Upgrading need some advice.

I'm thinking about upgrading to a Q6600. All I really need for now is the CPU, MOBO, and MEM.

I was wondering what would be the ideal Q6600 rig.

Also, if it is a good time to buy, meaning will there be a price drop soon or new standards coming out soon, etc...

Thanks for your input.

Now is a good time to upgrade unless you want to wait till next year for Penryl.

Q6600 G0
P5K Premium
2x1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800

8800GTS (320 or 640) if you need a gfx card

Penryn comes out in November, but the standard will be the same. Just get yourself any P35 motherboard and you should be fine. The Penryns will probably be expensive when they first come out. It will be a very... loooooong time before you'll actually need any more muscle than a Q6600 can give you.

I've had my E6400 for almost a year and a half and there's absolutely nothing I can't do with it. Only other C2Ds (that are good OCers because I've even beaten the max overclocks on faster C2Ds) can beat the speeds I run at. A Q6600 will roll all over everything for months to come.

As far as memory goes, until the end of this month you can get the memory in my sig for 69.99 after rebate... or less. I've got it running 4-4-3-5 @ 2.1v

There's never been a better time to upgrade than right now.

LOL rain loves talkin him self up =) (but i beat you in every bench )

As said the 45nm's will be out soon but the price could be high ( here is some 45nm action http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=528038 ). You could save some $ right now and invest in sole other things

like getting a used E6400/E6420/E6600 there are some in the classies every day , ppl are moving up to G0's .

If it was me I would get
-E6850 or G0 q6600 both are 300$
-Asus Prem 220$
-Balstix 6400's or 8000's both are good price

Now you do know you wont be able to use that GFX card and more than likely you will need a new PSU and the P5k only has 2 slots for IDE so depending on you hdd's might be a good idea to get new ones .

So with what I was saying with buying used you could save $ on the used chip and get some Sata hdd's (Mb has matrix raid so if you get 2 you could try raid 0 for kick *** hdd speeds ) . And maybe look @ a better PSU So far i have loved my 620hx , GFX cards if you have the budget pick up a GTX or Ultra used there are some of those around as well.

thanks for all your comments guys.

Where can I buy a G0 Q6600.

Thanks ||Console|| my sig is REALLY old. I currently have a ultra-d opteron rig, with a 7900 GT.

There are some places online that will make sure it is a G0 ( Tankguys is one) or you can goto a local store and look on the Box if it says SLACR (I think ? some one else will chime in ) then it is a G0.

What PSu are you running and do you plan on using the 7900gt for a while( Only reason i upgraded from my 7800 was i killed it voltmoding )

I'm using Antec TruePower 2.0 550 w PSU.
I really see no need for upgrading my card right now, so yeah i'm keeping it for the next 6-12 months.

G0 Q6600 are at ClubIT.com as well.

I thought socket 775 Penryls weren't going to be out until next year, but that socket 771 (server) Penryls would be out this November. Am I wrong? Socket 771 is pretty much useless to us OCers afaik.

Upgrade your case too. Antec 900 FTW!

rainless said:

As far as memory goes, until the end of this month you can get the memory in my sig for 69.99 after rebate... or less. I've got it running 4-4-3-5 @ 2.1v

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I have the same memory it is great stuff. Running mine at DDR-900 4-4-4-12 w/ 2.2v and it is rock stable. Pretty sure I have a good bit of headroom left in it.

WildMonkey said:

I'm using Antec TruePower 2.0 550 w PSU.
I really see no need for upgrading my card right now, so yeah i'm keeping it for the next 6-12 months.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't trust that PSU. I bought one, crapped out and fired my mobo. Got a replacement it is currently crapping (random reboots). It has caps buldging and leaking. Your really need a new PSU. TPII's have a bad rep, they were made my a sub par OEM that used cheap caps.

If you want DX10 or want to play many brand new games you will need a new card to run max settings. I know the Unreal 3 engine (Bioshock & MOH: Airborne) killed my 7800 GT (~30 FPS at best maxed out @ 1680x1050).