Upgrade videocard or upgrade system

[Guest]

Just wanted to get some feedback on what i should do. Here is my current setup:

Intel Q6600 (G0 stepping)
Gigabyte P35-DS3R Rev 2.1
OCZ GOLD XTC 6400 (4X1 gig DIMM's)
Creative X-FI Soundcard
Seagate 32 mg 500 gig harddrive
Antec 900 case
OCZ Gamestream 700W power supply

Basically what i want to do is prep my system for FFXIV coming out in late September. The problem comes in that i don't have the money to do a complete upgrade. Below are my 2 choices:

Option 1 (video card and overclock Q6600 to 3.4 to 3.6 ghz)
Videocard: MSI GeForce GTX 460 Fermi Cyclone OC 725MHZ 1024MB
New Heatsink: Corsair H50

Option 2 (Motherboard, CPU and RAM)
Motherboard: MSI P55A-G55 SLI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3.0
CPU: Intel Core i5 760 Quad Core Processor Lynnfield
RAM: G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL Ripjaws PC3-12800 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1600

So that's what i am looking at. I know option 2 will cost a few hundred more.

Thanks in advance,

 

[coldsleep]

Maybe I'm missing something, but what is your current graphics card?

 

[Guest]

lol just realized that XFX 8800GT 512

 

[sp12]

I'd avoid the H50, and spend the money saved on a GTX 470 at 270$ or less.

 

[Guest]

Really you don't think i should overclock my CPU? I'm afraid i will run into a bottleneck with my videocard if i don't.
Also what heatsink would you use to OC the Q6600. I was also looking at these:

Scythe Mugen 2 REV.B. HeatPipes CPU Heatsink
and
Thermalright MUX-120 X-SILENT Multiple HeatPipes CPU Cooler

that teamed with Arctic Cooling MX-3 Thermal Compound

 

[coldsleep]

Minimum specs follow:

Operating System: Windows XP/Vista/7.
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz or AMD Athlon X2 2GHz.
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9600 512MB or ATI Radeon HD 2900 512MB and DirectX 9.
Memory: 2GB of RAM.
Disk Space: 15GB.

Recommended specs:

Operating System: Windows 7 32-bit/64-bit.
Processor: Intel Core i7 2.66GHz or higher. *
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 or better with VRAM 768MB or more and DirectX 9. **
Memory: 4GB of RAM.
Disk Space: 15GB.

It looks to me like your GPU is completely below the minimum specs, while your CPU is above the minimum specs. I'd upgrade the GPU, and if you want to overclock, go for it. The H50 is adequate, but at the same price, you can get a top-end air cooler. Check out frostytech for ideas on what to go with.

What resolution are you gaming at?

 

[Guest]

I game at 1680X1050 so not extremely high resolution. That link for heatsinks was extremely useful, think i might go with the Thermaltake Frio after looking at it.

Thanks

 

[coldsleep]

The 460 should be more than enough at your current resolution. It's a little weak for 1920x1080 and up with high/ultra details, but I think you'll be fine.

If you decide to build a new system within the next year or so, you should be able to move the 460 to that build, possibly buy another for SLI and go with that until you need GPU upgrade in a few years.

 

[Guest]

Best answer selected by CommanderBunBun.