Windows 7, this rig is old enough that Windows 10 might not have full hardware support for all components. And yes, 64 bits. GPU is a bit weak, a power-efficient GPU like the GTX 960 might be a good upgrade at reasonable cost.
Hardware & Technical Just bpught a used computer!!
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Windows 7, this rig is old enough that Windows 10 might not have full hardware support for all components. And yes, 64 bits. GPU is a bit weak, a power-efficient GPU like the GTX 960 might be a good upgrade at reasonable cost.
hi you need to overclock that q6600 as best as you can. i had mine performing the same gaming lvls as an fx 8120. if you dont do that then it will seriously hinder you. (it is a botleneck even over clocked)
and the gpu needs to be swapped out for something like a 660 gtx.
But if thats done it will be reasonably compitent.
i wouldnt bother with a 960 as the base hardware you have will generally be wasted on it. but a 660 or hd 7870 would probably do the job at an acceptable level anything better than that though and you will be limited by the cpu. (a more modern card of the same performance would also work i guess)
and the gpu needs to be swapped out for something like a 660 gtx.
But if thats done it will be reasonably compitent.
i wouldnt bother with a 960 as the base hardware you have will generally be wasted on it. but a 660 or hd 7870 would probably do the job at an acceptable level anything better than that though and you will be limited by the cpu. (a more modern card of the same performance would also work i guess)
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When the overhaul begins I plan on starting off with an I5-4590. I think it's the 4590. And basically I'll buy eat piece one at a time then do it all at once.
You really cannot do that. At the very least, you need to upgrade Motherboard, CPU and RAM at the same time - none of these parts are compatible with current technology. As for the power supply, there is a very good chance that you run into issues (wrong connector for a new board).
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if you are upgrading then you have 2 reall choices.
1:
get rid of the board the cpu and ram. and replace it with (id recomend) 2nd gen i5 like a 2500k.. (the board needed to over clock a 2500k is a bot more expensive but worth it. other wize get a non (k) version of a 2nd gen i5 or i7 and a basic mother board that has 4 ram slots. and 8gb 2x4gb ddr3 ram.
use the same gpu you have now for a while then upgrade to a 970 or a 780ti if you find a 780 ti for cheap..
That will give you a system that can run horizons prety much solid 60fps.@1080p
option 2,
Sell the gpu and get a 970 or 780 ti.
then later get a new motherboard cpu and ram..
but honestly The q6600 is one of the best cpu's for the 775 boards. there isnt a reall upgrade from it (none that are worth the money any way)
So Again my advice is, overclock the cpu. and get a 660 or 7870 and it should let you game at acceptable levels.
Then slowly build an i5 rig whilst still using that one. (get the gpu for the i5 last)
you can probably get an i5 cpu + board + some ram for reasonably little money. then you can swap it over for the board and ram you have already and re use the case and power supply + Gpu
(gpu will need to be upgraded either way.)
one hood thing however is. 2x4gb ddr2 ram is quite expensive now. so if you sell that seperatly you should get most of your money back whilst keeping the case psu and gpu.
P.S
chances of having the wrong connector on a atx standard 20+4 pin system is about 30%
the only issue you may find is that you need a 2x4pin(8pin) cpu header. But most 2nd gen i5 boards will only need 1x4pin cpu header. the q6600 also needed a 1x4 pin header. so it should be ok if you buy with that in mind.
1:
get rid of the board the cpu and ram. and replace it with (id recomend) 2nd gen i5 like a 2500k.. (the board needed to over clock a 2500k is a bot more expensive but worth it. other wize get a non (k) version of a 2nd gen i5 or i7 and a basic mother board that has 4 ram slots. and 8gb 2x4gb ddr3 ram.
use the same gpu you have now for a while then upgrade to a 970 or a 780ti if you find a 780 ti for cheap..
That will give you a system that can run horizons prety much solid 60fps.@1080p
option 2,
Sell the gpu and get a 970 or 780 ti.
then later get a new motherboard cpu and ram..
but honestly The q6600 is one of the best cpu's for the 775 boards. there isnt a reall upgrade from it (none that are worth the money any way)
So Again my advice is, overclock the cpu. and get a 660 or 7870 and it should let you game at acceptable levels.
Then slowly build an i5 rig whilst still using that one. (get the gpu for the i5 last)
you can probably get an i5 cpu + board + some ram for reasonably little money. then you can swap it over for the board and ram you have already and re use the case and power supply + Gpu
(gpu will need to be upgraded either way.)
one hood thing however is. 2x4gb ddr2 ram is quite expensive now. so if you sell that seperatly you should get most of your money back whilst keeping the case psu and gpu.
P.S
chances of having the wrong connector on a atx standard 20+4 pin system is about 30%
the only issue you may find is that you need a 2x4pin(8pin) cpu header. But most 2nd gen i5 boards will only need 1x4pin cpu header. the q6600 also needed a 1x4 pin header. so it should be ok if you buy with that in mind.
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You should be able to overclock the C2Q to 3.2GHz. Watch out for the RAM speeds though - if you can find DDR2-8500 at a reasonable price, buy some, as it will allow you to push the CPU clock higher before introducing a divider on the front-side bus, or FSB.
As for the graphics card, a GTX960 will work well, but even at 3.2GHz (the G0 stepping is regarded as the best overclocker of the Q6600 line; I never managed to push mine stable far past that frequency), you are looking at the CPU being the bottleneck in CPU-intensive games. This rig's CPU would be the bottleneck in Battlefield 3, for example. Whether or not E|D will suffer from it remains to be seen. I will be able to tell you by the end of the day - I have an almost identical rig sitting on the floor next to me (my wife's old PC with a GTX670 2GB) which I'm going to turn into a secondary machine for multiboxing and in-home streaming.
Questions to consider:
As for the graphics card, a GTX960 will work well, but even at 3.2GHz (the G0 stepping is regarded as the best overclocker of the Q6600 line; I never managed to push mine stable far past that frequency), you are looking at the CPU being the bottleneck in CPU-intensive games. This rig's CPU would be the bottleneck in Battlefield 3, for example. Whether or not E|D will suffer from it remains to be seen. I will be able to tell you by the end of the day - I have an almost identical rig sitting on the floor next to me (my wife's old PC with a GTX670 2GB) which I'm going to turn into a secondary machine for multiboxing and in-home streaming.
Questions to consider:
- What kind of resolution do you expect to be playing at? What kind of compromises on graphics are you prepared to accept?
- How much time are you willing to spend tracking down replacement parts if one fails due to age?
- Are you comfortable overclocking? Do you have an aftermarket CPU cooler? (You'll need one!)
Well I'm pretty much a rookie to computers. I have a little tiny grasp on how things work. But my ace up my sleeve is my dad use to build flight simulators
Overclocking sounds like a bad idea for me I'd probably screw it up. I just want it to play better than Xbox ones capability. That's all I look for
Overclocking sounds like a bad idea for me I'd probably screw it up. I just want it to play better than Xbox ones capability. That's all I look for
If you don't mind waiting, 2016 should be a good year to upgrade with the impending release of the Zen CPU and Pascal/Arctic Islands. I think Intel was cranking out a new CPU as well but I don't have the details there. Zen is supposed to be a big leap over the older AMD CPUs though but we'll see how it competes against Intel's offerings. The last few AMD CPU's while not exactly bad haven't been able to push as much single core performance as Intel CPU's. They are great for overclocking though because they are relatively cheap and can be pushed quite far with the right equipment and for less money than an i5 or i7.
I'm expecting the Pascal/Arctic Islands GPU's to be a significant enough improvement to warrant the wait, what with the node-shrink and HBM 2.0 being touted as features for each. Maxwell also has hardware issues that limit it in DX12 applications which aren't a deal-breaker but warrant waiting since I'll bet money DX12 is gonna be the new standard for games from 2017 onward. AMD's GPU's fare better under DX12 than Maxwell, but the Hawaii, Tonga, and Fiji architectures are in need of replacement. Fiji may be new, but the reliance on the old GCN core tech and being limited to HBM 1.0 already make it an artifact of it's time. Personally I'm hoping AMD gets their collective
together and crank out a top-shelf card that can compete with Nvidia. They have done well in the middle market at least in actual game performance if not sales but need the prestige slot to attract more buyers and even out the market share for more competitive prices.
I'm expecting the Pascal/Arctic Islands GPU's to be a significant enough improvement to warrant the wait, what with the node-shrink and HBM 2.0 being touted as features for each. Maxwell also has hardware issues that limit it in DX12 applications which aren't a deal-breaker but warrant waiting since I'll bet money DX12 is gonna be the new standard for games from 2017 onward. AMD's GPU's fare better under DX12 than Maxwell, but the Hawaii, Tonga, and Fiji architectures are in need of replacement. Fiji may be new, but the reliance on the old GCN core tech and being limited to HBM 1.0 already make it an artifact of it's time. Personally I'm hoping AMD gets their collective
together and crank out a top-shelf card that can compete with Nvidia. They have done well in the middle market at least in actual game performance if not sales but need the prestige slot to attract more buyers and even out the market share for more competitive prices.
Very similar to my second machine.
I have a Q9300 @ 2.5Mhz and it runs fine.
Your GPU probably won't cope even on the 32bit "standard" game.
I upgraded mine to a GTX750Ti and it runs Horizons ok.
Good luck.
Clicker
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Yes, look at the random characters it inserted in your title.
Don't use the Force! It's a ZIF socket.
Welcome to the upgrade escalator my young padawan. You have taken your first steps into a more expensive world. These days of plug'n'play means that it is just a case of clagging stuff together and it works. Your guide through this world is your Motherboard Manual. It will tell you what the maximum your motherboard can cope with. If you aren't too bothered about having the absolute fastest machine on the planet then just max out your motherboard. Start with the videocard, then the memory, then the processor.
Some people will consider this throwing good money after bad, but that is a decision you will just have to make yourself. Even if the newer games start to become less and less playable on your machine you can console yourself with the giant back-catalogue of very cheap Steam games that you can still play perfectly smoothly.
If all else fails and you're left with a mess, there is always an option open to you however drastic you might find that step. You can always ask your dad.
Welcome to the upgrade escalator my young padawan. You have taken your first steps into a more expensive world. These days of plug'n'play means that it is just a case of clagging stuff together and it works. Your guide through this world is your Motherboard Manual. It will tell you what the maximum your motherboard can cope with. If you aren't too bothered about having the absolute fastest machine on the planet then just max out your motherboard. Start with the videocard, then the memory, then the processor.
Some people will consider this throwing good money after bad, but that is a decision you will just have to make yourself. Even if the newer games start to become less and less playable on your machine you can console yourself with the giant back-catalogue of very cheap Steam games that you can still play perfectly smoothly.
If all else fails and you're left with a mess, there is always an option open to you however drastic you might find that step. You can always ask your dad.
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I want to be able to start playing elite while buying the upgrade parts (which I'm aiming for middle of the road parts) then when have acquired all due parts I need then I'll take a day or two off work and install them all at once.
I was looking up the Gpu that will be coming with the computer and it says gddr5. If I was looking for a better Gpu that would work with my current set up , would it need to be a ddr5??
Short answer: yes.