Upgrade or not?

[taimaishu001]

I built my first computer last year and now I am looking for small upgrades to it without dropping a ton of money. Right now I have:

CPU: Q6600 oced to 3.0 ghz (for some reason, I cant really get any higher w/o instability, my current voltage I believe is v1.45 to keep it stable.. dont know why it is so high)

Mobo: MSI P7N Platinum w/ a 750i

Cooler: Tuniq Tower 120 (used... kinda want to get a better one)

Graphics: Asus Engtx 260 216sp stock clock

Power: PC Power and Cooling 750w

Case: Cooler Master HAF 922

HDD: Samsung Spindlepoint F3 1tb I believe

Screen: Asus 22in screen (cant remember off the top of my head ) w/ a 2ms response time @ 1680x1050

OS: Windows 7 Pro 64 bit


My main question is: Is it even worth it to upgrade it right now? Technically, all I am thinking about doing is MS office (MS WORD, EXCEL, etc) + some programing for my major as well as Star Craft 2. I know my computer right now can handle it, so IDK if I should bother. However, something inside me wants to upgrade it anyway (sigh). If I did, what would benefit me the most? A bigger screen? Better CPU cooler? (Thinking about the CoolIT ECO b/c I hate blowing dust out of the fins in my Tuniq tower). I dont need a mouse or keyboard, they are fine. Any suggestions? Or just a plain no, dont waste money?

Price for a upgrade would maybe be 200 or less...

 

[jonpaul37]

wow, either i'm really lucky or you are really unlucky, my Q6600 is @ 3.6 with 1.39 voltage, i'm using a Xigmatek HDT s1283 with the retention bracket. Temps never go past 65 degrees celcius.

It is possible that the motherboard you have is holding you back, but i'm not sure if it is a goof OC-ing motherboard either...

My guess is to get a better CPU cooler and clean your whole case out from any dust, thermal paste, etc.., then re-apply some arctic silver 5 to the new cooler and apply it to the CPU...

As far as upgrades go, that Q6600 @ 3.0 or above will serve you well, i have one and it ran my 5870 fine @ both 3.0 AND 3.6..., no problems there...

 

[taimaishu001]

Well, when I mean stable, I mean running OCCT. Ive run it with a bit lower before, but idk. I think it might be my mobo. Should I just use stock speeds?
As far as temps go, I dont think Ive seen my temps go beyond 70 while under full load, so I dont think its a temp issue. It just bluescreens on me with the lower voltages while running OCCT or Prime 95.

 

[jonpaul37]

What do you have to spend? (that you won't feel guilty spending.)

 

[taimaishu001]

200 or less

 

[jonpaul37]

well, that CPU is no slouch by any means and the video card you have is not bad at all either. I would say 2 options here...

First option, get a good LGA 775 P45 motherboard like the ASUS P5Q Pro or one of the selections from Gigabyte and get a new CPU cooler to see if you can OC that CPU some more. This option will not yield the best performance results but it will ensure that your system will last for quite a while longer without providing any sort of bottleneck with a future video card you may get.

Second Option, just keep what you have and save for either a 5870 or an i5/i7 platform.

For $200.00 you're not going to get a better video card than the one you already have, that is, unless you want to get another one and SLI them...