[meat_helmet]

Hi,

Im looking to upgrade the core of my pc very soon, needing it for about 50/50 games vs graphics (photoshop, 3ds max, CAD etc.). My current setup is:

Athlon 64 3500+
Asrock Dual SATAII Mobo
1GB Geil RAM
7900GT
Antec NeoHE 550W
2x80GB Seagate in Raid0
200GB Seagate

Obviously the CPU, mobo, and RAM are the first to be upgraded, and after alot recent, annoyingly slow work in photoshop, its needed.

I am looking at the following upgrades:

Intel Q6600
4GB OCZ System Elite 800mhz
Gigabyte P35-DQ6

I know 4GB seems overkill, but for graphics and mutlitasking it will help i know.

So basically what do you guys think? Is it worth getting the Q6600 if i can afford it, or would it be better to wait for the next AMD release (ive heard its months away yet)??

[QuaziBee]

I know about the kind of work you are doing and 4gb of RAM is just about right, I would opt for 8gb 64bit if I could afford it. As for the processor there will be a notable performance boost to rendering times for your money. If your running your own graphics business then you might as well splurge and call it a business expense for tax season.

[b1gapl]

Agreed with quazibee. 4gb of RAM is not overkill, for what you'll be doing. And a Q6600 for around $270, next month is pretty worth it. You'll notice a big difference compared to the 3500+.

[Riznarf]

if you have time...like, alot of it, id wait for the 45nm intel chips to come out (i'm forgetting the weird name they gave them) and get a true quad core, rather than 2 dual core's mashed into one chip.

not to say the q6600 isnt awesome, but....if you have the time and money, i think itd be worth it.

[b1gapl]

They're called Penryn. The quad core version of Penryn is Yorkfield.

[kobe24]

there is no point waitin for them to come out coz they will cost heaps to start of with

[mrfluffles]

Originally Posted by kobe24

there is no point waitin for them to come out coz they will cost heaps to start of with

No.. they won't. They'll obviously have lower and higher end models like any other processor release. (but waiting for a release that's over half a year away IS stupid)

And yeah for $270 a Q6600 is pretty sick.

[macdawg]

4gb ram is worthless unless your running vista 64 bit.

[Riznarf]

Originally Posted by macdawg

4gb ram is worthless unless your running vista 64 bit.

not for video/picture editing, the more ram the better...

[mrfluffles]

Originally Posted by Riznarf

not for video/picture editing, the more ram the better...

Not when your 32 bit os can't use the RAM.....