Currently run:
ASUS P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe
Intel E6600
4GB GSkill Ram
ATI 100-435801 Radeon X1900XT 512MB
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10000 RPM
XP PRO

Looking at the q9300 maybe vista? with a DX10 video card....

foolish?

Man you can clock the living daylights out of the E6600, I have a quad and can't even load up all 4 coress playing crysis at 1152x864 with everything set to very high. Why dont you load up cpu-z and core temp to see if your cpu is the bottleneck, if not just get a good card.

I think I'd have your graphics card down as the first upgrade. Will make a bigger difference than the processor in gaming, although the processor will make more of a difference in image/video manipulation.

8800GT? 9600gtx? HD4850? HD4870?

What's your budget?

Are you a gamer?
If yes a better video card would help. You would probably want Nvidia since you have SLI.
You might want Vista SP1 64-bit, although there is nothing worng with XP Pro.

+1 on upgrading the video card first.

No dont get a Q9300, OC your E6600, i were in the same situation, i wanted to change my E6600 and get a Q6600, but i didn't i OC'd my E6600 to 3.2GHZ and i love it

If u don't game alot,then keep the entire system,its a solid rig u have
But if u game alot, then only upgrade your GPU to HD 4850 or HD 4870

wait for nehalem to upgrade CPU. yours is plenty good enough.

I've ran Crysis on my E4400 and noticed not even a dual core gets fully loaded. Although I did notice it runs a lil more rougher then my Quad.

I wish people would stop saying that, but I guess they have nothing else better to say.

Crysis will run better on a quad (IMO), when the game has action going on. If you just standing in a peaceful part of the jungle, do you really want your cores to be loaded up, like you see on a regular single thread game, like Quake 3?

Running the Quake3 Demo, to where I normally see one core loaded on XP (90-100 percent), on Vista 64bit, one core is roughly 68 percent, and the other cores are NOT at idle, they still are at 10-30 percent loads.

I suppose I didn't play Crysis enough on XP when I had my quad to really notice how well if it does off balance. I'm only assuming, like I said before, that the threshold of the CPU usage is different in XP vs Vista.

I reckon two HD 4850 is gonna be better value

But in how many games will Crossfire scale well?

If your power supply can handle it.

If not, then youre in money on at least an 800w psu.


I just bought an OCZ StealthXStream 6 months ago because I wanted an 80%+ psu.

Has a 5 year warranty, and I really dont want to upgrade it because its "only" a 600

For me, the 4870 will be the better value. Although...I am going to wait until a 1GB 4870 is available.

That is a good enough card to run for quite some time. MY 8800GTS 640 lasted 2 years...no reason a 4870 shouldnt as well.

Well a single HD 4850 is a solid card,and also he has a SLI board.

To thall17,what resolution do u play @?

OK so it looks like a new video is the way to go....

4870, forgive me but is SLI 2 video cards??? IS it really worth it?

Thanks everyone....

Oh anyone have the propper settings to OC my system or is there software out there that will do it for me?

Again my thanks

Whoa, I don't think that's really necessary

To the OP, I'll cast my vote for upgrading the video card first; your CPU is not slow even by today's standards. I won't tell you what to buy 'cause it mostly comes down to personal preference...

Go for a new card but 2 of them may not be necessary, also u cant run 2 HD 4870 on a SLI board, read the FAQ :
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/foru [...] sfire-faqs
If u play @ 1280x1024 or lower, the a go for a HD 4850

OC'ng guide:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/foru [...] uals-guide

Temps:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/foru [...] ture-guide

There is no software that will overclock you CPU with decent results.
You have to do yourself in the BIOS, sounds to me like you need to read up on overclocking, or simply don't do it.
You COULD use a new video card if you are a gamer, upgrade to Vista, other than that you are fine for now.

any preference on the manufacture of the HD850?

Then you think wrong.

Crossfire 4850s pull a lot of power. Reread Toms review, and then Anands.

Crossfire will pull bugger all on an Nvidia board though...