlocked CPU.
P45 would be absolutely fine for overclocking your QX6700. 
You should be able to pick one up for £40-60 depending on if you want one with crossfire.
X38 would also be a good option but they tend to be a bit more expensive and don't generally provide that much more in terms of features/overclocking.
X48 would mean you have to change the RAM for DDR3.
You should be able to pick one up for £40-60 depending on if you want one with crossfire.X38 would also be a good option but they tend to be a bit more expensive and don't generally provide that much more in terms of features/overclocking.
X48 would mean you have to change the RAM for DDR3.
X48 is out then. I probably wouldn't see any benefit moving to X38 over P45 so I'll just stick with that. Not a huge amount of P45 choice out there but I'm going to go brand new as the price difference isn't very big. Any board that stands out as a great performer/overclocker?