Need help confirming upgrade to homebuilt Intel E6600

[Macraider]

Thanks for reviewing my post. I'm looking to upgrade a computer I originally built in 2006, then modified over the last two years.

About me: Use Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Office, iTunes - some encoding of audio/video, Photoshop and Lightroom extensively, InDesign, Illustrator, PDF creation, and might get into very limited video work in the future. No gaming.

The current config is approx.:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Scythe SCNJ-1100P 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler
Intel D975XBX Socket 775 ATX Extreme Bad Axe
3 GB RAM (Patriot 2 x 512, Micron 2 x 1 GB)
Corsair CMPSU-520HX 520W ATX12V v2.2
2 x WD Caviar SE16 - 7200 rpm - 500 GB - 16 MB Cache
Antec Solo Black/Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower
ATI Radeon X850 Platinum Ed. w/ 256 MB GDDR3
2 x HP LP 2065 (20") monitors, color calibrated w/ a Spyder 3


Here is the upgrade I'm thinking about:

+ Intel Core i7 860
+ New motherboard, currently model unknown/tbd ??
+ New RAM, maybe Patriot 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) ??


Key questions:

1. What motherboard are you using today with your i7 860? Are you happy with your purchase?

2. What am I missing (or should be thinking about)?

3. Presumably my CPU Cooler isn't going to work (I haven't researched this yet). Any suggestions?

4. Will my power supply work? Like some of the other components, it was purchased based on being very quiet.

5. Can I live with my video card (since I don't play games on the PC)?


I appreciate the help!

-Chris

 

[Outlander_04]

the i7 860 is a socket 1156 processor .
It uses dual channel RAM not triple channel .
A 2 x2 gig kit is what you should be looking for

Plenty of mb's avaliable . Choose a good brand like asus or gigabyte and a model that has the features you are looking for .

Have a look on newegg for combos IMO

 

[ekoostik]

I have had Gigabyte's GA-P55M-UD2 running my i7 860 for almost a week and am happy with it. There are some motherboards that support older coolers, I'm fairly certain ASRock's boards, or some of them do. Look around a little at pricing and features and see what's best for your needs.

Outlander's right, you want a 2x2GB kit. Also be sure to check the Voltage on the kit you get. 1.5V is the recommended spec. Anything over 1.65V is bad.

Your PSU should be fine, especially if you keep it to 1 card and you don't get too high end with your GPU choice.

If your GPU works for you now then it sounds like you can live with it. That being said, I don't know anything about that card - for instance, what kind of slot it fits? So do some more checking on that, and be sure it will fit into whatever motherboard you select.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Don't forget that you'll need a 64-bit OS to fully use 4GB + of RAM. Are you currently using 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7?

 

[Macraider]

Good point - I do plan to run Windows 7 (64-bit).