Suggest me some upgrades (Motherboard/CPU)

[Asm]

I'm looking to upgrade my motherboard and CPU

My CPU is a Quadcore Q6600 2.4Ghz
My Motherboard: ASRock 4core1333-ESATA

I would prefer a AMD CPU unless its best to go with Intel at the moment.

I was hoping to get a motherboard with DDR3, but is DDR3 really worth the upgrade?

My graphics card is a Ati 4870, I'm not upgrading that yet

Thanks for reading

Oh yeah, UK and my budget is under £250.

[url]http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-042-OE&groupid=43&catid=339&subcat=1803[/url]
Looks pretty good, what do you think?

[Jaehead]

budget and location?

Also if you have a tight budget, instead of buying a new CPU/mobo/RAM why don't you look into overclocking the q6600? They overclock very nicely.

assuming you have g0

[Juniez]

an i3 would be a downgrade silly

and 1156 at that too

[Asm]

Ah damn, I might just leave it until I can either spend more or something better comes out thats cheapish

[Jaehead]

do you have g0

[Asm]

Not that I know of

[Jaehead]

if you're not sure, download CPU-Z (not mine)

[img]http://valid.canardpc.com/cache/screenshot/770361.png[/img]

[Asm]

The program says Revision G0, I'm guessing that I can overclock it easy then?

[Jaehead]

yeah basically

just unlink RAM freq. and FSB, read up some tutorials and get started; even on stock you should be able to hit ~3.0GHz

this is personally my settings

355mhz * 9x multi = 3.2GHz running on 1.4V

[editline]4th January 2011[/editline]

also this is my preference but I like to keep temps below 70C during Prime95/Intel burn test at [i]all times[/i].

[Asm]

I have no idea what you just said but I'll try

[editline]5th January 2011[/editline]

Things you will need:
Needle-nose Pliers
Computer Fans
Heat-sink Compound
Computers
Screwdriver Sets
Computer Power Supplies
Processors
Back-up Drives

[editline]5th January 2011[/editline]

What the fuck this is all complicated

[editline]5th January 2011[/editline]

Okay so I need to buy a new heat sink or something

[editline]5th January 2011[/editline]

My current heatsink has a fan on it. that'll do right?

[Jaehead]

ok, I can give you a guide

first, before you make any adjustments, stress test your CPU (Prime95 or Intel Burn Test) and post your max temps

[Asm]

Okay thanks

[Jaehead]

before I give you further instructions I at least have to know if you have room for overclocks or not

[editline]4th January 2011[/editline]

so take temp readings

[Asm]

[img]http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/3701/tempsk.png[/img]

I did that. I dont know what it is but I did it

[Jaehead]

yeah, I would say that those temps are too high

I do not suggest that you overclock

[Asm]

What if I get a new heatsink?

[Jaehead]

go head and get one, but even for stock cooler those temps seem a bit high.

What's your case? Because some coolers have a tendency to be huge and not fit in some cases

[Asm]

[url]http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/thermaltake_soprano_dx/[/url]

[Jaehead]

Ok, that should have enough room.

Just grab a nice and cheap cooler. Maybe this?

[url]http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coolermaster-hyper-212-plus-4-heat-pipes-with-120mm-quiet-fan-lga775-1155-1156-1366-am2-am2plus-am3[/url]

[Asm]

Alright, will do. Thanks for the help again.