Poll: Upgrade Time: Split or whole partial build

[devotedsniper]

Right after doing a quick search it comes up with nothing so i'm going to ask if it were you, would you split an old motherboard, cpu, and ram or would you like me keep it together and mount it in an old (decent looking) case and sell as a whole.

For those interested the parts are;

Gigabyte G31M-ES2L
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz(B3 Edition)
OCZ 2 * 2GB 667Mhz DDR2 RAM (with built on heatspreaders)
XCLIO Propellor Case (if sold as a whole)

The Q6600 has been overclocked but i'm not afraid to mention this as it was well looked after, on a 3GHz OC with min temps of 15c (idle, 25c idle after a few hours) and a max temps of 42c across all cores, it still runs like new also.

I should also mention that this setup with my GTX 460 (which i'm keeping), it will run all games (that i've tried, except final fantasy XIV but you need at least 2 GPU's SLI'd/crossfired to run that as maximum, still looked stunning though) everything with ease on maximum all day long.

I'm either thinking sell it as a partial medium range gaming rig or split, i want £100 for the parts so if i can get more splitting it then i would go down that road but i doubt i would.

So what do ya think?

Oh and for the pure nosey i'm thinking of going X6 (never been with AMD so thought i'd try it) with 16GB GSkill DDR3 RAM.

Thanks,
Devoted.

 

[DefunctTheory]

It's too old to sell as a whole computer. probably easier to just part it out.

No idea why, though. An un-clocked Q6600 can run ANY game made (I know, because I have one as well). Not sure why you're upgrading.

 

[Kabutos]

Sell them as individual parts.

Also, what are you going to be using the X6/ 16GB RAM for?

 

[MrTub]

Why not wait for bulldozer or go with Sandy bridge? i5 2500k is better then a x6

 

[devotedsniper]

The only reason i'm thinking of AMD is purely because there alot cheaper than an i7 (and an i5 in my mind really is just another quad since it doesn't have hyperthreading) for what your getting really, in all honesty if i could find some boards which allowed more RAM than 4GB (i know theres boards which allow 8GB, but i found a great deal on RAM at the moment) for the LGA775 i'd be tempted to keep it since whatever i've chucked at it, it's done it fast and stable (i even have the settings for 4GHz saved).

I'm also looking into SLI, something i couldn't do with an AMD board though, the only problem is the 775 is now classed as obselete so it's hard to find a board which are made for these that offer good performance when everyones buying i series now, it's more or less as if i'm being forced to upgrade even though were only really coming to the end of dual cores being used for gaming (never had a game fully stress out my cpu, even when running standard).

I generally like to spend cash upgrading my machine (building them is abit of a hobby as it is) but not on parts i know still handle my games perfectly on maximum, i do need more RAM though since i generally run alot of programs that use alot of resources (e.g. compiling code in VS 08 and 10, netbeans, autocad, etc.), it's just a shame i can't find some boards which support more than 4GB along with SLI capabilities for the 775 (boards that i find offering 8GB waste 2 slots for DDR2 4GB max and then have 2 slots for DDR3, the great part..? you can't use them at the same time, even then they don't offer SLI), and even when i do find an SLI capable board there either used, or on sites i've never even heard of.

Well ima keep looking for the minute i'm not buying anything till the end of the month, and even then i have to buy a replacement power supply since mine went bang.

 

[MrTub]

Hmm.. Well if you do not want a i5 2500k and are not building on a small budget I would recommend i7 2600k since it got HT and with a decent cooler you can easily oc to 4.5-4.8ghz (Mine is OCed to 4,5ghz with h50 and never goes over 70c so could oc a bit more) If you want to get sli and high end cards I would really recommend at least 850-1000w psu just to be sure and with Fermi sli you need a good airflow in your chassi

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I'm also looking into SLI, something i couldn't do with an AMD board though

Nonsense. Plenty of AMD socket mobos offer SLI. Find time I ever used multiple GPUs it was a AMD socket mobo with SLI (Athlon 64 X2 3800+ and a pair of 6600GTs).

 

[devotedsniper]

Hmm.. Well if you do not want a i5 2500k and are not building on a small budget I would recommend i7 2600k since it got HT and with a decent cooler you can easily oc to 4.5-4.8ghz (Mine is OCed to 4,5ghz with h50 and never goes over 70c so could oc a bit more) If you want to get sli and high end cards I would really recommend at least 850-1000w psu just to be sure and with Fermi sli you need a good airflow in your chassi

Well i'm currently only weighing my options at the minute (i have to keep in my mind i need to buy a new car for travelling to and from uni this year. As for heat issues thats no issue for me, my case runs watercooling for the processor, and also i have 6 case fans lol. I know the 470 and 480 have heat issues but at the minute i'm only thinking of sticking another 460 in since the one i currently have runs great, i'm just looking for abit extra power so i don't have to upgrade every 6-7 months (only goes to 66c temp too when runnning at 100%).

As for the PSU i was looking at Corsair and OCZ Fatal1y until looking at the reviews and seeing alot of them seem to suffer from whining under load (my computers already loud as it is, i don't need whining to add to this). I think i'll be going for the Antec Truepower Quattro 850watt going off the reviews now.
.

I'm also looking into SLI, something i couldn't do with an AMD board though

Nonsense. Plenty of AMD socket mobos offer SLI. Find time I ever used multiple GPUs it was a AMD socket mobo with SLI (Athlon 64 X2 3800+ and a pair of 6600GTs).

I didn't mean it to sound impossible but it's hard finding a board which will do it with AM3 on the websites i use (i only use a select few which i trust, most of my parts come from ebuyer and overclockersuk, watercooling come from specialtech and watercoolinguk etc.).

 

[MrTub]

Well I'm running 480 sli with 2x 140mm 5x120mm and even then I need to have around 60-65% fanspeed on 100% load and considering 100% is around 4800rpm.. so if you decide on 480 sli I would really recommend water cooling.. Corsair Hx serie is pretty good also, but please do not buy hx1000.

 

[Kabutos]

I found an AM3 mobo [http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/motherboards/amdam3allchipsetmotherboards/90-MIBCS0-G0EAY0WZ.html] that supports SLI but only up to 8GB of RAM.

The MSI NF980-G65 has SLI and supports 16GB but I wasn't able to find it anywhere online.

However the MSI 870A Fuzion [http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/motherboards/amdam3allchipsetmotherboards/870AFUZION.html] supports 16GB but uses Hydra instead of SLI.

Your choice, really, but I wouldn't go with the 870A.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

However the MSI 870A Fuzion [http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/motherboards/amdam3allchipsetmotherboards/870AFUZION.html] supports 16GB but uses Hydra instead of SLI.

Your choice, really, but I wouldn't go with the 870A.

Hydra's N-mode and A-mode are rarely as efficient as SLI or Crossfire. They're getting better but there's a way to go yet... also not all GPUs are supported by Hydra. On the upside it's good if you want to piss about playing mix and match with GPUs and Hydra chipped Mobos are cheaper than those extremely rare mobos that have both SLI and Crossfire support.

 

[Kabutos]

Which is why I wouldn't go with it.

 

[devotedsniper]

Yeh i've seen a tech advert for the MSI big bang fuzion boards and they look quite good (i definatly like the concept or running any gpu's together), and the whole not sure if i'm gonna upgrade is now out the window...

I was happily playing on FFXIV when my desktop just lost power after messing about for a few hours i came to the conclusion the motherboard is dead, it wont power the components when i press the on button, yet everything else except my cpu is running on my spare dual core and motherboard, i have no idea if the CPU is dead (it looks like it's in perfect nick, so i'm guessing it survived but this motherboard only supports up to dual so i can't check unfortunatly...although i did drop it 30cm by accident when removing it...).

So i've been looking at the i7 series (giving Intel a fair chance since i am a fan of intel's anyway) and i'm seeing 3 different sockets 1155, 1156, and 1366 which has left me fairly stumped because, from what i can see from the spec sheets they all do same and offer the same (except clock speed) other than the i7-2600K and i7-2600S which somehow offer HD graphics without a dependant GPU (although if you have a processor this powerful surely you would have a dependant GPU?), i'm so confused at the moment (and i'm considered a computing expert, so i'm gonna power through and see if there any difference to the boards).

*5 minutes later* ok from what i can tell 1155 (aka sandybridge) are the better boards offering support of SATAIII and getting rid of IDE (aw that means i have to upgrade my dvd drive lol...what? it never broke and never failed, i never use dvd's other than burning cd's so why bother upgrading it? lol), i'm guessing if i do go i series it will be the sandybridge boards, whats your opinion on the sockets?

 

[MrTub]

Yeh i've seen a tech advert for the MSI big bang fuzion boards and they look quite good (i definatly like the concept or running any gpu's together), and the whole not sure if i'm gonna upgrade is now out the window...

I was happily playing on FFXIV when my desktop just lost power after messing about for a few hours i came to the conclusion the motherboard is dead, it wont power the components when i press the on button, yet everything else except my cpu is running on my spare dual core and motherboard, i have no idea if the CPU is dead (it looks like it's in perfect nick, so i'm guessing it survived but this motherboard only supports up to dual so i can't check unfortunatly...although i did drop it 30cm by accident when removing it...).

So i've been looking at the i7 series (giving Intel a fair chance since i am a fan of intel's anyway) and i'm seeing 3 different sockets 1155, 1156, and 1366 which has left me fairly stumped because, from what i can see from the spec sheets they all do same and offer the same (except clock speed) other than the i7-2600K and i7-2600S which somehow offer HD graphics without a dependant GPU (although if you have a processor this powerful surely you would have a dependant GPU?), i'm so confused at the moment (and i'm considered a computing expert, so i'm gonna power through and see if there any difference to the boards).

*5 minutes later* ok from what i can tell 1155 (aka sandybridge) are the better boards offering support of SATAIII and getting rid of IDE (aw that means i have to upgrade my dvd drive lol...what? it never broke and never failed, i never use dvd's other than burning cd's so why bother upgrading it? lol), i'm guessing if i do go i series it will be the sandybridge boards, whats your opinion on the sockets?

socket 1155 is for Sandy bridge cpu as you guessed and it's the newest socket and I would recommend it. SB cpus are extremely fast (compared to my old q9550) and very easy to OC and cheap (In sweden) 2600K means you can overclock it and 2600S means it takes less watt and 2600 means its standard version where you cannot overclock it

Make sure when you buy a mobo for socket 1155 that it says REV B3 since that is the updated mobo.