Personally if I were you I'd save my money and upgrade motherboard, processor, memory.
 
This is the last known list of CPU compatibility with the older motherboards if you're looking for a better processor for that old motherboard:
 
http://www.evga.com/suppo...rce_Intel_CPU_List.pdf

Would I be correct in thinking the (QX6850 1333 3.00 Yes Yes Yes Yes** No No) is the maximum performance processor I can upgrade to?
 
Just looked at the prices for the above CPU on, 234.99.   Would it be worth overclocking the CPU instead?
 
thanks !
 

Personally, there's no way I would put another dime into it let alone spending 235 bones on a QX6850, that's nuts..It's obsolete and parts are hard/imposible to find these days..You may benefit from more RAM and would benefit from a newer/better graphics card, but many of todays graphics cards won't work in your old board though, you would need to find a good old new/used one somewhere.
 
There are a few advantages to a QX6850 over a QX6700, but not very much to jump up & down about..Here is a comparison at CPU World, you can search for benchmark results if you want to..A QX6700 can usually be overclocked quite an impressive amount, as with a QX6850 too..I would OC the QX6700 and be happy with it and plan on putting together a whole new system like RJ11 said above..I'm actually in awe that you haven't overclocked your QX6700, it was an extreme high-end enthusiast processor back in the day with an unlocked multiplier and was born to be overclocked..You will see a dramatic performance increase..I used to have a Q6600 running at 3.6GHz in a EVGA 790i FTW board..You should relatively easily be able get that from a QX6700 and maybe even into the 4.0GHz neighborhood in your 680i with a proper CPU cooler (what do you have?)..I can help you with OC'ing if needed, I guess I'm one of the forum's "go-to guys" when OC'ing a socket 775 platform..But first you should research some articles about overclocking a QX6700 and familiarize yourself with all the BIOS settings.
 
I seen your other post about RAM and will just answer it here..When mixing RAM (if you plan to do so), the most important consideration is the VDIMM (memory voltage)..Frequency don't have to match..Timings don't have to match..RAM will always run slower but not always faster..Matching the VDIMM is critical..Some RAM just doesn't play well with others..New DDR2 RAM for your board is still available from many retailers like Newegg.

Thank you every one for your great advice :)   Will get back you !
 
:)
 

Am I correct in thinking 32bit Windows XP Pro service pack 2 and 3 will only support 4 gig of RAM ?
So even though the Motherboard can support more RAM windows XP Pro will not use it ?
 
thanks
PAul

Thread is a bit old but I'll offer some advice for future reference.
Glad you picked that 1.8-1,9v Gskill memory, as the 680i boards were notorious for having the memory controllers burn out when going with memory that used over 2.0v.
 
As was said just save up to upgrade at the least to new motherboard, CPU, memory and operating system which can most likely be done for about $250 more, $350 with OS, then the price being asked for that QX6850. Upgrading will give you the best bang for the buck and will give the option to take full advantage of the newer tech like PCI express 3.0, DRDR3 and SATA 6GB/s and USB 3.0.
 
Also as far as operating systems such as Windows, etc. in the future go with 64bit versions. As was said 32 bit can only support a max of 4GB memory plus nearly everything as of now is being coded to support 64 bit hence take full advantage of more then 4 GB of memory.

bob16314
Personally, there's no way I would put another dime into it let alone spending 235 bones on a QX6850, that's nuts..It's obsolete and parts are hard/imposible to find these days..You may benefit from more RAM and would benefit from a newer/better graphics card, but many of todays graphics cards won't work in your old board though, you would need to find a good old new/used one somewhere.
 
There are a few advantages to a QX6850 over a QX6700, but not very much to jump up & down about..Here is a comparison at CPU World, you can search for benchmark results if you want to..A QX6700 can usually be overclocked quite an impressive amount, as with a QX6850 too..I would OC the QX6700 and be happy with it and plan on putting together a whole new system like RJ11 said above..I'm actually in awe that you haven't overclocked your QX6700, it was an extreme high-end enthusiast processor back in the day with an unlocked multiplier and was born to be overclocked..You will see a dramatic performance increase..I used to have a Q6600 running at 3.6GHz in a EVGA 790i FTW board..You should relatively easily be able get that from a QX6700 and maybe even into the 4.0GHz neighborhood in your 680i with a proper CPU cooler (what do you have?)..I can help you with OC'ing if needed, I guess I'm one of the forum's "go-to guys" when OC'ing a socket 775 platform..But first you should research some articles about overclocking a QX6700 and familiarize yourself with all the BIOS settings.
 
I seen your other post about RAM and will just answer it here..When mixing RAM (if you plan to do so), the most important consideration is the VDIMM (memory voltage)..Frequency don't have to match..Timings don't have to match..RAM will always run slower but not always faster..Matching the VDIMM is critical..Some RAM just doesn't play well with others..New DDR2 RAM for your board is still available from many retailers like Newegg.

the qx6700 was a B3, G0 was only for Q6600, Q6700, QX6800 and QX6850, the QX6700 was discontinued by the time of the G0, meaning for a B3, he can expect 3.2-3.4 if he is lucky