Upgrading my rig

[9mak9]

So my rigs stats are listed in my signature. But I was thinking of upgrading mainly my GPU and Motherboard to something a little better. I don't want to spend an abundance of money but if I wanted to spend a few hundred dollars on each what would be the best to get? GTX 5 series? I really don't know enough about MB's to know what I should get but that is more important to get over upgrading my GPU which is still decent enough.

Any thoughts? Thanks a lot

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

You just want to spend money?
Or is there a reason why you want to upgrade?

 

[skipsneeky2]

For under $300 the best gpu would be the 6950 or gtx560 ti both being worlds apart from a 8800gt by far.

Can't vouch on the motherboard.
I say keep it if you simply just want one for the sake of it without a good reason.

 

[9mak9]

I've had this for 3 1/2 years and it's served me well so far. I just bought Witcher 2 (coincidentally Witcher 1 was the 1st game I played on this comp) and the settings that it recommends don't run to well (even lowering it, I still have some issues). So 2 things I thought of upgrading would be GPU and MB but I guess if I'm not really having problems enough to upgrade that much. I should be getting a nice raise so I figured upgrading my computer would be a good start

 

[Blitz KriegeR]

MB plays no roll at all in gaming performance, less than 1% tops. It's all about the GPU, CPU, RAM, HDD/SDD; usually in that order too. All a new motherboard will do for you is give you extra pci-e/sata slots or perhaps overclock better if your current one is a budget board. Not to mention you will be hard pressed to find a good 775 for sale at a reasonable price these days.

Here is what I suggest: Get a GTX460 (*NOT* SE) 1 GB from newegg. I think there is an EVGA Superclocked for $120 after rebate today.

Also, if you want to squeeze more from your CPU, overclock it. Most G0s will do ~3Ghz at stock or near-stock voltage. The better ones will do up to 3.6-3.8Ghz @ 1.5v.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Your quad is a good chip still. I would splurge on a GPU and bump up the clock on your CPU, if your board and ram allow it.

 

[9mak9]

Yeah I was thinking about upgrading the GPU and leaving everything else.

I've never overclocked a CPU before so I'm a little nervous about it but I'm looking around about it.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

775 overclocking can be a little complicated. You could probably bring it up to 2.8Ghz without any issues.

 

[Blitz KriegeR]

If you are totally new to the idea, this should help. A Guide to OC'ing C2Ds/C2Qs by Greysky. Starts very simplistic but it will get you just what you want.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=47089

EDIT: Lol, as a 775 Owner, I'd have to disagree. I got 400x7 on stock voltage, and 400x8 will only a vcore bump. It is not that hard. If you have an questions many of us are happy to help, myself included.

Personally I am pretty good with the CPU and memory tunning, but don't know my way around a Gigabyte board that well.

 

[mfenn]

You have a well-matched CPU and mobo already, I see no reason to upgrade just the mobo. I'd say to go ahead and get a 6950 2GB for $235 AR and see how you like the performance improvement. If it's still not where you want it to be, either overclock the Q6600 a bit or buy an i5 2500K + Z68 + 8GB of DDR3 setup (~$425).