Thinking its time for an upgrade

[jhzero1984]

OK, it has been a while since I have done anything to my computer. 2 years I believe. I feel its time to finally do a refresh, but I have been out of the loop for so long I have lost track of what hardware is the direction to go. Here is a list of what I am thinking:

1. Obviously, want to have an overall performance improvement from current rig in sig.
2. Would like to spend about $500 (flexible on this)
3. Want to stay Intel.
4. Do not plan on OCing anymore. Looking at stability.
5. Main use for the computer is gaming, music (itunes) and internet. Only game I really play is BF2 occasionally.

Pretty much, I am looking at upgrading for the purpose of handling what I do now and being able to handle what may be around the corner over the next couple of years. Any imput is much appreciated.

Zero

 

[engiNURD]

1. Look into an E6420.
2. $500 for what? everything? not a good idea unless you want to go AMD. If all you're replacing is the mobo/cpu/ram/gpu... then maybe.
3. Sure, Intel's the best right now. Not when you bought your old rig, but now, its pretty damn good, lol.
4. Why not? These Core2Duo's were born to be overclocked, lol. They have so much headroom, Intel, themselves, released an overclockable motherboard! These things are rock solid even at 1Ghz overclocks!
5. But what size is your monitor?

$187 - E6420
$105 - GA-965P-S3
$83 - 2GB DDR2-800
=====
$375 + tax and shipping...

Now choose a vidcard depending on the size of your monitor. What size monitor do you have? The equivalent replacement for the 6800 would be the 8800GTS.

 

[silent-circuit]

As enginurd said, OCing C2Ds is not like OCing P4's. With a good HSF you can get another 50% out of them without issue. My Thermaltake SilentWater is hardly better than a Tuniq Tower or Thermalright 120 Extreme air cooler, and I run 30C idle 57C full load (after 8 hours Orthos small FFTs) at 3.2Ghz, 1.352 vcore, up from 2.13Ghz.

The 8800 series is really the only way to go right now if you want some kind of future-proofing, and it's between a 320MB GTS and 640MB GTS (without breaking bank something major for a GTX) dependent on monitor size, as enginurd also said.

 

[michaLcoughliN]

hmm not overclocking because your looking for stability.
What makes you think once you overclock something it wont be as stable as a "stock" running computer
I believe once you "tweak" / "overclock" a computer to a higher potential from what it was made to do. You still have Stability. more so .

I dont see how it differs from stock to overclocking and stability. Unless your truly running rediculous timings , voltages so on etc etc.

Anywho. YAh.. GFG

 

[MrWizard6600]

people above are right, the C2Ds are born overclockers, and you can achieve perfect stabillity through a good overclock.

Now, the next problem is, if you go with the first suggestion a $125 graphics card wont offer much more performance then your current 6800GT.

Are you looking at keeping the parts you'll be replacing? because if not yuou should have no trouble rasing at least $150 from them, which brings the graphics budget to $275, which lands you squarly in that gap Nvidia has created. You have enough for an 8600GTS, easy, but a chunk short of an 8800GTS.
The performance differance between the 8600GTS and 8800GTS 320mb is huge, Why doenst Nv bridge it with an 8800GS or 8600GTX? I dont know, I guess they just dont like us.
anyways, where does that land you? it depends... are you comfertable in BF2 with your current FPS? what are you aiming for? waht resolution and ammount of AA would you like?

 

[FadedSpark]

hmm not overclocking because your looking for stability.
What makes you think once you overclock something it wont be as stable as a "stock" running computer
I believe once you "tweak" / "overclock" a computer to a higher potential from what it was made to do. You still have Stability. more so .

I dont see how it differs from stock to overclocking and stability. Unless your truly running rediculous timings , voltages so on etc etc.

Anywho. YAh.. GFG

Clearly you don't know what you are talking about. Try running a processor like mine, at 2.6 on stock voltage. ya, GFG. (im assuming good fucking game for that short form...) it won't work. at 1.5v MAYBE. but not stock. it takes a lot of time to get something perfectly stable at a high overclock.. (50% is possible on my CPU... not my particualr one anymore but thats because i ran it at 2.7 for like 2 years... it was perfectly stable but the extra voltage GREATLY shortened its life )

In short, no. overclocking is not as stable, or even NEARLY as stable (were not talking little tiny overclocks. were talking about the kind that actually have a noticeable impact.)


now for the parts...

since you say you don't do much gaming, im thinking gigabyte DS3 or an eVGA 650i ultra based motherboard, an Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 (you can overclock it to about 3.3 on average if you desire. but remember, it'll take some work. as with all high elvel overclocks. ) and some cheap but decent ram in a 2x1gb set (go check out the Memory forum. all i know is enthusiast stuff ) then go with whatever video card you can afford that is atleast a 7600GT

 

[engiNURD]

Now, the next problem is, if you go with the first suggestion a $125 graphics card wont offer much more performance then your current 6800GT.

His budget is flexible, he said. But yes, sell old parts to help offset cost of new parts.

In short, no. overclocking is not as stable, or even NEARLY as stable (were not talking little tiny overclocks. were talking about the kind that actually have a noticeable impact.)

Many c2ds require little to no voltage change to reach 50% overclocked speeds, lol. Most, if not all, Conroe core C2Ds will reach 333Mhz base FSB on stock voltage. If stability is what you're going for, keep the voltage at stock or only increase it around 0.1v and you should be fine. That 0.1v will take you much further on a c2d than it would on an a64/ax2 or any other previous gen chip, I believe.

Lets take my old E6400 as an example (I say old because its a Conroe core, with 2MB L2 cache disabled). At stock, its 1.325v, 2.13Ghz, 266Mhz base FSB. I was able to reach 3.2Ghz on stock voltage (400Mhz base FSB). Orthos crashed, so I bumped the voltage by 0.00625v (1.33125v), and it ran orthos for 24+ hours. There was no change to ram settings, chipset voltage, ram voltage, or anything else except the base FSB and vCore -- thats how easy it is to OC these chips... like people say, they're born overclockers.

 

[silent-circuit]

since you say you don't do much gaming, im thinking gigabyte DS3 or an eVGA 650i ultra based motherboard, an Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 (you can overclock it to about 3.3 on average if you desire. but remember, it'll take some work. as with all high elvel overclocks. ) and some cheap but decent ram in a 2x1gb set (go check out the Memory forum. all i know is enthusiast stuff ) then go with whatever video card you can afford that is atleast a 7600GT

An E6420 is a much better choice, if only because they will hit 3.2Ghz /easily/ with an aftermarket cooler on stock or near stock vcore, and you'll be running DDR2-800 at native speeds if you link and sync in BIOS due to the 8x multiplier on this CPU.

Motherboard recommendations are good, however. If you're willing to spend more, the 680i is also a great choice. As you aren't a bit overclocker an EVGA 680i LT board will run you $170 after rebate at Newegg. If you want less expense, the EVGA 650i boards can be had for $100 after rebate. Unless you have a lot of drives you don't really "need" a 680i, though.

G.Skill DDR2-800 can be had for $83 for a 2GB set (2x1GB) at Newegg right now, and I'd grab it soon. Memory prices are supposedly going to be going up fairly soon.

As has been said, if you're ok with FPS for the moment keep your current card and watch the market, then when you get fed up buy. An 8500 or 8600 is a terrible investment if you're a gamer, as they are fair overpriced for their performance and will not be able to keep up once DX10 titles start coming out. The 8800GTS /flies/ compared with these cards, and a 640MB from EVGA can be found for $320 after rebate at Newegg.

EVGA is recommended because they have great customer support and warranty overclocking their products, so paying a few more dollars here and there for "peace of mind" is a good idea.