New life into existing rig: advice for a socket 775 system

[Mowaza]

Hi guys,

Im normally just confortable selling the entire machine off after 2.5 years and starting from scratch. This time im gonna hold on to some. SO heres the current setup:

A new E8500 as well as a 2yr old Q6600 (i could never oc it on my board)
Foxconn n680i sli N687AA board link: http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/Motherboards/detail_spec.aspx?ID=en-us0000270

Using thermalright 120 ultra extreme cooler for the cpu and thermaltake duorb's on the gpus

2x 1GB Geil C4 RAM and 2x 1GB Corsair XMS2 C4

Silverstone 750W PSU

2x 500Gb HDDs non raided 7200RPM

2x 8800GT in SLI currently


Antec P182 case which ill keep for now

I hit a dead end when i finally bought a new cpu (e8500) installed it...then realised its not officially spported (the 45nm part) aargh! so the machine is sitting there not getting through the POST stage. I can just whack back the q6600 and chug along at 2.4ghz..

I made a thread about my horror which could be of interest... http://forums.atomicmpc.com.au/index.php?showtopic=17731


Im right now thinking of either:

A: Return the E8500 since its not gonna work on the current setup (i got it coz of higher clock and oc ability on my board which doesnt clock quads because of power issues)

B: getting a new motherboard and use the e8500 on it which will eventually lead me to getting maybe ddr3 ram, a new gpu

C: Return the E8500 and use the q6600 on a new mobo that can o/c it to atleast 3.0

Problem: i want to buy a new mobo - being a nvidia fan i was thinking an sli one....but theyre all overpriced - if i by an intel chipset one (no idea which) and get say a GTX295, will i get the SLI option in windows given that its actually 2 gpus? im thinking not...


My next gpu would not be two single ones...rather somthing like a GTX 295 with 2 gpus on the same pcb and one slot.

Why should or shouldnt i go with the Ati family this time....4870? or something else...do they have dual gpus?

Forgive the excessive questions, ive never found myself in such a dilemma before -

Thanks

 

[skora]

I take it you did update the BIOS with the 6600 and then try the 8500? The other thread didn't say if you did or not.

If all you're looking for is a new sli board and not spend a mint, newegg a 750i. Runs around $115 +/- $15 depending on the flavor.

Then you can decide which processor to use depending on what the Q6600 will OC too. What exactly are you looking to gain by the E8500?

If you're using the E8500, don't step up to DDR3. THere really isn't much of a performance gain for the cost. If the ram and mobo gap has closed, then consider it, but I wouldn't go there since you have DDR2 already.

If you're worried about how much overpriced an LGA775 SLI board is then drop that you're considering a $500 vid card, you're definition of overpriced seems skewed. As for a duel GPU on one PCB, I believe it gets recognized as a single card. Don't have one, so don't quote me.

Before talking about any GPU purchase though, what resolution are you playing at and what settings are you able to get off your current 2x8800gts? If you're satisfied with what you have now, keep it and do the minimal to gain what you need. Save for a full upgrade down the road.

ATI does have the 4870x2 and a 4850x2 on one PCB also. The 4850x2 won't do much better than what you have now and the 4870x2 will pop you for $330+.