Time to upgrade, suggestions? Here is what I am thinking..

[RedTideBucs]

I'm a gamer, that is pretty much my main PC needs. I already have a 8800GTX, just it's running with a 3700+, I think I need more CPU power. Obviously this means new motherboard and RAM as well. Here is what I had in mind, buying from Newegg..


Either:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz $229
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz $289

and..

ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard $185
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel $88

I will take any suggestions, if you feel there is a better but cheaper board perhaps. The memory is a great buy and has 5 stars on Newegg with 600+ reviews, so I'm cool with that.

My main concern is the CPU's, common sense tells me pay the few extra dollars and get the quad core, but that is why I ask. Is it worth it for gaming?

Thanks!

 

[MarcVenice]

E6750 and asus p5k. Cheaper mobo, withouth all that firewire, 100 sata port mumbo jumbo you probably don't need, yet overclocks like mad. If you are a hardcore gamer, I'd say you're better of with a e6750 or e6850 instead of a qaud at 2.4ghz.

I'm not 100% convinced you need more CPU power though. Would be bit of a shame if you don't need more cpu power and spend some decent money now when you could be spending it in a few months or so when you do need more cpu power. If you can overclock the CPU you have, it be rather easy to determine btw. If you see your framerates going up, from 20fps, which isn't really playable, to 40fps, which is playable, you need more cpu power. If it doesn't make a difference, or the difference is irrelevant, like going from 100 to 120fps, then you don't need more cpu power.

Depending on how much ram you're running, you might be somewhat ram limited. 1gb isn't a whole lot nowadays.

 

[RedTideBucs]

Good stuff, exactly what I was looking for, I'll look into that motherboard. I do have 2gb now but it is just DDR. I built my current system in 2005, added the 8800GTX recently but that is pretty much it. Also my 3700+ is a single core cpu, I just figured going from a single core with DDR to a dual core with DDR2 would give me a boost worthy of a sweet video card. You don't think so? Thanks again!

 

[Sinn707]

Q6600 is a great buy considering you are willing to overclock it a little,
even with cheap $22 cooling like Freezer 7 Pro you will be able to achieve 3.0Ghz fairly easily.
Q6600 will benefit in virtually ever game which will be released later this year (Crysis, UT3), they
all utilize 4 cores fully.

However, if overclocking is out of the question (for any reason), E6750 or E6850 is a better choice duo to higher clocks, whatever the budget allows.

ABIT IP35 PRO is an exceptional board but you can still save $50 and go with Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R instead, very stable, great overclocking capabilities, very nice board in all aspects. Very similar to the Abit, yet it costs less.

Basically to answer your main question, 2 extra cores is nothing you'd wanna miss out on, especially considering the direction where everything is going, i.e full multi core utilization.
Also, if you decide to buy one, make sure you get a G0 stepping instead of B3, they run a lot cooler.

Links:

http://clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A1938452

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128050

http://www.directron.com/acfz7pro.html

Best of luck.

 

[RedTideBucs]

Good stuff, thanks a ton for the links as well. Giving me a lot to think about, a lot of new stuff since I last did this in 2005 lol.

 

[MarcVenice]

I prefer the p5k over the ds3r, because it should overclock better. But both are good options. Guess it's the asus fanboy in me I don't even know exists As for games, well, hate to break it to ya, but very few games utulize more then 1 core, and the ones that do, don't really show a big improvement when going from 1 to 2 cores. That's at least what I noticed with Two Worlds, and Shadowrun. Supreme Commander is the sole exeption.

I dunno, a san diego at 2.2ghz stock, which you could try cranking up to 2.6-2.8ghz, will do the trick in most games. Could also do a somewhat cheap upgrade, to a x2 3800+, and overclock it to 2.6ghz or so. That should keep your 8800gtx happy for at least another 1-2 years. I mean, when they made a budget, a midend, and a highend machine, and benchmarked those machines, the results in the end showed the budget machine with a 'budget' cpu performing very well, if only paired with the kickass videocard from the mid-end/high-end machine. It's all in the videocard, that's what I'm saying.

 

[RedTideBucs]

I see what you are saying. I'll ponder a bit, maybe see how my current setup handles Crysis when it comes out.

 

[RedTideBucs]

After all that I decided to just go with a new cpu to prolong my 939's life, rather than spend a ton of money right now. Obviously I could spend about $400 more and get a new mb, cpu, and ram, but I think this should do me a while for the new games coming out, agree? Any other weak spots you think would really affect playing new games like Crysis?

AMD Opteron 185 Dual Core 2.6ghz (Upgraded from a Athlon64 3700+)
ASUS A8N-SLI
GeForce 8800 GTX
2GB Corsair DDR 400
WD Caviar 320GB 7200rpm
Soundblaster Xtreme-Music
Samsung 19" LCD Monitor