Upgrading CPU Worth It?

[zach attack]

Hey!

GTX 570
Intel E8400
P5N-D Motherboard
4GB RAM
Vista 64 Bit

Those are my specs. We just got the GTX 570 but I believe now it's out performing the CPU. I feel I'm pretty limited with the LGA775 socket on the motherboard so would upgrading the motherboard and the CPU be worth it (I'd like to build a second computer with the motherboard, cpu and a GTX9800+)?

The E8400 is overclocked I believe. I don't know how much I overclocked it, that's something I'm going to look into again.

Without the motherboard upgrade, I think this is my only choice:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115130

So any advice?

 

[ace700]

I would upgrade the motherboard, ram and cpu becuase the socket LGA775 will be out of life in the next few months, when sandy bridge release more more versions of cpus. What is your buddget and what do you use you computer for?

 

[zach attack]

We do have a liquid cooler for the processor. I was just looking at these AMD 6 core processors and they look nice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=19-103-849&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo

3.2GHz with 6 cores at that price sounds pretty good to me!

 

[ace700]

There is not alot of programs that supports the use of 6 or 8 core processor. It will take the companies about 4 more years to get that far in software programing to use all 6 cores. The processor is not a bad chocie but low cache means slower processing information. I would either go with Intel Sandy bridge or a processor that has higher cache and lower thermal design for better power to cool ratio.

 

[ahumphers91]

Just get the H50 liquid cooler and OC the S H I T out of it LOL. You should be able to safley get 3.6-3.7 ghz out of the CPU.

 

[oc_mania]

The best choice right now would be an i5 2500k : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072&Tpk=2500k
You can easily overclock it to 4.4 Ghz, ive seen people overclock it to 5Ghz on air so with watercooling that shouldnt be a problem. the i7 2600k is a little faster because of the hyperthreading and +2mb cache but IMO giving another 100$ for that isnt worth it. Here are two charts of cpus :
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/2
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-overclocking-processor-recommendation,2866-5.html
Get any p67 motherboard for it, i would get an Asus, Gigabyte or Evga.

 

[zach attack]

Ok well I OC'd our current CPU to 3.6GHz (turns out I never actually OC'd it before, I just had the voltage up a little higher that whole time).

Sandy bridge looks good. Looking for the Z68 board, I found that that's not out yet (right?). Also, is windows 7 gonna help any?

The only reason I was looking at the AMD processors is cause they seem to be cheaper (maybe for a reason).

 

[zach attack]

Well, it was doing great until tonight. I wasn't actually on the computer when "it" happened but my brother said that the screen started "ripping" and a fan started spinning really loud. I un-clocked the CPU to see if it was overheating and if it'd do it again. Ran Crysis 2 (came out today) again and it froze up. Not sure what is causing this, I'm gonna look more into it tomorrow but suspect it's the brand new GTX 570 we got a couple days ago! My brother said he updated the driver and after that we've noticed these problems.

Right now I'd rather have stability so windows 7 is looking good right now!

 

[ace700]

he downloaded the beta veriosn of your graphics card. Start your computer in safe mode by pressing F8 before windows starts up. Uninstall the graphics card by go to device manager and remove any software that came with your graphics card.

 

[zach attack]

Ok, did a clean install on the card. Played crisis and was going good for about 30 minutes till it did it again (it used to do it after every death in the game... maybe cause it regenerated the map???). This may have to go to a new topic since it has nothing to do with the original post.

I just found smartdoctor, think I'll download it and give it try to see what I get.

 

[zach attack]

Looks like we found the problem. Disabled V-Sync in crisis and now it runs with no problems.

 

[commandermuffin]

I have a QX6850, 8GB RAM, and recently bought a GTX 570 as well. I was planning on doing a Sandy Bridge build with the Z68, but decided to hold off and wait for the successor to X58 (X68 maybe?) with the LGA2011 socket.

If you have a limited budget, I would suggest just upgrading to Windows 7 and possibly get some more RAM and wait until later for a new build.

 

[festerovic]

like others said, whatever you do don't buy a new s775 chip. The SB chips are nice and fast, and are a good choice if you have the money. Successors to the x58 will be overkill for gaming unless you are going high end 2 - 3 video cards.