~$300 to spend upgrading, what would you do...

[kutark]

Ok, so here is the deal. I've had a fritzy Asus P5N-E that i have been dealing with for the better part of a year, and ive finally got some extra cash to replace it. Basically its unstable as hell, the MB temp will report 10 degrees C higher than the CPU at idle, and in games the MB temp will reach 55-60C. My roommate has the exact same case/mobo/vidcard/ram/psu, and his MB temps are 10-15C lower than mine are in the exact same situations, so i'm about 90% sure its the mobo.

Current Specs are:

C2D E6600, stock intel cooler
8800GT 512 OC
4GB Supertalent 5-5-5-15 DDR2-800
Coolermaster 620w PSU, dual rail
Coolermaster Praetorian 730 case.

I am definitely going to buy a new mobo, and was seriously considering the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R.

Ideas i have tossed around:

New mobo + c2d E8400 and new HDD (caviar black or something along those lines)

New mobo + 2x WD RE3 drives in a raid 0 array for system (i have other storage drives, so data safety is a non issue, would be doing this for system drive only and only for speed reasons, also aware this would have little to no affect on FPS, moreso looking for faster load times, etc)

New Mobo + New Graphics Card, possibly GTX260 or 4870.

Other issues to take into consideration:

I have height problems with my case. I can't fit a CPU cooler taller than about 115mm so most of the good coolers are out, as i discovered the hard way when i couldnt fit my Tuniq Tower 120, which has been serving duty as an ultra hardcore paper weight since i originally built this system.

So, my question, were you in my postion, keeping in mind i absolutely need to replace my motherboard, what would you do. New cpu? new gpu? something else? I'm hoping someone might look at this from a different angle and see something that i didnt. Or something i may not even know about, etc.

 

[Huttfuzz]

I would change the Case for an Antec 300..Put in the Tuniq that should fit just fine.

Take a new case. Like Antec 300. F...oduct.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042&Tpk=antec 300

The mobo you selected is fine.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359

Now you have 140$ left. But you can OC your CPU up to 3 or 3.2 no prob, even 3.4. What do you really want? with 140$ you could probably find a 4850. But is it worth it upgrading an 8800gt to a 4850? I don't think so.. I would wait and be patient, put a bit more bucks on the side and buy a 4870 or an gtx 260 like you said.

You're problem right now is you need to OC that CPU, and for that you need a cooler and a nice MB. So i think this is the best option.

 

[altazi]

I can understand your desire to replace the mobo, since it has been giving you problems. If you want to use your Tuniq Tower as a CPU cooler instead of a paperweight, maybe you should get a new case - assuming that is the cause of its failure to fit.

What else about your system - features, capabilities, performance, etc. - is creating annoyances or frustration? Target the problem areas. Otherwise, I don't see a reason to upgrade anything just because the $300 is available. You could always save it towards some higher-ticket item.

 

[kutark]

Well to be honest, its a $180 case, and i really like it. Its all aluminum and makes it very easy to lug around to lan parties and stuff. I'd really hate to replace it. I've been doing some measuring and im about 80% certain a zalman cnps8700 will fit on the new motherboard, which would allow me to OC my existing CPU. I'm not opposed to spending the extra $50 or so dollars on the heatsink if you guys think its a wise decision?

 

[altazi]

If you can't trust the CPU temperature readings with your existing mobo, get the new mobo and check the CPU temps. You can find out how well (or poorly) your existing HSF is performing. What kind of OC capacity do you have now? At the least, this will give you a baseline to help you in your decision to upgrade the HSF to provide better OCing.

80% certain on the CNPS8700 fitting in your case? How do you get the 80% figure? Can you measure the free space from the top of your CPU to the inside of the case side panel? Be sure to leave a few mm of clearance . . .

[Edit: Newegg currently has the CNPS8700 on sale for $54.99 + free shipping. The HSF is rated by users as 5 eggs average (best). What's not to like?]

 

[Huttfuzz]

He needs a news Case OR a new Heatsink, since he has only the stock intel cooler now, no serious OC can be performed.

 

[kutark]

The 80% certain figure is just something i'm pulling out of my arse. I don't have a physical board to do measurements with, so i have done some measurements based on pictures of the board. For example, the heatsinks for the northbridge and what not on the board are almost exactly as tall as the 3 audio connectors on the back of the motherboard. Measuring the 3 audio connectors on my board at home comes up at about 1.4 inches. Converting 1.4 inches into mm is about 37mm. The Zalman website states nothing taller than 39mm should be within a 61mm radius of the center of the CPU socket. Those MB heatsink are within 61mm (barely) and as far as i can tell are only 37mm tall. SO, as i said im not 100%, and i cant really rely on fake measurements, so i figured 80% sounds like a good number ;-).

As for OC'ing with the stock heatsink, as far as i can tell i can run at about 2.9 ish ghz, with no stability issues on the stock heatsink. Its just really hard to tell because the system loves to lockup randomly due to the skitzo motherboard. When i first played around with OC'ing i had it run prime95 for 12 hours straight at 2.93ghz with no issues (peaked at about 67C), but when i would game and it would utilize the rest of the system, even though the CPU wouldnt even breach 60C it would lock up badly. I eliminated the video card as a problem as i swapped cards with my roommate and the same problem arose, and my card would run in his system (which he has at 2.8ghz and has had for ~1.5 years with no stability issues, same heatsink, cpu, case, vid card, etc).

I guess what i could do is buy the mobo, do some measuring, and if it will fit, i can pick up the cnps8700.

Honestly if i can get 2.93ghz out of this CPU, im not gonna worry about spending $55 in the hopes that i can pull another 200 or 300mhz out of it. Im just not sure thats worth it.

 

[kutark]

Ok, did a bit of measuring in my current case. If i were to mount my 120mm side intake fan on the outside of the side panel, i would have absolute max of 135mm clearance in terms of heighth, so realistically more like 130-132. I Measured the height of the aluminum box surrounding the audio plugins and it comes out at 32mm, 33mm being safe. So, the heatsink on the EP45-UD3R shouldnt be at best 34-35mm which should leave enough clearance for the cnps8700. Checked RAM clearance, ram sits at precisely 32mm off the motherboard base. Opinions?