Bitten by the Upgrade Bug!!!

[assasin]

hi guys
i mainly use my pc for gaming,surfing,watching movies and converting dvds to xvid using autogk.my present config is:
Proccy -> C2D E4300 @ 3.2GHz
Mobo -> Asus P5B Deluxe WiFi-AP
Ram -> 2*1GB DDR2 667 Transcend Jet Ram
HDD -> 2*160GB in RAID 0 & 320 GB
GPU -> XFX 8600GT Fatal1ty @ 720|1620|1700(850*2)
PSU -> Zebronics 400w (working flawlessly as of now)
UPS -> APC Back-UPS ES 500va
Monitor -> ViewSonic 1912wb

i'm getting 4k and 6.5-7k as buy back price for my proccy and gfx card from my vendor.i've a budget of bout 30k for my upgrade.
as of now i've decided to upgrade the following things:
Proccy -> C2Q Q6600 G0 Stepping
Ram -> 4*1GB DDR2 667 (will it help of i inc ram to 4GB from 2GB )
GPU -> XFX 8800GTS 320MB (will it suffice all my gaming needs for the next 8months .i run all my games @ 1440x900 res)
PSU -> i think i'll have to upgrade my psu if i get a 8800GTS 320MB and a Q6600.so plz suggest a good psu.
Cooling -> since i plan to oc the Q6600 so i think good 3rd party cooling.so plz sugget some good cooling solutions.
UPS -> i wanna upgrade to a 1KVA ups.but the APC 1100VA costs a bomb (7.2k).so plz suggest a good UPS.

plz give me ur valuable suggestions.
thnx.

[Pathik]

U hav a great config already dude.. Btw if u r considering an upgrade sell ur ram 2 and get 2*1gb or 4*1gb 800mhz value ram.. And get a 8800gts 320mb and a q6600 (g0).. Btw wich cabby do u hav? And get a 600w psu wit an additional 8 pin connector for ur gfx card..
Hey but u hav a p965 board.. Is it compatible wit c2q?

[assasin]

my mobo is compatible with C2Q and 1333MHz fsb.
as for the UPS plz suggest a good 1KVA ups.

[Who]

hmm... well i am going to give my honest opinion

First of all upgrading to C2Q 6600 is really good move, a quad proccy is very good future proof choice & you will see some benefits in gaming , now about the 4 GB ram , i would like to say there is no game out there that can take benefit of 4 GB ram at least for now, also buying 2 GB 800 Mhz won't really improve your performance.

now about the 8800 GTS 320 MB version , well i suggest you don't upgrade , the reason ? it won't last 8 months because new games will need 512 MB + V-ram & also it sucks in DX 10 games , you could get smooth FPS in 1024 x 768 resoultion , if i were you i would go buy


a C2Q 6600
4 GB ram DDR 3
9800 GTS

next year ,around june or july untill then ddr 3 would have become lot cheaper than now also ddr3 is a good way to be future proof , also i agree there is no announcement of 98xx hiting in july or something like that right now but i am kinda sure you will able to buy it in july,2008 but its your money so its your choice but if you go the way i suggested you , i can gurrante this config will last at least a year or two.


Have a nice day.

[assasin]

^^^ thnx for ur valuable suggestion.
my present mobo doesnt support DDR3.that means i'll hav to get a new mobo too...which i dont want too.
any news as to when Intel is releasing its native quad cores?

[Who]

well you can still go with the 4 GB DDR2 800 Mhz but i suggest you wait before you upgrade your graphics card.

[john_the_ultimate]

I would suggest that you just upgrade your proccy and ram for now and then get a gfx card later, which would support all the features directx 10.1

[quadroplex780]

Originally Posted by assasin

hi guys
i mainly use my pc for gaming,surfing,watching movies and converting dvds to xvid using autogk.my present config is:
Proccy -> C2D E4300 @ 3.2GHz
Mobo -> Asus P5B Deluxe WiFi-AP
Ram -> 2*1GB DDR2 667 Transcend Jet Ram
HDD -> 2*160GB in RAID 0 & 320 GB
GPU -> XFX 8600GT Fatal1ty @ 720|1620|1700(850*2)
PSU -> Zebronics 400w (working flawlessly as of now)
UPS -> APC Back-UPS ES 500va
Monitor -> ViewSonic 1912wb

i'm getting 4k and 6.5-7k as buy back price for my proccy and gfx card from my vendor.i've a budget of bout 30k for my upgrade.
as of now i've decided to upgrade the following things:
Proccy -> C2Q Q6600 G0 Stepping
Ram -> 4*1GB DDR2 667 (will it help of i inc ram to 4GB from 2GB )
GPU -> XFX 8800GTS 320MB (will it suffice all my gaming needs for the next 8months .i run all my games @ 1440x900 res)
PSU -> i think i'll have to upgrade my psu if i get a 8800GTS 320MB and a Q6600.so plz suggest a good psu.
Cooling -> since i plan to oc the Q6600 so i think good 3rd party cooling.so plz sugget some good cooling solutions.
UPS -> i wanna upgrade to a 1KVA ups.but the APC 1100VA costs a bomb (7.2k).so plz suggest a good UPS.

plz give me ur valuable suggestions.
thnx.

Wait I mean real wait think twice before going for 4 GB ram if u are not using 64 bit windows the 32 bit versions of windows along with 4 GB ram and ASUS mobo face many problems the prominent of which is half to 1/3 ram being unusable.I don't think that microsoft has released any update to address this issue.
Get a better cooling solution for the GFX(8800GTS)Like the HR-03 Plus with rest of the money.
I would also like to add that no application for the 32 bit windows version can require 4GB memory because of the limitation of the 32 bit versions Maximum ram that an application will require is 2GB with the rest for windows and other applications.

[utsav]

upgrading now is almost useless as u hav a great rig .i suggest u to only upgrade ur proccy.and plz tell me what u will do with 4GB RAM.

[shady_inc]

Your motherboard doesn't support SLI but supports crossfire.So,why not go in for an ATI card??

[Choto Cheeta]

May be u have missed this, http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66140

[deathvirus_me]

Have u checked the price ?? I don't 30k's will be enough for what u want to buy .. particularly since , for that card + proccy with OC i'd not recommend a PSU <5k's ..

[assasin]

@Choto Cheeta i've read that thread before.
i just wanted suggestions for my upgrade.i've ordered for the Q6600,will get it by 19th.
does any1 know whether P5K3 Premium is available in Kolkata or not?will it be a gr8 improvement over my present mobo (i've done the vdroop mod in my P5B Dlx)?

[Choto Cheeta]

does any1 know whether P5K3 Premium is available in Kolkata or not?

U have to give 3days time when i last time spoke with Vedant or Caltron... both of them have their outlet at Delhi both are willing to ship that here at Kolkata (MAX 3days) when pre-ordered...

[arun_chennai]

wait till Jan & get Penryn q9400 (2.66 12mb cache 95tdp)...

[assasin]

got my C2Q Q6600 G0 stepping today.oc'd it to 3GHz on stock.getting idle temps of 37-38c and load temps of 61-63c.will try to oc more.
shall get my 8800GTS 320MB 2morrow.
regarding the ups i got a APC Back-UPS RS 1100VA (double battery) for testing.it'll cost me 7.3k.is it worth buying it?plz suggest other ups models which will provide bout 30mins backup.

how much of a bottleneck is the 8600GT 256MB going to be in my rig??
i dont think i'll need any 3rd party coolers cuz the proccy temps r very much in limit @ 3GHz and i dont think i need to oc any more though i was able to push to 3.5GHz on stock.

[Hells_Fury]

^^I dont know about the 1.1 kVA model but the back-up 650VA used to give problems with the Corsair HX-620 PSU. I would suggest a smart series UPS from APC. I got the 750 VA model for 8.8k. Its perfectly fine, gives 15+ minutes backup in windows (not gaming). What PSU do you have?

[assasin]

^^^ i've a zebronics 400w psu.
hav u oc'd ur Q6600?how much did the ThermalRight Ultra-120 cost and wat is the diff in temps between this cooler and the stock hsf?

[Hells_Fury]

Yeah I have OC'd. Max OC I got was 3.03 Gigs (1350 FSB). My board is not suited for overclockin quads unfortunately. I got the u-120 from sidewinder computers ( www.sidewindercomputers.com ). Dont know the exact cost as it was a big combined order for me and my friend. you can get the thermalright ultra-120 extreme from Prime at Mumbai.
I havent tried the stock cooler so I dont know the temps. temps with the u-120 are around 40 degrees idle and 56 max on load (prime 95 on four cores) at 3.03 gigs. The above temperatures were tested a long time back and the ambient temperatures were quite high then.
Currently at stock settings idle temps are around 33 and load temps are around 45.

[assasin]

^^^ gr8 temps u got there @ load.
cud u suggest a CoolerMaster cooler from the Q6600?i'll be able to source only CM coolers here.

[Hells_Fury]

Check the following link:
http://www.anandtech.com/casecooling...spx?i=3097&p=6

There is a graph that compares quite a few coolers at idle and load. As you can see, CoolerMaster coolers arent as good as some of the others. According to that, the CM Hyper6+ is the best CM cooler.
I would really suggest you to get the ThermalRight Ultra-120 eXtreme from Prime ABGB in Mumbai. If im not mistaken, they ship to all locations in India. I dont know their contact details, but I have seen guys here discussing it. Just ask around.

[Harvik780]

Hey which PSU are u going to use,get atleast a cooler master 600Watt or else u'll face severe problems.

[Pathik]

@assasin here is Prime's Contact no if u want
022-23855500

[assasin]

^^^^ thnks a lot man for the contact info.

@harvik780 i'll decide on the psu 2night after i get to lay my hands on the card.

@Hells_Fury thnx for the link.

i got my XFX 8800GTS 320MB 2night.i didnt get any pci-e pwr connector bundled with the card,so made one for myself.
as of now i'm getting the following values in Everest:

GPU 67 °C (153 °F)
GPU Diode 74 °C (165 °F)
GPU Memory 67 °C (153 °F)
GPU Ambient 59 °C (138 °F)

GPU 1589 RPM (60%)

Voltage Values
CPU Core 1.29 V
+3.3 V 3.26 V
+5 V 5.17 V
+12 V 12.04 V
+5 V Standby 4.97 V
GPU Vcc 3.25 V

got a 3DMark05 (v1.1.0) of 13860 at stock speeds.
i noticed that after installing the card my mobo temp has inc'd from 40c to 47c.

all i wud like to know is whether all the above data r fine or is anything wrong?

[Hells_Fury]

Seems fine...are the GPU temps at stock or load?
BTW, I forgot to mention earlier that I lapped my procesor and thats why my temps are like that. Lapping helped reduce my temps by 3-4C.

[assasin]

those r the idling gpu temps @ 576|1350|1700.
did u get a pwr connector bundled with ur card.
i blew my Zebronics 400w psu yesterday.it just cudnt take the load of the card in games.so wont be able to game utill i get a good psu.

[Hells_Fury]

Yeah I got a power connector with my card but Im not using it cos I got PCI-E power connectors with my PSU.
Post your load temps also.

[assasin]

cant post my load temps untill i get a good psu.cuz if i load my card it'll blow out my standby psu.already 1 psu is gone,i dont wanna loose another.

after inc the gfx card fan speed i'm getting the following temps:

GPU 57 °C (135 °F)
GPU Diode 65 °C (149 °F)
GPU Memory 57 °C (135 °F)
GPU Ambient 52 °C (126 °F)
Seagate ST3320620SV 46 °C (115 °F)
WDC WD1600YD-01NVB1 62 °C (144 °F)


GPU 2612 RPM (90%)

Voltage Values
CPU Core 1.28 V
+3.3 V 3.26 V
+5 V 4.99 V
+12 V 11.99 V
+5 V Standby 4.95 V
GPU Vcc 3.24 V

[utsav]

ur HDD is too hot.it should be below 45 degrees

[assasin]

^^^ i know but i cant help it cuz its the refurbished drive i got from WD.