Upgrade time. (Ageing Q6600)

gpherber · 24 May 2012 at 04:20

I'm looking to upgrade from a Q6600 (see signature) to Ivybridge, probably the i5-3570K.

As ram is so cheap and I dont see myself upgrading after this for about 5 years I was thinking of installing 32GB of RAM (4x8GB) but I cant find anywhere what the maximum amount of RAM the ivy bridge memory controller can handle.

Mainly use the machine for video encoding in handbrake as well as the odd game (Fallout 3, Halo 2, Half Life 2, Blacklight Retribution, Diablo 3, Civ 5, FF 14). What performance increase can I expect? (I know for Civ 5 its going to be a massive jump as its very CPU bound).

On another note, anyone recommend a silent fan to replace the 200mm fan in my Corsair 650D as its the only thing I can hear from my case?

Thanks G

freddie64 · 24 May 2012 at 05:52

Think the amount of RAM will be dependent on what OS you have.

If you are using W7 HP, max is 16gb. To use more you will need PRO or ULTIMATE (64 bit of course).

olivier renault · 24 May 2012 at 08:46

I tihnk it's 16GB including VRAM, so 14GB.

I would think 16GB would be enough for handbraking. I'd start with that anyway. You only have 4 slots on 1155, so get 2x8 if you can. And yeah, you'll need Win Pro / Ultimate to get past the 16GB limitation.

1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML16GX3M2A1600C10) £89.99

As for the 200mm front fan, I think you need a slim variant. Which are trickier to find, and not as good.

gpherber · 24 May 2012 at 11:43

Windows 7 Ultimate is fine upto 128GB so the OS is fine. I was just wondering if the controller had a limitation? i know my current motherboard is a maximum of 8GB but the controller is on the cpu now so was wondering if they had a limit.

trickynickyuk · 24 May 2012 at 14:01

wow might have to go for that memory myself cant believe memory is getting cheaper thats great that.

i dont think you will need anything more that 16gb unless you are looking to play games and encode at the same time

areksnumbr1sxylady · 24 May 2012 at 16:22

Get samsung green, more expensive but a great Overclocker

gpherber · 25 May 2012 at 09:10

Reason for going straight to 32GB was future proofing as I don't tend to upgrade my CPU, Motherboard or RAM very often and both previous times when I've needed more ram the price has skyrocketed because the type I was still using (SDRAM first time, DDR2 now) is no longer the norm.

Will probably go for 32GB and if for whatever reason it doesn't work I'll send it back. Now just need to raise the £500 before the northbridge on my P45 board finally gives out (overheating causing machine to switch off suddenly).