how about... overclock ur cpu, install win7 64bit, and get an nVidia gtx 460?

what kevz said ,I dont think you actually need an overall upgrade, try win 7 64 bit and also depending on budget you might want

to buy the ATI HD 5850 if you are willing to spend around 280$, its a much better card.
or settle with the GTX 460 which is a lesser card but very sweetly priced around $199.

I'm not so savvy to overclock to be honest. I'm thinking maybe take your advice and get a new video card though. No need for anything more than a GTX 470 right?

Just saw your post, butcher. I'm going to take both of your advice. I appreciate it.

Wouldnt OC with a Dell either... tho your Q6600 (i guess) clocks nicely. The 8800GTX is still fine too imho... just dont put your settings too high.

Well I wouldn't mind getting a more consistent fps when I play games like TF2. the $300 I would have to spend on a new card isn't too serious and I suppose I could put off upgrading the cpu if everything goes well with the video card.

I'm concerned I may be getting a video card that I wouldn't even be able to get the most out of with my current comp.

Anyways I'm looking at the 5850 or maybe even the 5870. my room gets warm enough, I don't need the gtx 470's heat issues.

You dont really need to upgrade it TBH it should play most games on decent settings but if you do want to go alll out.

Buy a good cooller for you CPU and OC it.
Get the best GPU for you money

Thats what I think I'm going to do. I'm going to slightly OC the q6600 and find a better cooler. Will have to hunt one down that fits my case. In a month or two if necessary I will just build an i5 system or something.

Also going to pick up the ati 5870.

Again, thanks for the advice.

oh, and i dont think an i5 system will be that big of an upgrade from ur quad6600. i still think u should overclock, and if u dont wanna do that, then well... go for a brand new core i7 system then (socket 1366)

there was a news item recently where intel announced they were gonna release a core i7 960, i believe it was planned to be sold for ~550 dollars. now hte 950 is currently 550 dollars and i read it will be lowered in price to roughly ~300 dollars. i thought they had this change in mind for august, but im not 100% sure on that one :>

thing is though, i dont like ati. and that means id have to buy nvidia. now nvidia here are a bunch of turds and so the first gfx cards they came up with were shit (ie, everything in the 400 series)

now recently they changed some stuff and decided to release the gtx 460, based on something upgraded, it runs way way way cooler, can be overclocked if u like, costs less than half of a gtx480 and supports all the latest stuff.

so, hence the gtx 460. personally im looking at a Palit GTX 460 Sonic Platinum (1024MB) wich is a factory overclocked one, and as far as i know the fastest of all 460's.

the only concern anyone could have, is that its not the fastest card on the market. i guess if ud want nvidia and want the fastest, ud simply have to wait for lets say.... a gtx 485.

i'm considering changing the whole idea now anyways. I might get a lesser vid card (since i only play tf2 and quake live) and work on upgrading my comp. I don't think I need a radeon 5870 for 1650 res in tf2. its probably overkill.

tf2 is all cpu

you need 2.6ghz for 120 stable 6v6

you need 3ghz for 120 stable 16vs16

rough numbers

Quad or is DC enough for that?

suggest u get a quad these days, dual core is old :P

just look at bad company 2, it just lubs 4 cores! pretty sure more games will follow slowly :>

I'm getting an i3 530 as I'll just be playing QL apart from some sc2 here and there.

well that might be so, but its not like all quad cores cost way too much or anything. better safe than sorry :>

everything's okay, just get any ATI graphics card HD5770 and above.

xps 720 case is soooo sex :<

check your cpu stepping with cpu-z or sth (g0 should easily run 3+ GHz)
i have pretty much the same setup even tho i built in myself
q6600, 4GB ram and a 8800gt (with the g92 gpu core)

i'm still quite satisfied with it and the only thing worth upgrading is the gfx card - nothing gets even remotely close to maxing the cpu usage so far

well then, its settled. a 768mb version of a gtx 460 for ~175 dollars :P

HD5770 is great, and very well priced too. and if you actually have the Q6600 then you really gotta OC it. those chips are very good.

ATI always felt like shit for me. Can't really put my finger on it, be it screen tearing or some other thing, games just didn't feel as responsive and smooth as with an nvidia card, almost as if the card had some sort of input lag.

dunno, i've used both plenty and they've been fine for me with ATI clearly being the better choice currently.

unless u look at the 200$ area :P

bad drivers . lot of tearing even if u have 6O fps in some games it look like 3O fps . low suport 12O hz etc . shit crap . blah :d

l0l

No need to upgrade your pc.

I'd recommend a new GFX card, realistically anything greater than a GTX460 or 5770 will be an upgrade, and even an SSD.

That PC will be good for another year or so man, 6600's are fucking decent AZZ.