I've got a moddest pc and I'm just wondering which part i should upgrade or both for the most performance gain. E2160 overclocked at 3.0ghz ATI 6850 DDR2 800 Are the cpu and ram holding my card back? i was looking at either getting this; http://www.scan.co.uk/products/02gb...800)-240-pins-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-5-5-5-18 to make it 4GB or getting; http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-core-2-quad-q8200-s775-233-ghz-1333mhz-4mb-cache-oem I'll probably end up getting both but i'm just wondering if ill see a huge noticable difference in gaming?
Ok we'll thanks for the replys and I've bought 4GB and I had 2GB so i hope that makes a difference. Also I'm maybe looking at a Q6600 since they're selling for like 60£ and I hear they're pretty good. Also I really need to get a decent motherboard at overclocking because right now I've got this piece of cow dung installed right now. The Gigabyte P31-DS3L which I've got installed at the moment won't really overclock this computer without some sort of **** up, so is there anything out there that's cheap and effective for overclocking a Q6600. Cooling isn't a problem, i've got a Titan Fenrir installed and temps are between 20C barely reaching 30.
I'd say go to 4gb of ram and maybe look to get an SSD. My friend has one in his e6600 SFF build and it has made the world of diference in usage.
I have a Q6600 running happily at 3.2GHz. It was running at 3.4 but I got nervous and backed it off. Using a H50 cooler and Biostar TP45HP Mobo, no probs so far. On board sound is not always the best but the board handles the heat well...The rig has been running for over a year at this speed...It'll probably die now
If you buy a q6600 and a motherboard on top of the ram you just bought you would three quarters of the way there to buying a second hand i3+Board+Ram.
+1 on this ^. You already have the most expensive single component needed (the 6850). The following is £193.86 on Scan's Today Only page: - Intel Core i3 540 Dual Core Clarkdale 32nm, 3.06GHz, 4MB Cache, 73W, Integrated GPU @ 733MHz, Retail - Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H, Intel H55, 1156, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR3 1600/1800/2133, SATA 3Gb/s, VGA, uATX - 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.65V If you wanted to step up to an i5 760, you could get the following for under £270: - Intel i5 760, S1156, Lynnfield Quad Core, 2.8 GHz, 8MB Cache, Core Ratio 21x, 95W, Retail - Asus P7P55 LX, Intel P55 Express, S1156, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR3 2200(OC), SATA 3Gb/s, SATA RAID, ATX - 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.65V However, due to Sandy Bridge coming in January, now is not a good time to buy a new socket as there may be some price volatility on the way. If it was me I would wait, save a little more and be ready to buy in January.
I might actually upgrade to the second setup, sounds interesting! Is there a better motherboard as it seems that one has a bad reputation and i'm also interested in overclocking.
There is but they cost around £100 alone... Asus P7P55D-E LX Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 For an i5 760, 4GB 1600MHz DDR3 & one of the above boards you are talking £300+. If overclocking, add another £25-£30 for a decent cooler. Then look at the quality of your PSU and if it isn't up to it, you will spend another £60-odd for a decent one. It goes on and on... But I repeat: "However, due to Sandy Bridge coming in January, now is not a good time to buy a new socket as there may be some price volatility on the way. If it was me I would wait, save a little more and be ready to buy in January."
Alright guess I'll wait, it's just so annoying that I've got this card now and I can't fully use it. Bah! Ty for your help man.
There is nothing stopping you buying stuff now, just if it was me I would make sure that if I bought anything, it would be re-usable with a new build. For example, buying a new case, PSU or SSD wouldn't be a waste because you can reuse them. Buying a socket 775 CPU is a bit of a waste imho. If you really are desperate to improve your rig right now, why not buy another 2GB of RAM second hand as suggested buy a couple of people here already? It would be fairly cheap. This would improve your gaming experience loads without wasting too much money on dead technology. It would see you over until January when the new sockets are out and you know what prices are going to do.
Yea...if you have to buy both a CPU and a board, you'd better off getting something newer than sticking with 775. If you had a P35/P45 775 board, then Q6600 is the way to go...but unfortunately you don't