worth it to upgrade my rig.

[rimmerchant]

I'm currently running a

- C2quad Q6600 overclocked to 3.2ghz
- 8gig DDR2 ram
- 120Gig SSD
- RAdeon 6950 (unlocked)
- 3x24" 1920x1200 ( I game in eyefinity mode)

I mostly play newer 3D fps


thinking of upgrading my CPU to a i7 series quad core. but I would have to get new mobo and ram too.

is my CPU that much of a bottleneck in game perfrmance to justify the upgrade?

[James]

I would say.... maybe.

If nothing else, the newer platform will allow you upgrade paths for newer cards (PCIe v3.0), more RAM, and newer SSD's (6Gbps options). Other than that, you would be looking at maybe 1 generation newer on the onboard sound, and native USB3.0 (This is assuming a move to an Ivy Bridge platform).

[kujoe2002]

I would say yes. Normally I would say just upgrade the CPU but the RAM being DDR2 is also of concern. I would do it also because when you DO need to finally upgrade, you will have most of the work done for you. I would get a mobo that can support the i7 @ 1555, DDR3 1333 RAM. The video card and SDD will be keepers. When I upgraded my system from my core 2 quad I was lucky cause my RAM was DDR3 so I could transfer it to the new mobo and CPU.

[richardginn]

I also say yes...

[rimmerchant]

I got a great price on a radeon 7970 3gb video card.


I hope the pciex 16 v2.1 of my mobo (gigabyte 965 ds3) will not be a bottle neck

[kujoe2002]

well if you are going to buy new parts, why not get another 6950 and crossfire them

[flutie98]

Im gonna disagree and suggest you wait. A 6950 and any C2D is plenty enough for all but BF3 at 1080p maxed out. If you can Id wait till Hasawell's release at the beginning of 2013, new platform which would be a much longer lived upgrade path than LGA1155 as it stands today.

[rimmerchant]

Im gonna disagree and suggest you wait. A 6950 and any C2D is plenty enough for all but BF3 at 1080p maxed out. If you can Id wait till Hasawell's release at the beginning of 2013, new platform which would be a much longer lived upgrade path than LGA1155 as it stands today.

good point. I'll stay with my q6600 core2 for now.
my 7970 should be in on monday

wonder how it compares to my current 6950. Hope the older mobo + cpu is not a bottle neck.

btw: for kujoe2002. my mobo is not SLI capable.

[James]

Even if you wait, I would almost suggest you pick up 32GB DDR3-1600 (4x8GB DIMM's) at some point through the next months. RAM prices have already pretty much bottomed out at this point, and Haswell as far as I know is going to be a DDR3 platform. We won't see a DDR4 controller until at least the next architecture change (2 years after Haswell).

[flutie98]

The 7970 should be plenty enough brute for the next couple years. There are not many CPU limited games these days except anything built off Source, the C2D should be plenty fast to support the 7970.

I agree with James, buy the memory whenever you see a good deal. memory will probably never be this cheap for awhile.