Dual or Quad?
 

Hey guys!

I've been lucky in the last month and the business was really good. So I have a few extra pounds that I would like to spend on an upgrade for my actual rig.

Budget : I don't really know for now, lets see what you guys will show me! :)
(+ money from the old parts that I will sell)

Actual rig :
Antec 300
750W corsair psu
EP45-DS3L GigaB mobo
Intel e5200 @ 3.33ghz - Wasnt even able to get it to 3.5 :(
Xigmatek heatsink
4gb 2x2 corsair @ 1066mhz
Xfx 9800GT

What I want : my 9800GT is strong enought for me now. But I'd like to futureproof my rig a little more with a sli or crossfire mobo and a faster processor. Im tired of waiting times when loading small programs like firefox, word or even msn. I'd really like my computer to start alot faster/run applications faster... Well I bet you got the point! A big leap in speed would be nice! :biggrin:

I was thinking about buying a quad since i7 is really out of price right now.

But yet, will a quad even increase my cpu's power this much ?

Im not experienced at all in the newer cpu parts so.. what do you think?

q6600 with a big overclock but and its a big but it depends on the apps you run are they mulity threaded. just cause e5200@3.3 is no slouch

What do you have for a hard drive? You'd be surprised at the difference a fast hard drive makes.

+1 to above

CPU isn't going to do a ton to make things load faster. That's mainly dependant on the hard drive. Might want to consider a Western Digital 640GB drive (Blue or Black).

SLI/Crossfire isn't really all it's marketed as being. When the time comes, you'd be better off getting a single, faster card rather than SLI'ing 9800GTs.

And if you really want to upgrade your CPU, I'd personally go with a Q9x50 CPU as they are 45nm and have 12MB L2 cache. However they are pretty expensive and the cheapest (Q9450) doesn't get massive overclocks, but 3.2-3.4GHz should be easily done.

The Q9x00s only have 6MB L2 cache but still 45nm, and the Q8x00s only have 4MB L2. A Q8200 is slightly faster than a Q6600 at stock though and cooler running. Though the Q8200 doesn't clock as well as the Q6600.

If you want a performance increase...
Get the WD640AAKS Black hard drive...two if you can afford them, RAID them up and voila...insane speeds

Next, go with the dual core E8500...OC the snot out of it, and you'll have a pretty smokin' fast system. Most apps don't take advantage of Quad Core technology anyways. As for gaming, I have friends who run quads and others who run duals, and there's no difference in performance, depending on the OC of course.

Don't waste your money on a second 9800, just step up and go with a 200 series card...that'll keep you happy for quite some time.

What do you mean by "RAID" that term is not familiar for me... And to make it worst, my main language is french :) Please explain!! xD


Besides that, I use a 500GB seagate barracuda but I will most probably switch it for a 640GB or a 10000rpm raptor?

Also, Im using windows XP pro 32bits. Should I buy a windows xp/vista 64 bits for faster speed?
And can the e5200 support a 64bits version of windows?

Thanks a bunch for the fast answers guys. As always HWC FTW.

i can explain that in french for you via Private message,

if you wish, drop me a PM

i have found the WD640AAKS= 16mb

but they also have the WD640AALS witch is 32mb cache and dual proc ...

should he be better with the LS or the KS

The harddrive suggestion is a definate must have thing to do.
Otherwise, I suggest getting an E8400 series, there are a lot of people here who run them 4gHz Air cooled so that would keep you going for a while at a very reasonable price.

My thoughts at least,
ST