What to upgrade first

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4 Dec 2006
Posts
125
Hi there, i have about 300-400 quid to spend to try and sort out some serious bottleneck issues. Is it worth goping ddr3 now or should i just wait until i can afford a better cpu that can make the most of it, or would i have any benefits now. should i stick with ddr2 and just change the mobo? Anyhow my setup is:

Q6600
EVGA 680i
Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX
Nvidia 280 GTX


Many thanks in advance ;)
 
I've read that DDRII can actually be faster in some cases atm the DDRIII, were are talking tiny amounts, point is there is not really any difference.......
 
Yeah thats what i was reading especially if it aint a top of the range cpu. So if its worth stciking with DDR2 for time being is it worth changing the mobo from 680i to 780i?
 
What bottleneck issues are you having. It looks like that system should be just fine!

Have you overclocked at all?

Is your Q6600 a B3 or G0?

My 680i was hard work, it took nearly a full weekend to get my 6600 stable @ 3.0Ghz then it decided it didn't want to boot when it was cold.

Tried the CPU in a cheap gigabyte P31 board and it did 3.0Ghz at stock volts totally stable.

The same Q6600 is now in a ASUS P5N-D 750i @ 3.2Ghz, will do 3.6Ghz on air but need a lot of volts. I'd say keep the CPU for now but seriously look for a new board.

If you think you'll use SLI then either a 750 or 780. The 790 and DDR3 is great but it's a lot of money with a new socket around the corner.

Personally despite the 6 Nvidia boards in my possession (3 AMD , 3 Intel) the Intel chipset is far easier to work with. If I didn't have a pair of 8800GTS 512's giving me great frame rates then I wouldn't be on nvidia. A P35 or P45 and a good cooler would have you set for 3.0Ghz + in no time at all after which bottleneck should not be an issue

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Hi there the Q6600 is the G0 version. It clocks fantastically actually 3200 stable without even upping the volts or anything, however a i run it at 3000 on day to day basis. I take your point about the 790/ddr3 with new socket comming in soon. I think i would go for the 780i, i just always get the feeling that the 680 holds everything back, especially in games but not sure if im just imagining it :)
 
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