How to extract maximum juice out of my "rig"

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milindsmart

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So I bought my tower in 2008, with a Q6600, an Intel DG33FB. Last year I upgraded it with a Radeon HD6850, 6GB of RAM, 1 TB HDD, etc.

I am experiencing CPU bottlenecking in a few games, preventing me from getting the kind of game performance I need. So I want to do something about it now.

Now I know there's Ivy Bridge, and Haswell coming out, and I know Sandy Bridge itself beats this CPU horribly. But I want to extract maximum juice out of this, and I think I can find some cheap parts to upgrade my machine to a certain extent.

Like
FIRST, a good Gigabyte/Asus/ASRock P45 board.. This will allow me to overclock this processor...

SECOND, few months later, a used Q9650/9550 to push it even further.

Along the way, an SSD, and a RAM upgrade would also happen.

Now I realize I would be spending more this way than just an outright upgrade, but I am kind of willing to spend that to learn overclocking with 6 year old parts rather than brand new. Plus I may not need to overclock those. I am kind of a tweaker, and feel sad at the level of overintegration in Intel CPUs (memory controller, clock generator, PCIe controller) + socket changes so fast.

So am I COMPLETELY foolish and idiotic? I just want to feel the joy of upgrading when it is actually possible :(
 
Solution
D
seems like a case such as corsair 200r would be a cheap, good upgrade. if you set higher budget, you can aim for better cases.
imo both a better case and an aftermarket cooler will be good for better heat dissipation. if you want to put in the cooler first, then check your case specs if the cooler will fit inside the existing case. make sure it does not conflict with any other components such as ram heatsinks, chipset heatsinks or gfx card slot etc.
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de5_Roy

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it's not foolish to want to maximize performance of your current pc.
imo an ssd would be the best 'upgrade' instead of cpu/motherboard.
second would be a new gfx card. i'd recommend one, but the ongoing price war between amd and nvidia can trigger more price drops or promos any day.
stick out for a few months, see how haswell turns out, skip the c1 rev. motherboards and aim for c2 ones (those have usb 3.0 glitch fixed). if those don't satisfy you, amd's steamroller based cpu will come out in q1 2014 and intel is rumored to launch ivy bridge e (replacing sb-e) cpus later this year.
edit: meanwhile, ignore those impulses for cpu/mobo upgrades and save up money.
 
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milindsmart

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Well it so happens that I couldn't pass up a very nice deal for MSI P45 Platinum motherboard used, and so bought it for 3000 INR =~ 60$.

So you suggest SSD as the most worthwhile upgrade? Makes sense...

What about cabinet and CPU cooler? Since they should be transportable across newer platforms?
 
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de5_Roy

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cooler should be transfarable if it includes support(e.g. brackets) for newer sockets. cabinet should be less of an issue as long as it supports the current standard form factors. however, you should check if the current case has enough airflow, mobo clearance etc.
 
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milindsmart

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Will coolers be transferable to haswell too? I am not familiar with it, but heard that placement of mounting holes is the key to ensuring compatibility... I know about Hyper212, any others like it which are universally compatible?

my current case most certainly does not have any good airflow... Its badly designed, and running a case cover fan results in unbearable noise due to bad fitting and consequent vibration.. Its not even branded, just some junk sheet metal cobbled together into an ATX case... not to mention no HD Audio.. No front fans, no top fans, side fans are there but unusable as said above... I will post a screenshot once i get home.

As you can see, it's not my favourite part of my build :D

What do you mean by mobo clearance?
 
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de5_Roy

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when you said tower in the op, i assumed it was a full tower case. non-brand cases often cut a lot of corners.
by motherboard clearance i mean, for example, a gap on the top of the motherboard to slip in the 4/8 pin power cable or enough room for a top mounted fan or two alongside a tower cooler. if the case is non-brand, it might not have these little features.
if you swap the case(e.g. corsair carbide 200r) instead of buying whole new cpu, mobo parts, imo it'd be a cheaper upgrade. cheaper than an ssd.
going back to your first query: do you want to go through with your current parts of buy new, latest parts?
from the op,
But I want to extract maximum juice out of this, and I think I can find some cheap parts to upgrade my machine to a certain extent.
Click to expand...
i think a case and an ssd can help. third on the list would be the cpu cooler. i dunno what you have (that's why it's third, preceded by ssd -which was the easiest to suggest. :p this is why detailed info helps.), but i'd suggest you to check the accessories for support for new sockets (e.g. lga 1150). this will help you with your current build and help transfer the cooler to new build should you buy new cpu, mobo in the future.
imo, the biggest concern is the budget. if you invest in your current part to try to extract more perf, will you have enough to buy new parts later? it's up to you.
 
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milindsmart

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Certainly not branded... here's a pic

compcase.jpg


And not enough clearance to pass any cable underneath... just enough for any pins of chips on mobo to not touch the other side...

I currently have the stock q6600 cooler. Would a nice case with good airflow be better than a new CPU cooler for heat dissipation?

And I definitely won't be upgrading so soon that budget for a new system will eat into upgrade budget... In fact I plan to smoothly transition into a new one, by upgrading what I can separately, and finally CPU + mobo + RAM all at once when they start seriously affecting performance. Trying to not get into consumerist buy, throw and upgrade cycle :)
 
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de5_Roy

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Oct 14, 2011
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seems like a case such as corsair 200r would be a cheap, good upgrade. if you set higher budget, you can aim for better cases.
imo both a better case and an aftermarket cooler will be good for better heat dissipation. if you want to put in the cooler first, then check your case specs if the cooler will fit inside the existing case. make sure it does not conflict with any other components such as ram heatsinks, chipset heatsinks or gfx card slot etc.
 
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milindsmart

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Ah I had forgotten about conflicts with space required by the heatsink... Since a CPU cooler gives more immediate return, will probably get that first... possibly will take entire case to shop and get it fitted there, to avoid confusion later..

Looking at the vast choice of cases I'm lost though... How do I choose the one with best airflow?
 
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