Current Spec:
Q6600 @ stock 2.4 gHz
AsROCK crappy old mobo
2 GB DDR2 667 RAM
SATA I HDD
BFG GeForce 8800 GT OC
630 W Antec PS
I have a crappy AsRock mobo that doesn't allow me to:
A) have more than 2 gb of RAM
B) overclock my Q6600 whatsoever (seriously, the settings are there but it will not run stable with any OC, and from what I've read, there's no hope of ever doing so).
Also, it has exactly 1 PCI-Express 1x slot.
I want to upgrade with as little money spent as possible (doesn't everyone?). There are two routes I am considering.
If I upgrade to a newer, quality mobo (such as: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6813131347) I should be able to actually OC my Q6600 to about 3.0 ghz, as I have a Zalman cooler on it. Also, this motherboard will accept more, faster RAM, so I would also upgrade to 4 GB of RAM (something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6820231226). I would then also be able to upgrade to a faster SATA 2 HDD when I finally get around to having more storage.
All of these upgrades would give me a stronger foundation for a little over $200 USD, but I would still only have an 8800 GT running.
The other, easy-mode upgrade is to simply buy a new video card (4870, etc...). I recently read on here (chuy's thread I believe) that newer PCI-E 2.0 video cards should work on almost all older, PCI-E 1.0 slots, with a few exceptions. My only fear is that my mobo may actually be old enough to be an exception here. I have a good enough power supply to power any card I want to get, and I should have enough room in the case, but I will have to look into whether or not the mobo chipset is as old as I think it is.
This upgrade would also cost in the low $200's, but it would seriously increase my image processing power.
My question to the techies on here is, what road should I take? I am sure that bumping up processor speed by 20%+ will show some improvements in performance, as would having double the amount of (faster) RAM. Also, the PCI-E video card would technically run faster on a newer board, although I doubt that that difference would be very noticeable. However, I have the feeling that, as is, my video card is a highly limiting factor when I try to play newer, resource-intensive games like Age of Conan, and that getting a new video card would be perhaps the simplest AND easiest upgrade at the moment.
Any thoughts?
Q6600 @ stock 2.4 gHz
AsROCK crappy old mobo
2 GB DDR2 667 RAM
SATA I HDD
BFG GeForce 8800 GT OC
630 W Antec PS
I have a crappy AsRock mobo that doesn't allow me to:
A) have more than 2 gb of RAM
B) overclock my Q6600 whatsoever (seriously, the settings are there but it will not run stable with any OC, and from what I've read, there's no hope of ever doing so).
Also, it has exactly 1 PCI-Express 1x slot.
I want to upgrade with as little money spent as possible (doesn't everyone?). There are two routes I am considering.
If I upgrade to a newer, quality mobo (such as: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6813131347) I should be able to actually OC my Q6600 to about 3.0 ghz, as I have a Zalman cooler on it. Also, this motherboard will accept more, faster RAM, so I would also upgrade to 4 GB of RAM (something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6820231226). I would then also be able to upgrade to a faster SATA 2 HDD when I finally get around to having more storage.
All of these upgrades would give me a stronger foundation for a little over $200 USD, but I would still only have an 8800 GT running.
The other, easy-mode upgrade is to simply buy a new video card (4870, etc...). I recently read on here (chuy's thread I believe) that newer PCI-E 2.0 video cards should work on almost all older, PCI-E 1.0 slots, with a few exceptions. My only fear is that my mobo may actually be old enough to be an exception here. I have a good enough power supply to power any card I want to get, and I should have enough room in the case, but I will have to look into whether or not the mobo chipset is as old as I think it is.
This upgrade would also cost in the low $200's, but it would seriously increase my image processing power.
My question to the techies on here is, what road should I take? I am sure that bumping up processor speed by 20%+ will show some improvements in performance, as would having double the amount of (faster) RAM. Also, the PCI-E video card would technically run faster on a newer board, although I doubt that that difference would be very noticeable. However, I have the feeling that, as is, my video card is a highly limiting factor when I try to play newer, resource-intensive games like Age of Conan, and that getting a new video card would be perhaps the simplest AND easiest upgrade at the moment.
Any thoughts?
