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System Name | Cannon |
---|---|
Processor | Intel Core i7 13700K |
Motherboard | Asus Z690-P D4 |
Cooling | Corsair H100i PRO XT w/ Corsair ML120 White LED x2 |
Memory | 32GB (4x8GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro RGB 3600MHz |
Video Card(s) | Palit RTX 3060 Ti Dual 8GB |
Storage | 1TB 980 Pro w/Heatsink + 500GB 970 Evo Plus NVMe + 2TB MX500 + 500GB 850 Evo |
Display(s) | 34” Dell S3422DWG 3440x1440 144hz Curved + 27" Dell U2713H IPS 1440p + Dell P2219H IPS 1080p |
Case | Corsair 4000X RGB - 3xSP120 ELITE RGB (Front Intake) + 1xML120 White LED (Rear Exhaust) |
Audio Device(s) | Creative Sound Blaster Z SE + Logitech z623 2.1 |
Power Supply | Corsair RM850x SHIFT |
Mouse | Logitech G602 |
Keyboard | Corsair K70 RGB |
VR HMD | Oculus Quest 2 |
Software | Windows 11 Pro x64 || Linux Mint |
Benchmark Scores | None. Primary uses are browsing, music, gaming (mostly Battlefield & Doom) and virtualization! |
Hey Guys, I'm a long time reader of TPU and its forums, but have only joined recently, as I haven't felt I've had much to contribute to the community, but now I have a decision to make in regards to my motherboard and graphics card, and for the life of me can't decide what to do.
My current system specs are:
Q9550 @ Stock
Asus P5QC P45 mobo
2x2GB + 2x1GB Corsair Dominators PC-8500 @ 800mhz
EVGA GTX 260 216 55nm SSC
2x500GB Spinpoint F3s in RAID 0
650w Xigmatek NRP651
24" Iiyama Prolite E2407HDS 1080p monitor
There are several factors at play here, and I guess I have multiple questions that I would appreciate help with, any opinions would be welcomed
Basically I currently run a Asus P5QC, which I originally bought almost 2 years ago as i found its combo of 4xDDR2 and 2xDDR3 slots more appealing than the ability to use crossfire, as I thought it would increase it's longevity, as I needed a powerful, upgradeable build to see me through Uni, and at the time 775 was more appealing to me than AM2+.
(With hindsight however this motherboard is an appalling overclocker, not just from my experience, but from my research, it seems others have had limited success overclocking quads with this board too.)
However a year ago, I upgraded from an E2180, which i had mildly overclocked to 2.67GHz (as the mobo wouldn't let me go higher no matter what I tried) to a Q9550, which was all i could afford rather than a complete system overhaul, as I knew I had to go quad core if i still hoped to game and have a PC that could still handle entertainment 2-3 years after, and be as little of a bottleneck as possible to any graphics card upgrades i might do over that period.
My original plan was to overclock the chip to 3.4GHz or above, however the motherboard doesn't seem to like overclocking quads, as although 3.4GHz is prime95 & Intel burn test stable, the PC will BSOD after a few hours of running these settings; I am a relatively experienced overclocker, and have spent months tweaking the bios, which has been updated to the latest version, to no avail, so I'm wondering if it's worth buying a new motherboard now to aid my overclocking efforts, as at present, and for the foreseeable future, I am unable to upgrade to an i7 and/or DDR3. Another issue is that 2 of the DDR2 slots are only capable of speeds up to DDR2-800, which I found somewhat restrictive, as the system would BSOD if i raised the mem speeds any higher.
I am currently looking at the P5Q Deluxe, for multiple reasons, as it can do CrossfireX (something I am interested in, and will move on to in a min,) run my ram at anything above 800mhz, and have a PCIe x4 slot, as I would like to put a USB 3 expansion card in my rig soon, as I understand that PCIe 2.0 x1 slots have insufficient bandwidth for more than one USB 3.0 port. And I would like ICH10R, as I know raid performance is significantly better for my RAID 0 setup than previous ICHs & nForce motherboard southbridges. But I'm wondering if spending £120 on a dead socket upgrade is worth my money?
The next issue I have is that I am running a GTX 260 overclocked to be as fast as a 280, and am interested in the SLI hack talked about in these forums, I understand the concept and would like to run it myself if it is worth it, but again my current motherboard only has one PCIe x16 slot, so would need a motherboard upgrade to facilitate this idea, so again it raises the question of upgrading to another 775 mobo.
Alternatively I'm also wondering if I should instead sell my current single 260, and invest in a single 5850, as I am interested in AvP, BFBC2 and future DX11 games.
The next six month period is, realistically, the last chance I'm going to have to upgrade for the next couple of years, so I'd rather have some sort of overclocking headroom for my CPU, expandability (USB 3.0 card & maybe second gfx card [2nd 260 now with new P45 mobo, or second 5850 later on if i get rid of my 260 and replace it with a 5850 now]) and capacity to play games at my current res.
Is it worth trying to sell my CPU, Motherboard & RAM and putting about 200 pounds on top of the money I make off of it and buying something more upgradeable, or shall I spend money on a new motherboard for this perfectly capable platform?
I know there are multiple issues and questions here, and I hope I haven't made it too convoluted, apologies for the essay, but any help and advice would be greatly appreciated
My current system specs are:
Q9550 @ Stock
Asus P5QC P45 mobo
2x2GB + 2x1GB Corsair Dominators PC-8500 @ 800mhz
EVGA GTX 260 216 55nm SSC
2x500GB Spinpoint F3s in RAID 0
650w Xigmatek NRP651
24" Iiyama Prolite E2407HDS 1080p monitor
There are several factors at play here, and I guess I have multiple questions that I would appreciate help with, any opinions would be welcomed
Basically I currently run a Asus P5QC, which I originally bought almost 2 years ago as i found its combo of 4xDDR2 and 2xDDR3 slots more appealing than the ability to use crossfire, as I thought it would increase it's longevity, as I needed a powerful, upgradeable build to see me through Uni, and at the time 775 was more appealing to me than AM2+.
(With hindsight however this motherboard is an appalling overclocker, not just from my experience, but from my research, it seems others have had limited success overclocking quads with this board too.)
However a year ago, I upgraded from an E2180, which i had mildly overclocked to 2.67GHz (as the mobo wouldn't let me go higher no matter what I tried) to a Q9550, which was all i could afford rather than a complete system overhaul, as I knew I had to go quad core if i still hoped to game and have a PC that could still handle entertainment 2-3 years after, and be as little of a bottleneck as possible to any graphics card upgrades i might do over that period.
My original plan was to overclock the chip to 3.4GHz or above, however the motherboard doesn't seem to like overclocking quads, as although 3.4GHz is prime95 & Intel burn test stable, the PC will BSOD after a few hours of running these settings; I am a relatively experienced overclocker, and have spent months tweaking the bios, which has been updated to the latest version, to no avail, so I'm wondering if it's worth buying a new motherboard now to aid my overclocking efforts, as at present, and for the foreseeable future, I am unable to upgrade to an i7 and/or DDR3. Another issue is that 2 of the DDR2 slots are only capable of speeds up to DDR2-800, which I found somewhat restrictive, as the system would BSOD if i raised the mem speeds any higher.
I am currently looking at the P5Q Deluxe, for multiple reasons, as it can do CrossfireX (something I am interested in, and will move on to in a min,) run my ram at anything above 800mhz, and have a PCIe x4 slot, as I would like to put a USB 3 expansion card in my rig soon, as I understand that PCIe 2.0 x1 slots have insufficient bandwidth for more than one USB 3.0 port. And I would like ICH10R, as I know raid performance is significantly better for my RAID 0 setup than previous ICHs & nForce motherboard southbridges. But I'm wondering if spending £120 on a dead socket upgrade is worth my money?
The next issue I have is that I am running a GTX 260 overclocked to be as fast as a 280, and am interested in the SLI hack talked about in these forums, I understand the concept and would like to run it myself if it is worth it, but again my current motherboard only has one PCIe x16 slot, so would need a motherboard upgrade to facilitate this idea, so again it raises the question of upgrading to another 775 mobo.
Alternatively I'm also wondering if I should instead sell my current single 260, and invest in a single 5850, as I am interested in AvP, BFBC2 and future DX11 games.
The next six month period is, realistically, the last chance I'm going to have to upgrade for the next couple of years, so I'd rather have some sort of overclocking headroom for my CPU, expandability (USB 3.0 card & maybe second gfx card [2nd 260 now with new P45 mobo, or second 5850 later on if i get rid of my 260 and replace it with a 5850 now]) and capacity to play games at my current res.
Is it worth trying to sell my CPU, Motherboard & RAM and putting about 200 pounds on top of the money I make off of it and buying something more upgradeable, or shall I spend money on a new motherboard for this perfectly capable platform?
I know there are multiple issues and questions here, and I hope I haven't made it too convoluted, apologies for the essay, but any help and advice would be greatly appreciated
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