System Upgrade Advice

[Duff]Chef · 3 Dec 2010 at 12:12

Hi,

Looking to upgrade the rig below with new Mobo, CPU, RAM. Any advice is appreciate.

Current System:
Q6600 @ 3ghz
Asus P5Q deluxe
tagan Piperock TG700-BZ
GeIL 4GB PC2-8500C5 1066Mhz
XFX 5970 2gb
Intel 80gb SSD

Thinking of i7 950, 1366 mobo, 12Gb Ram. (would like Sata 6gb)

Questions are:

Is it worth it, or should I wait for any new products being launched? (Chicken and egg question)
Can anyone recommend a mobo, was thinking Asus R3E?
Will my power supply be enough, thinking of adding in a new 450gb raptor for a games drive combined with the items above and new kit?
Are there any other decent air cooled cases atm? Currently running an Antec 1200 which has been awesome for air cooling.

Edit** Forgot to mention, the system is used for gaming and work (photoshop / maya / StudioMax etc)

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

C

Hagar · 3 Dec 2010 at 12:27

6Gb ram should be enough 1600 OC. PSU should be OK with single 5970

ahenners · 3 Dec 2010 at 12:31

[Duff]Chef;17922078 said:
Hi,

Are there any other decent air cooled cases atm? Currently running an Antec 1200 which has been awesome for air cooling.

Silverstone FT02 is supposed to be pretty good. Looks cool too with everything rotated 90 degrees

[Duff]Chef · 3 Dec 2010 at 12:40

Any thoughts on the mobo option? feasibility of 1366 over newer formats?

cmndr_andi · 3 Dec 2010 at 13:19

You have a nice system now, tbh. If you want a new system with better CPU performance then an i7 (nahalem) system will be fast, but the next generation sandy bridge chips arrive is just over a month (January 9th), will be even faster and won't work in existing motherboards.

[Duff]Chef · 3 Dec 2010 at 13:42

cmndr_andi said:
You have a nice system now, tbh. If you want a new system with better CPU performance then an i7 (nahalem) system will be fast, but the next generation sandy bridge chips arrive is just over a month (January 9th), will be even faster and won't work in existing motherboards.

Cmndr_Andi, thanks for the info. So am I right in thinking there isnt much point in purchasing now given how close new architecture is to release?

skylineboy · 3 Dec 2010 at 13:53

seeing as your rig is very good (actually very very good) as it stands i think you would be best waiting then choosing your upgrade.

But don't let me tell you how to spend your money.

cmndr_andi · 3 Dec 2010 at 14:06

[Duff]Chef;17922775 said:
So am I right in thinking there isnt much point in purchasing now given how close new architecture is to release?

Yes, that would be my assessment.

Don't get me wrong - a current i7 system is very fast (I am extremely happy with mine). But Sandy Bridge is 10-20% faster clock-for-clock and is clocked higher at stock - so in CPU heavy tasks it will handily beat a current generation i7. So if you are in a position to wait - I would.