First off, hello to everyone! Before Christmas I am looking to upgrade the CPU and Motherboard of my PC. I have been looking at the Q6600 (Quad Core) since it has become very cheap (£150). I use my PC mostly for gaming and video-editing - Team Fortress 2, Bioshock, Counter Strike-Source etc. Therefore, I am wondering what is the best upgrade to make. Is it worth getting a Q6600, and if so what motherboard should I get with it? It would need to run everything else that I have at the moment (Ram, HD, GFX). If the quad core isn't worth it, what other processor could I get? My price limit is £200-250 for the CPU and Motherboard. I have heard that the Quad isn't that much better gaming wise but that it helps with video rendering, which I do quite a bit of. Any help would be great, I really don't know that much about PC's. I built this PC myself but I had help on the components to buy! Since then I have added to it (graphics card). ASUS P5PL2 Motherboard Celeron D 805 2.66ghz (Socket 775 LGA) WDC WD1600JS 160gb HD (x2) S-ATA NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 320mb 2 x 1GB DDR RAM PC2-4300 (266 MHz) PC2-5300 (333 MHz) I think I underclocked one of the RAM cards because my PC was unstable and kept rebooting. Thanks in advance!
If i was you i would first of all get the Q6600 Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition same price as normal Q6600 and on some websites its cheaper. This is better at overclocking beucase it uses less wattage which intern creates less heat. as for motherboard i would suggest getting the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard its a very good mobo with loads of potential and overclocking capabilities for a cheap price. I use it my self I found these two cheap on Overclockers UK Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R is around £70 and the Q6600 95W is around £150. So total is £210 well in your budget, the money left over you could by yourself a good CPU cooler.
Thanks for the reply I've looked at the motherboard you linked, and it's supported ram speeds are: Supported RAM Speed PC2-5300 PC2-6400 PC2-8500 PC3-10666 PC3-6400 PC3-8500 Whilst one of the RAM cards I have right now is PC2-4200. Does this mean it won't work? It's not a big problem but it's some more money I have to spend if it doesn't
I honestly don't know but my guess is it will work but really slow lol thats the best answer i can give you hope someone else with a bit more knowledge can help you. Will someone help this poor fella lol
Well, i really believe the Q6600 will be enough for both your video editing and gaming. As for the motherboard. Check this one out: Newegg.com - MSI P6N SLI-FI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail I have just recently purchased this board and i am very happy with it. It came with a booklet and i do believe it supports your type of RAM. Ill double check once again later and give you details.
Never used MSI mobos but heard they are good and plus this one is cheaper then the Gigabyte mobo i posted above so i reckon you should get this one and save you some more money.
