Upgrade for Crysis

So I plan on playing Crysis as soon as possible when it comes out, however I don't think my system is up to par. What would be the best single component to upgrade? I'm already going to get a new CPU fan so I can overclock it, and I'm thinking about Vista x64, but other than that what do you think?

Core 2 Duo 6420 Processor
PNY 2x1GB DDR2 800 (PC 6400) Dual Channel Ram
Asus P5N32-E SLI Motherboard
EVGA 8800GTS 640mb Graphics Card

Go XP for now, vista doesnt have many advantages and the 64 bit version is compatible with almost nothing.

Otherwise it is good.

Agreed with Village Idiot.

If you upgrade the processor to a E6600, you will have the same rig as me (though I have Corsair RAM), and I know for sure my machine will be able to handle Crysis, on medium-high settings (it's quite possible to go on all high, but you wouldn't get the maximum performance). So I'd recommend either upgrading that or if money is really tight, the 6420 should work nicely. I think it's only a 2.13GHz model, which is still pretty good.

The e6420 and e6600 are ancient c2d. If you want something new, go with a e6550 or a e6750. I would recommend you go for a quad 6600 which would be better for future proofing. The P5N is ancient. I don't think you'll need SLi so i would suggest you go with a Gigabyte GA-p35-DS3R which has DDR3 support
The 8800GTS is slightly overkill if your monitor is under 22". I would say to go with the new 8800GT, which is new and cheaper.
For the ram go with some Corsair XMS2 Ram. If you want to overclock your board (which is good with the GA-P35) go with some dominator's. Their expensive but worth every penny.
Thats just my 2 cents

I'll be playing on a 19" Widescreen. I'm going to try and OC the 6420 to around 3.0ghz if I can, if not close to it. I'll look into the motherboard and ram issue. And thanks for the advice about Vista, I thought it was stable now. Guess not...

With that system, here is what I'd do...

Overclock the CPU and GPU and leave it at that.
Stay with XP also.
Your CPU can be overclocked quite a way. I have the E6600 and can easily get it further than 3.0 GHZ without it pulling a muscle. The graphics card is equally overclockable (I have the same )

(Just a quick edit: In reply to Matsta's comment about upgrading the CPU. With overclocking you can produce a VERY stable system and get it a lot better than the better CPU's. Your saving money and it's the easiest thing you could ever do!)

I'd stay away from Vista now, however you could always go and make your PC dual boot so if you fancied a bit of DX10 action, you could. However, the better graphics haven't advanced too far in my opinion, so it's not worth the extra OS (This is my opinion )

Marky

Why is everyone obsessed with the e6600 and e6420. Their's been replacements out for a few month now

Yeah, depends how your overclocking skill's are. And if you want to overclock go with a upmarket Asus board or a Gigabyte board. That P5N can overclock, but its damm hard to achieve.

And Vista I believe is not overclocking friendly. So you wouldn't be able to OC your gfx card on Vista

Originally Posted by Matsta Why is everyone obsessed with the e6600 and e6420. Their's been replacements out for a few month now

It's because they are the best overclockers for the best money! You can get the speeds of the new "replacements" and even further and buy them for almost half price ^_^

Even if you didnt want to overclock, the performance boost isnt too much!

Originally Posted by Marky It's because they are the best overclockers for the best money! You can get the speeds of the new "replacements" and even further and buy them for almost half price ^_^ Even if you didnt want to overclock, the performance boost isnt too much!

No offence Marky but you don't know what your talking about.

The e6420 is about $30 more expensive than the e6550 for a start. You can get a e6750 for the same price as a e6420.
Also the newer generation c2d's have G0 stepping which improves the overall speed (latency i believe) of the CPU. This mean's better overclocking. So if your getting a new C2D , go with G0

Originally Posted by Matsta No offence Marky but you don't know what your talking about. The e6420 is about $30 more expensive than the e6550 for a start. You can get a e6750 for the same price as a e6420. Also the newer generation c2d's have G0 stepping which improves the overall speed (latency i believe) of the CPU. This mean's better overclocking. So if your getting a new C2D , go with G0

Haha infact thats EXACTLY what I was going to say to you! So now I'll say it... YOU don't know what your talking about!

Here is a few things I can quote you on:

The e6420 and e6600 are ancient c2d. If you want something new, go with a e6550 or a e6750.

Yes they are old, however they are renowned for their excellent overclocking abilities. If you want to save a few pennies, sure go for the 6750. But if you don't mind, spend the extra 40 quid and overclock it to the max!

I would recommend you go for a quad 6600 which would be better for future proofing.

I seriously wouldn't even bother going Quad for the next year (Maybe 6 months).
The reason is by the time any applications or games take advantage of multi-core processors and actually give a good boost (Crysis runs multi-core I know.. but dual core is appsolutly fine for this.) another load of quad core processors will be released, and the Q6600 will be, as you say, "ancient".

The P5N is ancient. I don't think you'll need SLi so i would suggest you go with a Gigabyte GA-p35-DS3R which has DDR3 support

Finally some sense - the GA-p35-DS3R is a super board, highly recommended. And SLI is a lil bit of a waste at the moment.

The 8800GTS is slightly overkill if your monitor is under 22". I would say to go with the new 8800GT, which is new and cheaper.

I dont have much to say about this. However the 8800GTS is a fantastic card and is no way an "overkill" to under 22" monitors. It can run perfectly fine on a 15" and run just as well on a 24". Anything under it, and your asking for trouble.

For the ram go with some Corsair XMS2 Ram. If you want to overclock your board (which is good with the GA-P35) go with some dominator's. Their expensive but worth every penny.

I never touch my ram. It only ever really effects the loading times and if you use hard-core applications.

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Now we've compared our nerd-ology im off
Good day sir

Marky