Overclocking an X2 4400+ (939) further?
 

Hi All,
I have recently dabbled in overclocking my PC and i'm seeing if there is any point in going further.
I have the following components and their overclocks.

CPU: X2 4400+ Skt 939 [@ 2.750 MHz / 1.44 Vcore] (=25% OC)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright SI-120 + 120mm generic fan
RAM: 2GB DDR [1T 3-3-3-8 @ 196 MHz] (Closest i can get the CPU: RAM divider without OCing the RAM)
GPU: ATi 4870 [CCC overclocked] (fan set to 34% - tradeoff for noise and cooling)
MOBO: Asus A8N32Sli Deluxe
PSU: 580W Hiper Type-R
CASE: Antec P180

Currently i dont have any problems with Overheating.
My ambient (mobo) temperature can be as high as 44C and the CPU will reach around 55 (i think)
With some extra intake fans i can improve airflow but everything is going well now.

tl;dr

I have a new screen and i'm now running at 1680x1050 and i can't run Crysis warhead on 'Enthusiast'.
Should i be so concerned? I feel that I should be able to and if i can't i'm not sure how future proof my PC is.
Maybe a good test might be GTA4?

Can i overclock it any further, or should i just drop £300 and get a Q6600 and DDR2 RAM and a new Mobo.
Ideally i want this PC to last until next summer (Summer '09)

ANY FEEDBACK WILL BE MUCH APPRECIATED
Also if i should have posted this in another area please let me know.

TIA

I dont think the upgrade is needed. GTA will prove to be a good test because its a very heavy game but i have a feeling your CPU will let you down.

I would try to OC that cpu more and buy some ram... its fairly cheap to upgrade to 4Gb. GTA 4 recommends 2.5Gb.

In summer you can build a new system with the i7 cpu

hi shakey_shane,
as good as the 4870 is, I think a pair of nVidia cards in SLI would get you where you want. a pair 6600GT's may not work (I have a pair for flight sims) so anything 7300 and up should run Crysis for you. if you plan on a Crossfire board, then another 4870, or new cards. not a cheap as memory but another idea.

Ron

SLI is a good bang for the buck. Many of the newer games are being optimized for it and see a substantial increase in performance. Do the poor mans approach and buy one card now and upgrade later when the price drops or you find a steal on a used card.

I can't see a pair of 7300s running Crysis ;)

With regards to your system, your CPU and RAM are going to be the bottleneck. Crysis is very heavy on your CPU, and if you have a quad, it'll use all 4 cores. The X2's were never very good overclockers and I doubt there's much left in the chip.

DDR2's hella cheap at the moment. I really think a 6600, a nice Mobo and 2GB's of DDR2 will do wonders for you. The 6600 is a great overclocker, often hitting low to mid 3's on Air cooling. Make sure to pick up a Crossfire Mobo to give yourself a nice upgrade path when the time comes.