Best upgrade to increase performance

[Freedonian]

Hi all

This is my current system

Asus P5N-E SLI Motherboard Bios 0901
Intel Q6600 (SLACR) @ 2.4GHz (not overclocked)
Zalman CNPS9500 LED Cooler
4 x 1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 8500 PC2 6400 @ 5-5-5-15 2T, FSBRAM 2:3
BFG 8800GTX OC2 Graphics Card
Main Hard Drive WD 6400AAKS 640GB
Second Hard Drive Samsung HD501LJ
Optical Drive 1 Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-109
Optical Drive 2 LG HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR 8163B
Sound Card Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Antec P160 Case

Windows XP Home SP3

I'd like to see a noticeable increase in performance but can't figure out what do.

Please can you offer advise on what I should upgrade to see the best increase in performance. My budget is around £200 ($360), but could stretch a bit further.

Regards and thanks

 

[geokilla]

First of all, what do you do? Your rig looks like it's a gaming rig, and your components aren't old or slow either so there's no need to spend extra money.

Just overclock your CPU and graphics card. You should be able to get 3.2Ghz on your Q6600 easily. Just remember to drop your RAM timings to 1:1.

 

[myocardia]

Welcome to anandtech. I say spend $50 on a Tuniq Tower heatsink, and overclock your CPU to somewhere between 3.2 & 3.6 Ghz. With your video card, unless you're gaming @ high resolution, you're very, very CPU-bound (your video card is being slowed down by your processor) at the moment. If you are gaming @ high resolution, then you'd want to buy this GTX280, which is slightly over £200, but not by much. Notice that it's on sale this week only.

edit: I just noticed that that card is £252, including VAT. I always forget about VAT, since I don't live in the UK.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: Freedonian
I'd like to see a noticeable increase in performance but can't figure out what do.

Please can you offer advise on what I should upgrade to see the best increase in performance. My budget is around £200 ($360), but could stretch a bit further.

Performance increase in what? Your computer is already very very fast. And without shelling out a lot more money in that will you see a "big noticeable" difference.

 

[Freedonian]

Ok guys. Thanks very much.

Looks like the most cost effective solution is going to be to overclock my cpu which costs nothing. Result!

Does anyone know how high I need to overclock so that my graphics card is not CPU bound. How do I tell if I've reached that point or is that question for another thread?

What resolution would you define as high resolution for gaming purposes?

(I have a Dell 2407 (1920x1200) monitor and try to play games at that resolution with the highest possible settings wherever possible (Bioshock, Oblivion, C&C3, LOTRII, HL2, and plan to play Gears of War, and Mass Effect).

I like to keep my system fairly current. Are there any upgrades that you would suggest making in the next 12 months. e.g. Nehalem CPU, DDR3 motherboard, etc

Again thank you all for your quick and knowledgeable responses.

Regards

 

[angry hampster]

You won't be CPU bound. At 19x12 you will be GPU bound. To keep your system current, I'd suggest a second 8800GTX or selling your current GTX and buy a GTX280. Nehalem won't make too much of a difference in the gaming community. DRR3 is overpriced and underwhelming, and your motherboard has a perfectly good chipset.

Be sure to keep and eye on temps when you overclock your proc. Q6600's can get hot really easily from what I've read.