Core System Upgrade

[NapoleonDK]

Hey all,

Purchase date: Early December

Budget: $400 or under

Use: Average gaming, watching movies, Ableton Live, VM's, Ramdisk stuff.

Existing system:
Hanns-G 22"
Windows 7 Home Premium
OCZ Stealth Xstream (650w I think?)
Antec P193
Asus P5N-E SLI
Intel Q6600
4GB Kingston Hyper-X DDR2-1066
500GB HDD
DVD-RW
8800GTS 512

MSI Z68A-G43 (G3) LGA 1155 Intel Z68 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard ($109.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130621

Intel Core i5-2500K ($214.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 ($99.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233143

Total: $424.97

I'm looking for PCI Express 3.0 compatibility for Ivy when I have money in Q4 2012. Will probably be looking at purchasing a 560 in Q2 and a second for SLI in Q4.

1. Can I use my 8800GTS for one screen and the onboard Intel HD 3000 for a second screen? How will Lucid affect this? Can I play a fullscreen game and run Netflix on the second monitor?

2. Asus P5N-E BIOS is SLOW to post, even after disabling extra drives etc. Is UEFI faster? By how much? Do different motherboard manufacturers have faster UEFI implementations?

3. I know PCI Express 3.0 will not give me frames, especially on my 8800GTS. I only want it for forward compatibility. Is it too early to purchase a PCI Express 3.0 board? Should I save my money and get a $70 board instead?

4. I realize I could save money on RAM. I'm just greedy.


Thoughts?

 

[008Rohit]

Just get a nice aftermarket heatsink and overclock that processor. Its not in any way WEAK.

SLI the video card and get another HDD if you need more storage.

 

[NapoleonDK]

I've got a coolermaster hyper 212+ and I've never been able to get the Q6600 past 3.0Ghz. Real shame since it's a G0 stepper and I've got crazy airflow in that Antec P193. If I moved from the Q6600 to the i5-2500K I would be multiplying my processing power by 2.5 with a mild overclock...that's what has me drooling.

 

[NapoleonDK]

Or should I just get a Core i3-2100 now, put it in a nice mobo, then pawn it off on the little brother for Ivy later? I'm fairly satisfied with my Q6600, even stock, but it's starting to show it's age...