Okay, it's upgrade time.

**DeusInnomen** · 05-02-08, 08:23 AM

See, I was all ready to take my $600 gov't-issued-reach-around and use it to pay down my credit card. However, I'm doing just fine in that department without it, so I'm gonna go ahead and obliged the fuckers and use it to "stimulate the economy." And by stimulate, I mean upgrade my system.

I'd go back to my old thread on the topic, but it's been more than a week since that thread so I'm sure the prices and specs are already out of date.

(Ok, it's been several months. Even more to my point, then.) Anyways, I need a mobo, proc and memory, and I don't want to exceed $600... I don't really want to spend ALL of it, either, but whatever. heh.

Anyways, educate the fuck out of me. Thanks.

**Mcstrange** · 05-02-08, 08:32 AM

http://techreport.com/articles.x/14610/6

Processor Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 $279.99
Motherboard Asus P5N-D $149.99
Memory Mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2-800 $75.99

Would be hard to go wrong with that setup, if you wanted to save a bit more go with the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 or the quad 6600

**DeusInnomen** · 05-02-08, 08:38 AM

Don't think I'm doing much that requires the Quad proc yet, but I wouldn't mind having that expandability available if development catches up with the Quad needs. If I were doing tons of development on my home system, I'd totally consider it cause Quad procs definitely speed up compiling time, but the rest of the apps out there aren't ready yet. But, I know they will be soon, so having that upgrade path is useful to me.

Looks like a good mobo, and closer to what I wanted to spend on one. I LIKE the look of the P5K3, don't get me wrong, but that's almost too much mobo. I don't have any need for dual network ports, but it does beg the question: is there an advantage with going with DDR3 over DDR2 yet? Yes, I will probably be overclocking this system a bit, at the very least.

**Mcstrange** · 05-02-08, 08:42 AM

150 is my MO-BO limit

you could find a cheaper one that does everything you need and more unless your planning on overclocking like a madman.

**DeusInnomen** · 05-02-08, 08:44 AM

Originally Posted by Mcstrange

150 is my MO-BO limit

you could find a cheaper one that does everything you need and more unless your planning on overclocking like a madman.

That's about the same here. I can't justify a motherboard that costs more than the processor being attached to it. *grin* Either way, thanks for the tips, I'll see what everyone else says too. Always appreciate, McStrange.

**DragonOEvil** · 05-02-08, 08:54 AM

Originally Posted by DeusInnomen

See, I was all ready to take my $600 gov't-issued-reach-around and use it to pay down my credit card. However, I'm doing just fine in that department without it, so I'm gonna go ahead and obliged the fuckers and use it to "stimulate the economy." And by stimulate, I mean upgrade my system.

I'd go back to my old thread on the topic, but it's been more than a week since that thread so I'm sure the prices and specs are already out of date.

(Ok, it's been several months. Even more to my point, then.) Anyways, I need a mobo, proc and memory, and I don't want to exceed $600... I don't really want to spend ALL of it, either, but whatever. heh.

Anyways, educate the fuck out of me. Thanks.

Why do you and I seem to consider upgrading at the same time

**DeusInnomen** · 05-02-08, 08:55 AM

Originally Posted by DragonOEvil

Originally Posted by DeusInnomen

See, I was all ready to take my $600 gov't-issued-reach-around and use it to pay down my credit card. However, I'm doing just fine in that department without it, so I'm gonna go ahead and obliged the fuckers and use it to "stimulate the economy." And by stimulate, I mean upgrade my system.

I'd go back to my old thread on the topic, but it's been more than a week since that thread so I'm sure the prices and specs are already out of date.

(Ok, it's been several months. Even more to my point, then.) Anyways, I need a mobo, proc and memory, and I don't want to exceed $600... I don't really want to spend ALL of it, either, but whatever. heh.

Anyways, educate the fuck out of me. Thanks.

Why do you and I seem to consider upgrading at the same time

Cause we're awesome.

**SapiensErus** · 05-02-08, 03:22 PM

Quad core supporting games are finally on the horizon. The current "multi core games" such as Supreme Commander don't actually benefit from greater than 2 cores in most tests. Presumeably they found little to offload to another core when they were doing their multi-thread optimization. Adobe CSIII, various video editing software, and a lot of scientific modeling software is multi-core optimized and benefits from greater than 2 cores.

I say may as well go Quad at this point. 6 months ago I argued to stay with dual core, but Intel's prices are damn competitive and many development tools take advantage of greater than two cores. They will only expend on that too. It is officially time to go for four if you got the extra penny according to the Soy.

The lineup McStrange recommended is where I would go. Just select a mobo that sports the same (P35 or better) chipset according to the deal of the day. Although I always loved Asus mobos... good stuff. Personally I love some OCZ RAM but I have never used Mushkin; although they do get excellent reviews.

Good luck!