Hello,
First off, I built this entire system in September 2006 and it was high-end at that time. Time has flown and it is already 2013 and this system is fairly ancient now. This is what I'm looking for: 1) Not the latest and greatest. I don't want to pay to be bleeding edge. I'm perfectly fine buying a few years old technology provided it is not overpriced. 2) is this P5W DH Deluxe worth maxing out?. I realize the DDR2 ram is overpriced for what it is. how about upgrading to the Q6600 processor? Is it worth it? 3) Should I just abandon this motherboard entirely?
I need some help being steered in the right direction. I'm not much of a gamer, but I enjoy multi monitor displays. I primarily plan on setting up multiple virtual machines so a large amount of memory should be a must.
MAIN QUESTION: Is upgrading this a wise cost-effective choice?
Here is the current configuration; (NO OVERCLOCKING)
Quick Summary and purchase prices in 09/2006:
Case: P180B Antec Case (I will need to replace 1-2 fans) ($129.99)
Motherboard: Asus P5W DH Deluxe/WIFI-AP ($269.99)
Processor: E6600 Core 2 Duo Conroe 2.4Ghz ($360.00)
Ram: 2GB G.Skill Memory DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) ($259.99)
Video: MSI ATI Radeon X1900XTX PCI-E card 512MB ($426.99)
Hard Drive: Seagate Baracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA 3.0GB ($99.99)
DVD Drive: Lite-On 16x DVD+R SHM-165P6S ($34.50)
Extras: Zalman VF900 Video Card Cooler ($37.99)
I appreciate any help, thank you!
First off, I built this entire system in September 2006 and it was high-end at that time. Time has flown and it is already 2013 and this system is fairly ancient now. This is what I'm looking for: 1) Not the latest and greatest. I don't want to pay to be bleeding edge. I'm perfectly fine buying a few years old technology provided it is not overpriced. 2) is this P5W DH Deluxe worth maxing out?. I realize the DDR2 ram is overpriced for what it is. how about upgrading to the Q6600 processor? Is it worth it? 3) Should I just abandon this motherboard entirely?
I need some help being steered in the right direction. I'm not much of a gamer, but I enjoy multi monitor displays. I primarily plan on setting up multiple virtual machines so a large amount of memory should be a must.
MAIN QUESTION: Is upgrading this a wise cost-effective choice?
Here is the current configuration; (NO OVERCLOCKING)
Quick Summary and purchase prices in 09/2006:
Case: P180B Antec Case (I will need to replace 1-2 fans) ($129.99)
Motherboard: Asus P5W DH Deluxe/WIFI-AP ($269.99)
Processor: E6600 Core 2 Duo Conroe 2.4Ghz ($360.00)
Ram: 2GB G.Skill Memory DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) ($259.99)
Video: MSI ATI Radeon X1900XTX PCI-E card 512MB ($426.99)
Hard Drive: Seagate Baracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA 3.0GB ($99.99)
DVD Drive: Lite-On 16x DVD+R SHM-165P6S ($34.50)
Extras: Zalman VF900 Video Card Cooler ($37.99)
I appreciate any help, thank you!