My Yearly Upgrade

[elrasho]

Hi Everyone,

Its that time of the year where I upgrade my PC.

My current spec is in my sig. I don;t know if I should go Intel so Ive come up with two options. Im only upgrading the CPU, Motherboard and RAM since everything is OK for now.

Option1:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping (2.4GHz 1066MHz) Socket 775 L2 8MB Cache (2x4MB (4MB per core pair) Retail Boxed
Asus P5Q PRO P45 Socket 775
Corsair 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2


Option2:

AMD Phenom 9850 Black Edition Socket AM2+ 2.5GHz 4MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed
ASUS M3N78 PRO GeForce 8300 Socket AM2+
Corsair 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2


The Intel option is ?50 more expensive

Im upgrading so I can play Dawn of War 2, Far Cry2, ArmA2 and most probably another game that ends in 2 lol

 

[elrasho]

Something I've just realsied is that the Asus P5Q Pro sues ATI's CrossFireX technology, will that be compatible with my nVidia 8800GT?

 

[The Brick]

If you want the best bang for the buck and best performance, take option 1 and overclock it (3.6 ghz is very doable), but you'll need ?20 extra for a good cpu cooler (Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro).

Edit: Yes. That only affects things when you're using 2 identical graphics cards. With AMD cards, that's called Crossfire. Nvidia calls it SLI for their cards.

 

[Krynn72]

Something I've just realsied is that the Asus P5Q Pro sues ATI's CrossFireX technology, will that be compatible with my nVidia 8800GT?

Dont forget to upgrade your keyboard. Yours seems to be having problems.

 

[Blackthorn]

Go for the Q6600. With some effortless overclocking and the AC Cooling Freezer 7 Pro mentioned above you'll be getting a stable 3GHz (at least) CPU for the price of a 2.4GHz.

 

[elrasho]

Thanks everyone, should let me bump Farcry 2 up to high settings after this upgrade

 

[elrasho]

Would 1066Mhz DDR2 memory make much of difference from 800Mhz DDR2?

4gb of 1066Mhz DDR2 ram is twice as expensive

 

[Krynn72]

It would be slightly faster, but I never found it worth the price.

 

[The Brick]

Not really worth it. You won't need more for overclocking anyway. At 3.6ghz (9x400) your ram will run at its native speed of 800mhz (1:1 devider).

 

[Sir Phoenixx]

4gb of DDR2 1066 is only around $45-50...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231226
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104060
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227362
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104038

 

[elrasho]

So im better off sticking to the 800Mhz ram rather than the 1066Mhz? Theres a ?45 difference here in the UK.

Will the two 2GB 800Mhz sticks actually run at 800 Mhz?

 

[Sir Phoenixx]

Oh, you're in the UK... Sorry to hear that.

Where are you buying them from?

Kingston HyperX 4gb DDR2 800, ?44.84 inc VAT: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-026-KS
Kingston HyperX 4gb DDR2 1066, ?57.49 inc VAT: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-033-KS

Kingston HyperX 4gb DDR2 800, ?49.04inc vat: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/133709
Kingston HyperX 4gb DDR2 1066, ?53.15inc vat: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148859

Will the two 2GB 800Mhz sticks actually run at 800 Mhz?

Technically, they run at 400mhz (and DDR2 1066 runs at 533mhz, DDR 400 runs at 200mhz, etc.), actually. They're effectively 800mhz because of how DDR RAM works.

At default your motherboard should recognize your RAM's speed and run them at the correct settings.

 

[elrasho]

Kingston :x Prefer Corsair ot OCZ really. The Corsair ones are twice as expensive

 

[DreamThrall]

I've had pretty good luck with G.Skill, which at least on NewEgg is cheaper than the other name brands (Corsair, OCZ, etc), but not what I would consider "value" ram (Kingston). I haven't tried overclocking any of their RAM yet, though the company claims it's good for that.

 

[Sir Phoenixx]

Yeah, G.Skill seem like a good brand, in my opinion they're up there close to Corsair/etc. I'm currently using these, no problems at all: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166