Worth Upgrading?

Dead and Gone · 4 Jan 2009 at 18:44

Hi there,

I've currently got a Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz with 4GB of ram with an IP35-E Motherboard an a Gefore 8800 GTX....

Whats best to upgrade? I'm thinking of definatly getting a new graphics card but what is best? Is the rest of the system worth updating or is as normal it best to hang on

95thrifles · 4 Jan 2009 at 18:48

It would depend largely on your budget???

Dead and Gone · 4 Jan 2009 at 18:52

hmm ok I would have thought it would be down to if the hardware is ok or not for gaming but budget can be £800 for motherboard cpu memory and graphics card.... thanks

Grimley · 4 Jan 2009 at 18:58

The Card would be my choice if you are on a tight budget.

rikesh · 4 Jan 2009 at 19:00

maybe an i7, an x58 mobo, 3gb triple channel and a 4870?

rikesh · 4 Jan 2009 at 19:00

that can be had for around £800

pumaz · 4 Jan 2009 at 19:00

I've come from the same system as you to Asus P5Q Pro, Core 2 Quad Q9550, GTX 280 and 8GB Memory. The difference for me is I can play all my games at 1920x1200 with everything maxed where as before i would have to play at 1680 x 1050 and couldn't use all settings at max.

Only upgrade if you can run at 1920 x 1200 or more and only then if you have money to burn because imo the gains are not worth it especialy at current prices.

95thrifles · 4 Jan 2009 at 19:03

Yeah OK, gfx card is best thing, either an Nvidia gtx280 or wait for the 295 coming out next week
Your other option would be a full system rebuild but the only real benefit upgrading the rest would be going i7 which would prob stretch past 800, just get the card for now then in 6 months or so when you got a bit more splash out for the i7 rig and carry your card over

pastymuncher · 4 Jan 2009 at 19:04

What res do you game at? What, if anything, does your pc struggle at? Buy a decent cooler and clock the Q6600 to make the most of your 8800GTX.

Dead and Gone · 4 Jan 2009 at 19:11

I game maxed if I can and I first noticed it in crysis 2 really were I had to drop resolution which I know crysis is a killer but hay. With a few good FPS coming out soon I'd like to sort the problems out.

If I went for the graphics card upgrade alone then would my system handle it or would the CPU/Motherboard be a bottle kneck?

pastymuncher · 4 Jan 2009 at 19:13

Dead and Gone said:
I game maxed if I can and I first noticed it in crysis 2 really were I had to drop resolution which I know crysis is a killer but hay. With a few good FPS coming out soon I'd like to sort the problems out.

If I went for the graphics card upgrade alone then would my system handle it or would the CPU/Motherboard be a bottle kneck?

But what res?

95thrifles · 4 Jan 2009 at 19:15

Dead and Gone said:
If I went for the graphics card upgrade alone then would my system handle it or would the CPU/Motherboard be a bottle kneck?

As suggested OC your CPU and you should be fine re bottlenecking

pumaz · 4 Jan 2009 at 20:08

What is the max res of your monitor, it makes all the difference if we know what your res is?

Dead and Gone · 4 Jan 2009 at 20:56

sorry its 1600 x 1200 max resolution in vista

pumaz · 4 Jan 2009 at 21:04

Dead and Gone said:
sorry its 1600 x 1200 max resolution in vista

In that case i would keep what you have or buy a new Widescreen monitor then a new GTX 280 when you can afford it!

Dead and Gone · 4 Jan 2009 at 21:15

ok thanks for the info guys... will save up a few more pennys and upgrade

pastymuncher · 4 Jan 2009 at 21:18

Dead and Gone said:
sorry its 1600 x 1200 max resolution in vista

Crysis is a poor game on any graphics card. A GTX is still a good card for your res. Overclock that quad and get some free extra performance. Get a half decent cooler first though. Your quad at stock speed may even be bottlenecking your GTX anyway, especially in games which don't use make use of the extra cores. Let's face it, that's most of them at the moment.

miniyazz · 4 Jan 2009 at 21:33

rikesh said:
maybe an i7, an x58 mobo, 3gb triple channel and a 4870?

You can get i7 CPU, mobo, with 6GB 1333Mhz RAM for a shade under £550 atm. Add a GTX 260 or 4870 and you're under budget, tho the way things are you could get another one or two 8800GTXs for tri-SLI if you were feeling keen

But it may be worth waiting a couple of months for i7, and the Q6600s have lots of headroom for OCing, unless you got an old revision. Just got mine stable on air at 3.45GHz

Dead and Gone · 4 Jan 2009 at 23:58

wow thats a nice speed I am on stock cooler for the CPU so I'll be ordering a decent coolers for it.... Any recommendations for a decent cpu cooler?

miniyazz · 5 Jan 2009 at 02:06

Dead and Gone said:
wow thats a nice speed I am on stock cooler for the CPU so I'll be ordering a decent coolers for it.... Any recommendations for a decent cpu cooler?

I'm using the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro (here) and although it's good, there's probably better out there. As in, I booted into Windows at 3.6GHz but my temperatures went into the 70s under load and I got scared.

TBH I don't know that much about CPU coolers. I was looking for one with a high max cfm rating but low noise with it turned down, that didn't cost me much, and if I want to push my Q6600 up that far I guess I need watercooling anyway.
Anyway as a stop-gap before getting a new cooler, I just took off the stock Intel fan and glued a stock AMD one (onto the Intel heatsink) from a 64 X2, they have far better airflow than the Intel fans, and that got me up to 3GHz no problems. So if you've got one of those lying around..