It's that time again.

[Greyblades]

Yes fellow gentle PC gamers it's that time in my life again when my rig becomes obsolete, specifically the CPU and replacing it requires a motherboard with a different chipset to what I have and new motherboard requires new RAM so after trawling I've found a set that looks good:
AsRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3 Motherboard (Socket 1155, DDR3, PCI Express 3.0, 7.1 HD Audio, ATX, ASRock On/Off Play Technology) (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005N5Q2MW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE)
Intel Sandybridge i5-2500K Unlocked Core i5 Quad-Core Processor (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache, Socket 1155) (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004FA8NX2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE)
Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 Vengeance Memory Two Module Kit (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004CRSM4I/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1D873RMPMIV2C)

I have a Nividia GeForce GTX 560 Ti that I want to keep, I just need someone to tell me if the setup will work out and if there's a better setup at a similar price.

[Furunculus]

no pcie 3.0 with sandybridge
only pcie 3.0 on z68 with ivybridge

what you want is an 8-10 phase z77 board for £80-90:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/AsRock-Z77-Motherboard-Socket-Capacitor/dp/B007MHC6K6/ref=sr_1_8?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1359410788&sr=1-8

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-Z77A-G45-Motherboard-Pentium-Celeron/dp/B007JRGVUA/ref=sr_1_12?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1359410788&sr=1-12#productDetails

[Greyblades]

So this would work fine?:
AsRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3 Motherboard (Socket 1155, DDR3, PCI Express 3.0, 7.1 HD Audio, ATX, ASRock On/Off Play Technology) (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005N5Q2MW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE)
Intel Sandybridge i5-2500K Unlocked Core i5 Quad-Core Processor (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache, Socket 1155) (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004FA8NX2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE)
Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 Vengeance Memory Two Module Kit (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004CRSM4I/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1D873RMPMIV2C)

Would it be worth considering an ivy bridge processor? This one seems as good and doesnt seem any more expensive: Intel 3rd Generation Core i5-3570K CPU (4 x 3.40GHz, Ivy Bridge, Socket 1155, 6Mb L3 Cache, Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0) (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Generation-i5-3570K-3-40GHz-Technology/dp/B007RUZKK6/ref=pd_cp_computers_0)

[Husar]

no pcie 3.0 with sandybridge
only pcie 3.0 on z68 with ivybridge

Why would you want pci-e 3.0 in the first place?

Unless you go multi-GPU, the differences are negligible. Link (http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2013/bericht-pcie-3.0-vs.-pcie-2.0/2/)

[Greyblades]

Because the articles I have had the pleasure to read while researching which processor I should get did not mention that, it gets pretty convoluted quick figuring out what each Acronym pasted onto the processor name means in releation to eachother/ other equipment. So what is the best I can get for a single GPU?

[Husar]

pci-e 3.0.

My point was just that I wouldn't spend considerably more or do anything special just to get the 1% or 2% more speed it offers over pci-e 2.0. In fact the test shows that with a single GPU, even pci-e 1.0 hardly falls behind, just a 4-5% difference there.
If price and effort are the same, it hardly matters, I just wouldn't jump through hoops to get pci-e 3.0.

[Furunculus]

agreed, but there are plenty of z77 boards in the same price bracket, so why buuy a pc without it?

pcie3 is better for gp-gpu stuff however.

[Greyblades]

Ok new plan, I've looked up what's available for my current 775 socketed MB and I can apparantly get an Intel® Core™2 Extreme Processor QX9770, which looks nice and powerful, there are places to get it for about £3-400 and it wont requiring a new motherboard + windows install. Seems an ideal replacement for my Q6600, maybe able to play shogun 2 darthmod's huge army sizes without it slowing to a crawl and might even make me Rome 2 ready. So, am I right or deluded?

[Husar]

I haven't checked CPUs in a while but to me it looks like you're going to spend way too much money on outdated technology.
It's faster, yes, but does the advantage justify that price and how long until it too won't suffice anymore? You might even be able to overclock your Q6600 to similar speeds without buying anything. Instead of buying a new CPU for 300 pounds right away I'd rather try that and buy a new one if I fry it. ~D

[Greyblades]

It's faster, yes, but does the advantage justify that price and how long until it too won't suffice anymore? Well I was kinda hoping someone here would be able to tell me that. As for overclocking; I'm a little nervy after watching a video of someone who overclocked his CPU so much it literally exploded. I don't really now if the cooling system I have is capable of taking the strain

[Greyblades]

BLARRG! Thread Ressurection. BLARRG!

Well anyway, my fears were realized though not to the extremes anticipated, rome 2 is working but only well when on medium graphics and when I stay away from getting close ups on the melee, now I come again in the vain hope of gaining advice on getting better results.
I suspect I can get my Q6600 to overclock to around 3 Gigahertz fine, but the suitableness of my Gpu (Nvidia GTX 560 ti) is a matter of some doubt. It's benchmarks on other websites dont exactly favour it and if it is too weak no amount of overclocking may help get around such a bottle neck. Way I see it there is two options I can persue, one is replace it with a meatier video card probably costing £3-400 or get a second GTX 560 ti for £100 and link them together, now I am somewat iffy about the second one as the internet has not been kind on reviews of my current motherboard (tp45 hp) and it's compatability with nvidia's SLI capability, yet I have yet to find a website that outright states it's not doable.

So my questions are:

1.Would replacing the GPU give me a worthwhile performance boost or is it fina and my CPU is the piece dragging it down?
2.Will my motherboard allow me to link up a second GTX 560 and would doing so give me enough of a performance boost to make not getting an entirely new GPU in the £400 range worthwhile?
3. If need a better GPU and linking two 560's is not viable what would be a good replacement?

[Lemur]

FWIW, most code-monkeys and gearheads believe that R2 is CPU bound, not GPU bound. So doubling down on your 560 will probably leave you no better off than now.

Better to look at an unlocked i5 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116899).