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Can I upgrade? Or do I need a whole new PC?

C

Coldkilla

Diamond Member
Alright. I'd like a huge performance boost but am unsure. I have:

Q6600 at 2.4Ghz stock
4GB Corsair Ram
eVGA 8800GTX 768mb
Zalman 92mm 1300rpm heatsink


Now I'm unsure if the newer video cards (that are "PCI Express 2.0) would be compatible with my motherboard. So I guess that is my first question.

The second is, should I get a new video card? Or will that become a bottle neck with my CPU?

I've got about $300 ($350 tops) to spend. Should I upgrade now, or would it be better just to save up for a few months (5 or so) and get a i7 CPU system setup complete with motherboard/ram/pci express 2.0 with new video card etc?

edit: I do not mind trying to learn how to overclock. With that said, I mostly use the PC for gaming and Adobe After Effects.

 
You want "a huge performance boost", but you withhold some critical information that we need in order to give you intelligent advice.

1. In what applications exactly, do you need this "huge performance boost"?
2. We need to know your whole configuration, not simply video card, CPU, MB and memory.
 
I'd guess that most games around still aren't using more than 2 cores, and 2.4 GHz isn't exactly blazing any more, so I think you're CPU limited more than anything. Short of upgrading it, what about an adventure in overclocking?
 
All PCIe 2.0 cards are backwards compatible with PCIe 1.x configurations. All PCe 2.0 does is double the bandwidth meaning Crossfire/SLI configurations can run at 16x/16x instead of 8x/8x. There's really no need to worry about that.

The board does support 45nm Yorkfield Core 2 Quads. You could upgrade to a Q9400S without blowing your budget for $299 shipped. However, I don't think you're going to gain much performance doing that, at least according to Anand's charts. Alternatively, you could go with the Core 2 Duo E8600 "Wolfdale". Most games tend to benefit from faster clock speeds given that even today, vary few are coded to take advantage of multithreading. The E8600 is $269 shipped from Newegg. However, it's only 20% faster on average so I'm not sure if it's worth it. You could probably just overclock the Q6600. Personally, I'd save for an i5 system. Upgrading the graphics card might be worth it. You can buy a Radeon HD 4870 for under $200 if you know where to look and it will give you a nice graphics boost.
 
If this is for games, get a GTX 275 for $220 at newegg. If you still aren't happy then try overclocking.

If not for games, what apps? A fast E8400 / E8500 dual-core will run most of them up to 25% faster than your slow quad. They might also improve gaming performance but much less than the video card.
 
Another vote for learning to overclock. 3.0Ghz should be cakewalk. If you have a really good cooler and a good chip and powerful enough mobo VRMs, 3.6Ghz is doable.

But I wouldn't go that far to start out with.
 
I do not mind trying to learn how to overclock the cpu. With that said, I mostly use the PC for gaming and Adobe After Effects.

 
I'd think you'd see gains from a video card more than anything. Within your budget you could get a 4870, 4850X2, or similar.
 
Originally posted by: Coldkilla
I do not mind trying to learn how to overclock the cpu. With that said, I mostly use the PC for gaming and Adobe After Effects.
Click to expand...

For gaming, definitely go video card.

If your AE work includes video rendering (which it usually does), CPU plays a big part of it. Your CPU at stock level isn't outdated by any means. Definitely learn to overclock tho. Again, 3.0g is very very easy with your chip (I have the same one) and you will notice the difference in rendering times. It's basically a free upgrade 🙂
 
I've been looking around at overclocking sites and they all talk about settings that I don't see in my motherboard.

I'd probably like to figure out how to overclock the CPU up to whatever I can and upgrade the GPU.
 
Originally posted by: Coldkilla
I've been looking around at overclocking sites and they all talk about settings that I don't see in my motherboard.

I'd probably like to figure out how to overclock the CPU up to whatever I can and upgrade the GPU.
Click to expand...

What motherboard do you have?

edit: wow I'm blind, didn't see the hyperlink.
 
Well the mobo you list is a bit dated. I'm guessing it was bought about 2-3 years ago and is probably starting to get a bit old. Before you start to OC your system, would you be so kind in letting us know what PSU/Case you have. I'm more interested in the PSU and how old it is. This information will let us know if your system would be safe to OC with.
 
What I believe your overclock should be

Optional In PC Health Status

PC Health Status
CPU Warning Temperature - 70c

In Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker

CPU Host Clock Control - enabled
CPU Host Frequency - 333mhz
PCI Express Frequency - 100mhz
C.I.A.2 - disabled
System Memory Multiplier - 2
Dram - Auto

Leave the voltage alone.

Boot into windows and run occt CPU for an hour. Watch the temps, you want to stay below 70 for sure. If your voltage drops below 1.15 you're probably going to lock up. If it does don't worry. Go back into bios and in the

Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker

System Voltage Control - Manual
CPU Voltage Control - +0.05

If it fails ad another 0.025 and stop at +0.1 anything over that will probably require better cooling and such.
 
Originally posted by: Coldkilla
PSU: Seagate 600W

Case: Tuniq Mid Tower IC-SYMI
Click to expand...

Well the Seasonic PSU will handle any OC that you might want to do. It's a quality PSU and should serve you well. The case looks pretty good. Hopefully you have more than just the 1 120mm exhaust fan in the case. I'd recommend at least one intake fan and the at least the 1 exhaust fan. If you start to see the temperatures rise too much, you might consider getting some more fans.
 
Originally posted by: Schmide
What I believe your overclock should be

Optional In PC Health Status

PC Health Status
CPU Warning Temperature - 70c

In Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker

CPU Host Clock Control - enabled
CPU Host Frequency - 333mhz
PCI Express Frequency - 100mhz
C.I.A.2 - disabled
System Memory Multiplier - 2
Dram - Auto

Leave the voltage alone.

Boot into windows and run occt CPU for an hour. Watch the temps, you want to stay below 70 for sure. If your voltage drops below 1.15 you're probably going to lock up. If it does don't worry. Go back into bios and in the

Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker

System Voltage Control - Manual
CPU Voltage Control - +0.05

If it fails ad another 0.025 and stop at +0.1 anything over that will probably require better cooling and such.
Click to expand...
That's your ticket right there. I had the same P965 chipset in an Asus P5B deluxe and that got me to 3.2Ghz with no trouble at all. If I were you I'd aim for 3.0Ghz using the settings already mentioned. Big boost right there, especially in AE.

Heed the advice already mentioned about fans and cooling.

For the GPU, spend $150-200 (there are good suggestions already in this thread) and save the rest as a start to a new build in 6-12months.
 
Just wanted to add how funny I find topics like this to be, having a modest PC for Anandtech standards.

"My PC is getting old, should I sell it? What to do next?", only to see someone with a freakin' Q6600 complaining. 😀

Seriously, just about any quad core out there is fast enough for anyone's needs nowadays I think.
Add the right video card, lots of RAM, overclock it and watch it fly!
 
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