Zaxbys

I have decided I need to upgrade my sig rig and need some advice.

I don't really have a budget but I am a full time student and therefore need to be smart with my money and buy parts that will offer the best price/performance ratio.

1. Lets start with the motherboard. I am beginning to have the need for more ability to do gaming when I can AND do multi-tasking well for the majority of the time that I am doing school work.

I am wanting to stay LGA775 because the new i7 just are not cost effective for me.

Now I know my 680i won't support most quads but I know I can get a Q6600 B3. Should I sell my E7200 and EVGA 680i and get a new Quad and Mobo or Just sell the E7200 and get the Q6600? Which would provide the best solution for me?

OR Should I simply go AMD for my mobo and CPU?

2. My onboard sound is just not cutting it for me anymore. Now my questions is... is there such thing as decent onboard audio? If not I was looking at the ASUS DX:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829132006

3. I have my 8800GTS but with the new COD4 and Battlefield Bad Company 2 coming out I am wondering would it be better to buy another GTS or sell my current one and get GTX 260?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130325

If I was to get a GTX 260 would the 650watt PSU support 1 or 2 of the 260's for the future?

4. I only have 2gb of RAM and I need more in order to max my multi tasking. My question is.... Is there a great jump between 4gb to 6gb to 8gb to 16gb of RAM? I know my 680i only supports 8gb but I am wondering where the "sweet spot" in performance is for DDR2 RAM

Thanks everyone ahead of time for your help.

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chavez885

Hard to answer all of this, how much do you have to spend?

That Corsair 650 is more than enough for this system.

4 gigs of ram is perfect.

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Zaxbys

Around $300-350... Instead of building a backup rig I want to upgrade. So would 8gb of RAM not give a fantastic performance boost compared to 4 gb?

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Zaxbys

Sorry for the double post.

Anyone else that can share wisdom with me on this subject?

I have thus far found out 4gb of RAM will best suit me but what about the other components?

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meticadpa

Actually, your CPU is fine just now, I'd get a GTX 260 and a Corsair 650W Power supply and call it a day. At least until you can afford a good board/CPU.

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chavez885

I'd go this route myself.

1. Pick up another 2GB of ram. There is no gains using 8GB over 4GB for gaming.

2. Pick up a GTX 260

3. Find a used Q6600 in the FS section of the forum, they usually go for 160-175.

__________________
[no XP fanboy] [no Vista hate] [no intel/amd fanboy] [no nvidia/ati fanboy]

Yes, WoW Hater

THE Overclock Guide, YA RLY