Upgrade Path

[Mic756]

Current System

e6750 @ 3.2
4 gigs ddr2
GIGABYTE P35-DS3L
8800 GTS 512 (oc'ed)
500w Antec

Budget: ~$300
Purpose: Gaming (Especially Battlefield BC2)

I won a gtx285 in a BF:BC2 online tournament and I was planning on putting it into my current system once I get it.

I was also thinking about picking up a q9550 from a local Microcenter for ~$170. Now this is where I need some advice. Will my 500w Antec PSU be enough?

I used a PSU calculator (http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine) and it came out to 332w.

If you feel that my upgraded system needs a new PSU, I would prefer it to be modular.

 

[Lmeow]

What I think:
CPU - Good idea to upgrade, that E6750's looking a bit old. Your motherboard does support the 45nm Core™ 2 series, and a Q9550 looks like a good option. Remember though, you need to flash your BIOS version to F9 in order for the motherboard to support it. If you don't want to flash your BIOS, you could still use a Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz without the need to flash your BIOS - though you'd have to get one of these CPUs from eBay. I suggest you get the Q9550 though, it's just another option.

RAM - 4GB of DDR2 is more than enough for gaming, it's a decent amount.
Graphics Card - GTX 285 looks good, will perform a bit worse than an HD 5850 or approximately the same as 8800GTS 512MB in SLI.

PSU - The GTX 285 is quite power-hungry, and I believe you should upgrade your PSU to something a bit beefier, although 500W is adequate. At Hothardware, their Core™ 2 Extreme QX9770 system with a GTX 285 only took 331W, but they seemed 50W-100W lower than other sites, so beware of that. The current that the PSU provides is more important than the wattage though nowadays. I'd go for a high quality 550W+ power supply with two 6-pin PCI-e connectors. A Corsair HX650W would do the job well, it's modular too, and give you some headroom for overclocking. If you want to get a cheaper PSU, an OCZ ModXStream 600W should work too, although OCZ's PSU reliability and quality isn't as good as Corsair's.

Your updated system would look like this:

Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz
Gigabyte P35-DS3L
4GB DDR2
GeForce GTX 285
Corsair HX650W/OCZ ModXStream 600W

If you can get a Q9550 for $170, the Corsair HX650W willl cost $109.99, while the OCZ ModXStream 600W will cost $74.99 then, in total, it'll be less than $300. I'd personally get the HX650W.

 

[Mic756]

Thanks for the replies, I will defiantly pick up a HX650W.

Now I have another question, since I will be picking up a Q9550 and I will be oc'ing it. What's my best option for HSF.

Right now I have a AC Freezer 7 Pro keeping my e6750(@ 3.2) around 33c, and it never gets above 37c under load.

Will a Freezer 7 Pro be good enough to get reasonable temps for a Q9550 in the 3.2-3.4 range? If not, I'm willing to shell out another $50-70 for HSF.