Worth Overclocking?

[dundonian]

Hey Noob to this forum and to PC's in general

Have recently been bought a PC with the following specs and was wondering if it is worth overclocking and/or upgrading and how to go about it??

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor Q6600 2.4GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache
Processor speed 2.4
RAM Memory 3072 MB
Hard Disk Capacity 250 GB
Graphics nVidia GeForce 8400 GS


Any assistance appreciated

[0iD]

Well it's potentially ripe for an overclock, but we need to know a few more things.
Make & model of ram & motherboard, type of cooler, capacity & make/model of power supply etc.
Either pop your case open & have a look, or download something that does it for you, such as Belarc Advisor and CPUID

[mosherben]

What's yur motherboard? Certainly looks like it has the potential to overclock. Most of the lads here have that chip

Also, more details are needed for your RAM, eg brand and speed

[KiMi-Tech]

That spec sounds like a Packard bell/PC world or similar to me. If this is the case their is no point in even thinking about it as you will be limited by your psu motherboard and ram.

[dundonian]

Yes it was purchased from PC World

It is an ADVENT Quad core machine

So am I wasting my time even thinking about overclocking???

What about upgrading??

[Syd]

Depends what you are doing with it, and what display you are using. If you are gaming On a reasonable sized display I would look at changing your Graphics card, the rest of the PC looks up to spec.

[matty-hodgson]

you seriously would not believe the gains you will get from buying a better graphics card, i had that card before i got an 8800GT and it's got about a tenth of the power, if that..
it's quite awful!

[dundonian]

So you reckon the system as a whole is good for gaming?

But could do with an improved graphics card??

Any recomenndations? links to cheapest sellers?

[Syd]

What display are you using?

[dundonian]

Got my pc connected upto a 32 inch HD TV if that wat you meaning?

[Syd]

Got my pc connected upto a 32 inch HD TV if that wat you meaning?

What resolution is the HDTV ? This will dictate how much graphics power you will need...

[dundonian]

Ummmmmmmmmm

I got no idea at all had it bout a year or two

Picture Tube TFT LCD Panel 1366 x 768 resolution and it only a 27 inch screen size

[Syd]

OK not VERY high res, so depending on what you are playing I would look at a NVIDIA 8800GT so you can run almost all modern games at full detail at native res - these cards are £150ish (see scan for exact prices)
Do not have much personal exp with ATI atm so cannot really comment

[donkiddik]

Most of the Nvidia 8800gt cards are good, I personally like the BFG and XFX brands. Scan frequently have these on Today only offers.

[Webby]

If the £140 is a bit rich for your tastes then at that res I would have no issues recommending either of ATIs 3800 series cards the 3850 512MB starts on Scan for £102 the 3870 from ~£120. Also worth a look is the 9600 GT starts from £117 again on Scan.

[SiM]

Its always worth overclocking... pointless asking that question on hexus