Upgrading Processor / Motherboard (and new ram, since new MB is DDR3)

[JoeWunsch]

Hey everyone,

I have known for a while now that my Processor is my bottleneck, for some reason when I built this PC in February I went AMD, and I am running a dual core AMDx2 Windsor 6000+ processor.

I am looking to switch over to intel, and with a quadcore processor. I was looking to spend around 1000$ on my new Processor/MB/Ram upgrade, and this is what I have come up with below.

If anyone could add any comments or suggestions, please do. Thanks!

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115042')

Asus Motherboard ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131276')

Corsair Ram ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145200')


Thanks for taking the time to read this.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

If you're butting up against your budget limits, I'd suggest the Q6600 with an easy overclock to 3.0GHz. Saves you $130, which you can spend upgrading your heatsink to a Thermalright Ultra 120 + Scythe Flex fan. ;)

[-silencer-]

You can spend quite a bit less and still have one fast rig. Honestly, that motherboard is overkill - I can't imagine spending nearly $400 on a motherboard unless it offers something I absolutely need that a $200-$275 motherboard doesn't have (like when nVidia first offered SLI). I'd rather have 8GB RAM and a $200 mobo..
Also, with Nehalem coming out later this year, I'd rather take the new chip architecture over a process shrink in Intel's tick-tock CPU releases when spending big bucks. Current reviews of Nehalem show that it has a substantial enough increase in performance to make it worth it. For a process shrink CPU in the tick-tock releases, I'd get the cheapest availalbe and OC the sucker.. like the E8400.

[Freddie]

I agree with Silencer on most of what he said. Spending $1000 on this stuff is a waste of money. The components you've picked out will buy you only a small performance increase compared to DDR2, but at a huge price premium, and then they will be obsolete at the end of the year anyway when Nehalem comes out. (Well not really obsolete, but they will seem slow and antique compared to what will be available at the end of this year.) Buy a cheap P35 mother board for less than $150, DDR2, and a moderate-priced CPU. Save the rest of the money and upgrade to Nehalem later if you want to.

The only thing I disagree about is a quad vs. dual core CPU. If you're running a lot of WoW's, get a quad.

[Groovy]

I would have to agree with Silencer to, that motherboard is way to overkill, there are alot of features on it you will never use and as Ughmaheadhurtz pointed out, a simple Q6600 cpu can dish out a ton of porcessing power if overclocked + good cooling. As for the Corsair, they are pretty nice, but you could get the same type from a kingston for half the price, minus the heatsinks.

[JoeWunsch]

Thanks I appreciate everyone's comments, I don't know much about hardware besides how to go to newegg, sort by price, and pick one by a good company with good reviews ;)

So I really appreciate and will use all the help. I agree I am not going to put so much money into it, if in 6 months a new architecture is coming out.

I am going to re-evaluate tonight and I will post what I come up with.

I am also running a Asus 8800 GTX graphic card, and at 4 WoW clients my PC starts bottlenecking at 90+%, with 5 it is almost always at 98%/100%.
And my FPS starts taking a nosedove with around 20'ish in Shatt, and low 30's in Battlegrounds. When alliance AV zerg first approaches sometimes it takes 10-15 seconds before they show up, until then everyone is invisible i can see the shadows and target though.

My goal is to get my main char fps to around 50, with the 4 slaves maxfpsbk set to 25.

Anyway thanks again everyone and I will post up tonight the parts I am switching to.

[Groovy]

Thanks I appreciate everyone's comments, I don't know much about hardware besides how to go to newegg, sort by price, and pick one by a good company with good reviews ;)

So I really appreciate and will use all the help. I agree I am not going to put so much money into it, if in 6 months a new architecture is coming out.

I am going to re-evaluate tonight and I will post what I come up with.

I am also running a Asus 8800 GTX graphic card, and at 4 WoW clients my PC starts bottlenecking at 90+%, with 5 it is almost always at 98%/100%.
And my FPS starts taking a nosedove with around 20'ish in Shatt, and low 30's in Battlegrounds. When alliance AV zerg first approaches sometimes it takes 10-15 seconds before they show up, until then everyone is invisible i can see the shadows and target though.

My goal is to get my main char fps to around 50, with the 4 slaves maxfpsbk set to 25.

Anyway thanks again everyone and I will post up tonight the parts I am switching to.I'm running a 8800 GT, Shatt will always be a lag pit from hell, but a bg should not get you fps down that much, have you tried putting your alt's settings down to either medium or low?

[Freddie]

I would get something approximately like this. I picked fast but this will give you the general idea.

Memory: G.Skill 4 GB 1066 $89.99 ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166')
Motherboard: GA-EP35-DS3R $119.99 ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128086')
CPU: Q6600 $195 ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115018')

Total cost: $405. Plus you'll need a fan (edit: I meant cooler) if you overclock.

Early next year, you can use the $600 that you saved to upgrade again to Nehalem.

[Bollwerk]

DDR3 RAM is a waste of money IMHO. The speed difference is tiny (if any) in real world apps/games.

[JoeWunsch]

Thanks I appreciate everyone's comments, I don't know much about hardware besides how to go to newegg, sort by price, and pick one by a good company with good reviews ;)

So I really appreciate and will use all the help. I agree I am not going to put so much money into it, if in 6 months a new architecture is coming out.

I am going to re-evaluate tonight and I will post what I come up with.

I am also running a Asus 8800 GTX graphic card, and at 4 WoW clients my PC starts bottlenecking at 90+%, with 5 it is almost always at 98%/100%.
And my FPS starts taking a nosedove with around 20'ish in Shatt, and low 30's in Battlegrounds. When alliance AV zerg first approaches sometimes it takes 10-15 seconds before they show up, until then everyone is invisible i can see the shadows and target though.

My goal is to get my main char fps to around 50, with the 4 slaves maxfpsbk set to 25.

Anyway thanks again everyone and I will post up tonight the parts I am switching to.I'm running a 8800 GT, Shatt will always be a lag pit from hell, but a bg should not get you fps down that much, have you tried putting your alt's settings down to either medium or low?This is actually with all my settings on low man, with 4 wows open im using 1/4 my ram, and im already at 90-100% cpu usage.

the 5th one pretty much makes me stay at 98/100%, but the 4th already kills my FPS. With an 8800 I was expecting much higher FPS than I am getting.

Thanks for the help everyone I really appreciate it, you guys saved me a lot of money. Also thanks for the heads up on the new chip coming out in 6 months (not sure if chip is the correct word, but you know what I mean).

I am going to look that up now just because I am curious, and I will def be getting one when they are released and around 400 dollars / or something reasonable.

[-silencer-]

I would get something approximately like this. I picked fast but this will give you the general idea.

Memory: G.Skill 4 GB 1066 $89.99 ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166')
Motherboard: GA-EP35-DS3R $119.99 ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128086')
CPU: Q6600 $195 ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115018')

Total cost: $405. Plus you'll need a fan (edit: I meant cooler) if you overclock.

Early next year, you can use the $600 that you saved to upgrade again to Nehalem.
That's perfect for anyone looking to buy an upgrade now. I do agree with going for quad over dual if someone has 5-boxing in mind, I was just stating the difference between process shrink vs new architecture for Intel's releases. Easily go with the Q6600, a P35 board, and 4-8GB of decent DDR2-800+.

[Freddie]

Yep, that makes sense. We're in total agreement. :)