Huge Upgrades

[NightWolf]

Well i'm debating doing some huge upgrades well not really debating its just a matter of when. I have an old 1.7 ghz processor and really want to do better than that. It handles games pretty decently but i want it to handle new games without a flinch or a blink of an eye. What i was looking at was this processor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

now i know some expenses i have to incur to upgrade to this processor would be a system board and ram. My question is what system board and ram would you guys reccomend. I did some research on what boards the kentsfield can run on and found this site

http://www.techenclave.com/forums/motherboards-that-work-with-kentsfield-79943.html

Now out of all those boards can someone give me a link to where i can buy one and what ones would be reccomended.

(i would prefer a board that does not need a bios upgrade)

Second issue at hand is the ram what type ram should i upgrade to? Also I heard I might have to upgrade my power supply.

Several of my friends are trying to convince me to just buy a new system but i'd rather just upgrade what i have already i've already spent quite a bit of money on the system i have now and don't want it to be in vain. So Basically money is not really an issue here only catch is i want that processor so please don't place reccomendations on other processors to buy.

Basically What I'm looking for is what additional things will i need to purchase and links to them so i can buy them lol.

Thanks

[SOSTrooper]

The site you linked us to all the compatible motherboards is outdated. A lot more motherboards support existing as well as future quad core Intel CPUs. It's best to look for motherboards with newer chipsets, such as the Intel P35 or the X38. Here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200280+1070509908+107172277+1071728997&name=Intel+P35) is a list of P35 motherboards, and here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200280+1070509908+107172333&name=Intel+X38%2fX48) is a list of X38 motherboards (which supports DDR3 memory, perhaps I won't recommend it at this point). Brands like Gigabyte, Asus, and Abit are probably your best 3 to choose from.

As for memory, you'll need some DDR2. These are cheap now, 2GB of brand name memory (Corsair, Crucial, OCZ) can be had for under $50. Price difference between different speed is fairly minimal, but most people would go for PC2-6400 800MHz. Memory timing is another thing some people look for; the lower the number, the better. So that means 4-4-4-12 is better than 5-5-5-18. You can easily find the faster ones on newegg, such as this one. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565)

You'll likely need a new video card. I'm assuming your current system is running an AGP video card. New motherboards all support PCI-express X16 only. So you'll be looking to spend at least $200 on a higher end video card to get some good framerates on the new games you want to play. Currently the nVidia 8800GT as well as the ATI Radeon HD 3870 are the two hot video cards for $250 and $220, respectively. More people prefer the 8800GT over the HD 3870 because the former is faster.

Lastly you'll probably need a power supply too. If you're spending over $600 on the rest of the parts, don't take a chance by getting a cheap $40 600W power supply. You'll want your new and shiny computer parts powered by the most reliable power supply. Wattage wise, you'll be fine with anything above 500W, assuming you're looking at a respectable brand such as PC Power & Cooling, Seasonic, Silverstone, and Corsair. Check out this site (http://www.jonnyguru.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1460) for a list of recommended PSU for gaming systems.

At the end, you are looking at least $800 for the upgrade you want.

[adamantium]

Any Socket LGA 775 Intel mobo will work with that processor, and I imagine your case is ATX form factor, so just hop on newegg and go to the mobos and go to Intel > LGA 775 and have at it. There are a few there that have customer choice awards and look fucking excellent. I would definitely get a new power supply, and I push everyone who gets a new PSU to get modular. After having a modular PSU I will never go back, it is way too awesome. I have the Hiper PSU and I haven't had any problems with it, but lots of people are saying they die quickly so I don't know, maybe I just got lucky, but there are lots of modular PSUs out there now. If money is really no object go for the GeForce 8800GTX or 8800 Ultra.

[zany]

As said, you just gotta grab a Socket LGA 775 mobo. Keep in mind though that essentially you are going to be building a completely new system. You'll probably be able to keep your HDD, optical drives, and case... but you are going to end up with a new mobo, processor, ram, psu, graphics card, etc.

[NightWolf]

wow thanks for all the feedback if anybody has any further advice please post here. Also i already have a PCI-E card so thats 1 thing off the list i don't have to buy. So basically from what i gathered and kinda already knew is that what i'll need to upgrade is Power Supply Ram and mobo in order to upgrade my processor. Now I really want to know what is the Pros/Cons of the DDR2/DDR3 that you were just mentioning i have used DDR2 for the longest time and a friend of mine told me that in order for the cpu to run @ its fullest the ram and the mobo would have to match processor's speed so basically i was aware of the 1066 mobo but what does that translate to in ram when he told me that it was semi-confusing

And also after looking @ those mobo's i would like to know what the point of having more than 1 video card would be I wouldn't mind running multiple video cards but what would it enable me to do?

[zany]

Alright well perhaps somebody who knows about the differences between DDR2/DDR3 can post and help you, but I'll tell you what little I think I know about it. I'm pretty sure that DDR3 is supposed to be quite a bit faster than DDR2, but DDR2 has lower latency capabilities as it stands right now. Obviously if you want DDR3 memory then you have to get a mobo that supports it, which would be the X38 mobos Trooper mentioned.

Now, what I would do is go with DDR2 memory (probably PC2-6400 800MHz) and a good Socket LGA775 mobo, then grab that processor that you want. This will save you a LOT of money, as the X38 mobos and the DDR3 RAM modules are very expensive. However, if money really is no object and you are really wanting to delve into the latest technology, I would do some more research into the advantages of the new chipsets and the DDR3 RAM, and find out if it is worth buying now, or if it would be better to wait until the products are being tested and used more.

edit: OH, the dual graphics cards. From what I have read, two graphics cards in SLI (or crossfire) really only give you a major boost in performance when you are on max settings at very high resolutions. If you are going to be upgrading your RAM and processor, you would be perfectly justified in just getting a single 8800GTX 768mb that is overclocked. This would give you amazing performance. If for some reason you do play at insane resolutions and you are playing brand new game (Crysis) that are very taxing, then perhaps you would want to look into buying two cards. Otherwise I wouldn't worry about it.

edit2: With all of these modifications, it would be silly to overlook your cooling. If you currently have an old tower that doesn't have very good airflow, I STRONGLY recommend getting a full tower with good airflow to keep all those shiny new parts of yours cool.

[NightWolf]

my next question is what are the minimum power requirements for that processor or how would i find that out? I looked at the specs for the processor and couldn't figure out if i'd have to buy a new power supply

Brand Intel
Processors Type Desktop
Series Core 2 Quad
Model BX80562Q6600
CPU Socket Type
CPU Socket Type LGA 775

Tech Spec
Core Kentsfield
Multi-Core Quad-Core
Name Core 2 Quad Q6600
Operating Frequency 2.4GHz
FSB 1066MHz
L1 Cache 128KB+128KB
L2 Cache 2 x 4MB
Manufacturing Tech 65 nm
64 bit Support Yes
Hyper-Threading Support No
Virtualization Technology Support Yes
Multimedia Instruction MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3,SSSE3, EM64T
Voltage 0.85V – 1.5V
Cooling Device Heatsink and Fan included

Manufacturer Warranty
Parts 3 years limited
Labor 3 years limited


Also now the motherboard specs

Model
Brand ABIT
Model IX38 Quad GT
Supported CPU
CPU Socket Type LGA 775
CPU Type Quad-core / Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Duo / Pentium
FSB 1600/1333MHz

Chipsets
North Bridge Intel X38
South Bridge Intel ICH9R
Memory
Number of Memory Slots 4×240pin
Memory Standard DDR2 1066
Maximum Memory Supported 8GB
Dual Channel Supported Yes

Expansion Slots
PCI Express x16 2 x PCI-E X16 (support PCI Express 2.0)
1 x PCI-E X16 (X4 bandwidth)
PCI Express x1 1
PCI Slots 2
Storage Devices
PATA 1 x ATA100 2 Dev. Max
SATA 3Gb/s 8
SATA RAID 0/1/5/10
Additional RAID Controller JMB363
Support 0/1/JBOD RAID
Onboard Video
Onboard Video Chipset None
Onboard Audio
Audio Channels 8 Channels

Onboard LAN
Max LAN Speed 10/100/1000Mbps
Rear Panel Ports
PS/2 2
USB 4 x USB 2.0
IEEE 1394 1 x IEEE 1394a
eSATA 2 x eSATA 3Gb/s
S/PDIF Out 1x Optical, 1x Coaxial
Audio Ports 6 Ports

Onboard USB
Onboard USB 8 x USB 2.0
Physical Spec
Form Factor ATX
Dimensions 12.0" x 9.6"

Features
Power Pin 24 Pin
Features Solid State Capacitors - For Best Stability
New Generation Digital PWM - Cool and statble for a longer life
Onboard On/Off & Reset Buttons
External CCMOS Button
Extendor Silent Dual Pipe Cooling
2 x eSATA - Fast & fiexible
PCI-E 2.0 with CrossFire

Packaging
Package Contents IX38 Quad GT
Driver Disk
User Manual
Rear I/O Panel Shield
IDE/PATA Cable
FDD Cable
4 x SATA Cable

[SOSTrooper]

A lot of review sites include power consumption benchmark nowadays for some of the parts they review. Here is also a site (http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp) that loosely calculates the wattages based on the parts you have in your computer. A basic Q6600 and 8800GT setup with all other regular computer parts will require a 630W power supply, roughly. There's no real reason to buy anything over 800W power supply, even if you're going to go SLI or crossfire; it'll just be an overkill. A good branded power supply (see the site I linked in the other post) will have high efficiency (~80%) suitable for SLI setup. There is also a post in the sticky here that has a list of recommendations as well. Anything above 600W will be good if you're going SLI for your future computer.