Slight Upgrade

[+longgonebn Subscriber²]

I currently have a EVGA 780i SLI motherboard with 8GB (4 sticks) DDR2 RAM (800Mhz I think), it has a Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz CPU.

Basically, I have no money for a proper upgrade which I really need, but my system is having issues running what I need ran, running out of ram for the most part.

I was wondering what a very cheap upgrade to this motherboard would be, that would support more than 8GB of RAM? Or any other suggestions.

[Noir Angel]

From what I gather not many Socket 775 DDRII motherboards support 16GB. And 4GB DDRII dimms are pretty pricey You'd be best off selling the DDR2 and going for a 775 board with DDRIII support

[+longgonebn Subscriber²]

Ok, suggestions....as cheap as possible, I mean like almost no money lol

Though, if I did that, I would need a new CPU then right?

[Noir Angel]

You'd be best looking at eBay, as most socket 775 motherboards have been discontinued. The X48 and 790i chipsets both support DDR3. You wouldn't need a new CPU

[+longgonebn Subscriber²]

How about this,

How top of the line can I get for $500 or less? Just MOBO, CPU, and RAM.

I picked this out...

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116781

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130654

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231585

But don't know if better can be achieved. I will probably end up buying stuff on ebay or elsewhere for deals.

[Noir Angel]

Not at all bad but I thought you were after having 16GB of memory? if so you'll probably want a motherboard with 4 memory slots. If the 8GB is enough for you though that's not a bad budget setup :) just bare in mind you are unlikely to be able to overclock with that chipset.

[+longgonebn Subscriber²]

Well, I do want more then 8GB, but I couldn't find something cheap....ideas?

Also, I figured DDR3 would perform much better then the DDR2 8GB that I have.

[TokiToki]

Also, I figured DDR3 would perform much better then the DDR2 8GB that I have.

No, you wouldn't notice a performance increase from RAM speeds alone.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2232/7

You'll definitely want to look into overclocking that Q6600 though!

Edit... I didn't pay attention and noticed you're basically getting a new system. The i5 is much faster than the Q6600, and that's where the performance increase comes from.

Edited October 6, 2012 by TokiToki

[Noir Angel]

Depends on the application, games benefit most from extra memory speed. As for motherboards, if you're not going to overclock a board like this should suffice:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121599

Bare in mind, you won't need a new video card as Ivy Bridge CPU's have an integrated GPU. That was the cheapest board I could find with 4 slots, sorry. Sell your Q6600 and DDRII memory and that will help you recover some of the cost :)

[neoadorable]

get an ASUS P8B75, i3 (doesn't matter which), and 16GB DDR3 RAM. that's well under $500. not sure about your other components, but they should be fine. unless you have a really old hard drive or something.

EDIT: honestly replied without looking at the setup you picked, so i was very close :D that MSI is fine, the i5 is overkill if you're not doing gaming, spend the money on more RAM. but if you can get that setup for less than your budget, sweet.