I've had my system for quite a while now and it's served me well. I managed to resist the rush into C2D as if I'm honest I don't game as much as I used to and that was the main reason I used to upgrade. My current system is:
Opty 165 @ 3Ghz
2 GB Ram
Sli'd 256MB 7800GTX's
Seasonic 600W PSU
74GB Raptor + 320GB 16MB Cache storage
120.3 Thermochill Rad, 5/14 bay res
Laing D4 V2 pump
DD blocks on CPU (RBX) and GFX (NV78) cards
Antex Amber fans all on fan controllers
Audigy 2 ZS soundcard
All wrapped up in a Lian Li PC70B
Now I'm running a Dell 2407 screen with this so 1920x1200 res is what I like to see from my games if possible. Of late that hasn't been possible and it's only just "acceptable" in others. Now I have been waiting to see what the R600 is going to be like as the tech looks interesting, hopefully within a month all should be known about the R600 and G80 based cards and I'll basically go with the best performing card at high res. Now I could upgrade everything at this time but I don't really know if it is worth it? Sure in benchmarks etc. the C2D is clearly the faster chip but not by a massive enough amount in the games I play to warrant a new motherboard, CPU and RAM purchase, or is it? The games I mostly play at the moment are BF2 (PR mod), DoD:S, BF 2142, Americas Army, Coh, and a bit of Arma. Now I reckon a GFX upgrade at the moment should do me fine? That should tide me over until dx10 games are readily available I should imagine and I can look at C2D setup then.
Something else I am think of is dumping the big case and water cooling setup, as I've just bought a smaller car (MG TF) and getting my comp to Lans may be problematic! I have cut down my lan attendance though so this isn't a massive problem (as long as the case does physically fit in the car!). The watercooled BFG 8800GTX interests me as it'll slot in my system nicely and I've always like DD stuff.
So do I just GFX upgrade now, or will my CPU limit it at 1920x1200 res? Or do I jump in with both feet and rebuild totally? If I do rebuild totally I think I will be dumping the case etc. and go back to aircooling with a midi sized case. What would you do folks?
Opty 165 @ 3Ghz
2 GB Ram
Sli'd 256MB 7800GTX's
Seasonic 600W PSU
74GB Raptor + 320GB 16MB Cache storage
120.3 Thermochill Rad, 5/14 bay res
Laing D4 V2 pump
DD blocks on CPU (RBX) and GFX (NV78) cards
Antex Amber fans all on fan controllers
Audigy 2 ZS soundcard
All wrapped up in a Lian Li PC70B
Now I'm running a Dell 2407 screen with this so 1920x1200 res is what I like to see from my games if possible. Of late that hasn't been possible and it's only just "acceptable" in others. Now I have been waiting to see what the R600 is going to be like as the tech looks interesting, hopefully within a month all should be known about the R600 and G80 based cards and I'll basically go with the best performing card at high res. Now I could upgrade everything at this time but I don't really know if it is worth it? Sure in benchmarks etc. the C2D is clearly the faster chip but not by a massive enough amount in the games I play to warrant a new motherboard, CPU and RAM purchase, or is it? The games I mostly play at the moment are BF2 (PR mod), DoD:S, BF 2142, Americas Army, Coh, and a bit of Arma. Now I reckon a GFX upgrade at the moment should do me fine? That should tide me over until dx10 games are readily available I should imagine and I can look at C2D setup then.
Something else I am think of is dumping the big case and water cooling setup, as I've just bought a smaller car (MG TF) and getting my comp to Lans may be problematic! I have cut down my lan attendance though so this isn't a massive problem (as long as the case does physically fit in the car!). The watercooled BFG 8800GTX interests me as it'll slot in my system nicely and I've always like DD stuff.
So do I just GFX upgrade now, or will my CPU limit it at 1920x1200 res? Or do I jump in with both feet and rebuild totally? If I do rebuild totally I think I will be dumping the case etc. and go back to aircooling with a midi sized case. What would you do folks?
