What needs replacing?

[RalliArt882]

Hi, I built this rig back in Dec. '06 and have been pretty happy with it. But I notice that prices are really starting to come down on quality parts that blow my hardware out of the water. For example, I spend $300 on my RAM alone and another $200 on my vid card when I built this machine. Now, I see DDR2 1066 ram for $100 and smokin' video cards for $200.

I'm going to college soon and I won't be able to bring this. But college is only 2 hours away for me, so I'll come home and have access to this rig pretty frequently. What stuff would you recommend I replace/upgrade? I'm thinking the video card would be a priority. Next might be RAM since it's so cheap. But will my mobo support faster RAM, or is DDR2 800 the fastest it will support?

I'm pretty satisfied with my cpu. It's rock solid stable @ 3.6ghz, and runs cool thanks to all of the fans blowing on it. I would think that the major bottleneck in games for me would be the video card, so I cannot justify getting a quad core. Thanks for your help.

 

[NightSurge]

I think that about cuts it, really. Go for the video card first, then later down the line you may wish to upgrade your motherboard to be ready for more future tech.

 

[RalliArt882]

Yeah I imagine I'll be getting a high end Crossfire mobo before the years end just to have the PCI 2.0 slots. Vista x64 will be in the works too for DX10.

 

[RalliArt882]

Just wondering: How does my e6600 compare clock-for-clock against newer Core 2 Duos? Are there Core 2s that are now alot faster?

 

[veg1992]

Well the new Wolfdales are faster clock per clock against the original Conroes (and will overclock better)

Don't even bother with a E6600, it sucks anyways with a B2, unless you get a really lucky VID it wouldn't overclock as well as an e4500 or e4600 or a newer Wolfdale

 

[thirdshiftdj]

wow a double post!!! This calls for a celebration

 

[veg1992]

Double post? What are you talking about

Ninja Mod Soft Delete

 

[RalliArt882]

Well the new Wolfdales are faster clock per clock against the original Conroes (and will overclock better)

Don't even bother with a E6600, it sucks anyways with a B2, unless you get a really lucky VID it wouldn't overclock as well as an e4500 or e4600 or a newer Wolfdale

I've already got an e6600 though at 3.6ghz and I was wondering how it stacks up to the Wolfdales at that speed. My biggest concern would be my cpu possibly bottlenecking a big vid card like a 4870 ect. since it's going to be 2 years old before long. Or am I ok since I got a good VIN apparently since it's 3.6ghz stable?

 

[veg1992]

Wolfdales are faster clock per clock (like I said before)

 

[RalliArt882]

Is it true that if I get a new mobo, that will require a new copy of Windows? I'm sure I'll do it anyway because I will need Vista x64 in due time.