Time to upgrade?

[bottleofboos]

My current build right now is:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz
EVGA NVIDIA nForce 680i Mobo (122-CK-NF68-AR )
EVGA Geforce 8800 GTS 640MB (640-P2-N821-AR)
Corsair TWINX 2x1GB DDR2 800MHZ
Antec TruePower Trio 650W PSU
Seagate 500GB Hard Drive
Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Sound Card

Currently, I'm on a budget because I am a full-time student. Should I upgrade or stay with my current build and maybe tinker around with overclocking?

If I do upgrade, would it make more sense just to upgrade almost everything, or should I just swap out the RAM and graphics card (and maybe the CPU too)?

 

[ch33zw1z]

What do you use the PC for? Doesn't look like a bad setup at all, why the upgrade?

 

[Kraeoss]

naw that pc can hold out longer than mine lol just get some more ram and a new card and oc that cpu to 3.x ghz and youre good to go

 

[AstroManLuca]

That's a great machine. If you're on a budget there's no reason to do any sort of a major upgrade. At most I'd upgrade the RAM to 4 GB and maybe think about overclocking a bit (which should be easy even with stock cooling). If you find that you like overclocking you could always try getting an aftermarket heatsink to replace your current one. But yeah, just stick with what you have. There will be lots more reasons to upgrade in 6-12 months.

 

[Rockinacoustic]

Upgrade to 4GB's of RAM: G. SKill 2x2GB DDR2 1066

If that isn't enough for you, then tinker around with overclocking your CPU

 

[fffblackmage]

OC FTW

 

[Marty502]

Overclock the CPU, get an extra 2 gigs of RAM and you'll be set. There's no games you can't play with that rig! And I bet they'll all good look.

 

[Slugbait]

Originally posted by: Rockinacoustic
Upgrade to 4GB's of RAM: G. SKill 2x2GB DDR2 1066

Umm...with the different voltage and timings, OP would likely have to downgrade from 6 gigs to 4 gigs. That's addition by subtraction. Plus, a true upgrade from 2 to 4 gigs will be approx $20 less expensive than what you linked.

OP, addition to your machine I could see being of some value, such as a terabyte. Replacements to your machine are of little to no value: you bought a really good mobo, one of the best video cards of its day (and still very good by today's standards) and a good overclocking CPU.

You could overclock both the CPU and GPU. If you want a significant overclock that's stable, dump the stock HSF, and be sure your case has significant air flow.

If the system is primarily for school work (or is critical for school work) don't do anything...overclocking won't help you with applications, web browsers, etc, and it can be a PITA for people who haven't done it before.

 

[bottleofboos]

On the specs for my mobo, it says it accepts DDR2 1066 with OC in parentheses. Would that mean that if I put this type of RAM on my mobo it will overclock my CPU? I'm new to overclocking.

Thanks for all the suggestions that everyone has posted. After thinking about this for awhile, I have decided to upgrade the RAM and HD. Then I'll have some fun experimenting with overclocking.

 

[Fedaykin311]

Do you do anything that requires an upgrade? Can't run a game you want to play? CS4 take too long to run?

We all like shiny new hardware, but why waste money?

 

[fffblackmage]

Originally posted by: bottleofboos
On the specs for my mobo, it says it accepts DDR2 1066 with OC in parentheses. Would that mean that if I put this type of RAM on my mobo it will overclock my CPU? I'm new to overclocking.

Thanks for all the suggestions that everyone has posted. After thinking about this for awhile, I have decided to upgrade the RAM and HD. Then I'll have some fun experimenting with overclocking.

I think the ram upgrade is unnecessary for OCing. Unless you just want 4GB ram. XD

Did you read this?