PC upgrade question

[Araius]

Been mulling over whether or not to bite the bullet and upgrade my PC instead of waiting on the PS3 version. Here's my current specs:

nForce chipset P5N-E SLI compatible motherboard (forget which model exactly)
Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4 GHz (could be OC'd)
6 GB RAM (only 3.5 usable, curse you 32-bit Windows 7)
eVGA GeForce 8600GT 256MB <------ wah wahhhhhh

Obviously the GPU is what needs upgraded first, the question is which one. I'm not looking to get a top tier one really. I figure getting a Radeon 5970 would cause a bottleneck at my CPU, and I don't want to mess with a new CPU yet if I can avoid it. So here's what I'm thinking:

GeForce GTX 460: http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?p=PLT-GTX460

Reviews I'm seeing say the 460 is a great card for the price. It's also supposed to be great SLI'd, most reviews showing performance actually superior to the GTX 480 (while saving about $120).

What I'm wondering though, is if I'd run into some significant bottlenecking with that CPU if I ran 2 of those things side-by-side. If not, I'll just get 2 now, but I'm not sure if that CPU can handle it Thoughts appreciated

[Jojimbo]

Pretty sure you'll bottleneck it with x2 GTX 460 even when OCed. A single GTX 460 could potentially be bottlenecked at stock from what I've read (some say it will, some say it won't), so you'll probably have to OC the CPU.

OCing CPU + 1 GB 460 would probably be your best bet.

[JRice]

if you can overclock that processor to 4ghz(this is pretty much the Q6600's limit) should be ok to SLI any card. However not every Q6600 is capable of hitting that sweet spot. If it can't have to maybe upgrade processor to a Q9 series intel quad. Intel quads run hot as hell on the 775 platform so have to get a really good CPU Air cooler/Liquid cooling.

Will need at least 3.6-3.8ghz to not bottleneck a single mid-high end 400GTX Series and HD 5000 Series.

Problem with doing the GTX 260 SLI is the fact that SLI has to be running to get the speeds you want, SLI/Xfire is pretty sketchy in FFXIV it seems to work but probably not as well as it should and SE will probably never officially support it so you will have to probably depend on hacks to get it working.

[Araius]

Thanks guys. Sounds like I'll just get the single 460 for now and OC bit by bit. I really haven't done very much OC'ing, considering this is the 3rd or 4th PC I've built. Any pointers on how to do that without frying everything? A buddy of mine said basically do not, under any circumstances, OC my CPU, but that seems a bit paranoid to me. I don't have any liquid cooling, but the heatsink/air cooling system that I got when I first built the PC about 2.5 years ago is fairly beefy.

[Cooleko]

SLI is working just fine buy what you can afford and enjoy what you pay for.

[JRice]

just buy a corsair A70 Air cooler and put it on the CPU its easy, and then just overclock, loads of tutorials on the web. Back in the days overclocking was a huge risk that it wasn't really viable but now its mainstream and so easy also easy coolers that keep it in check. Then after you overclock theres ways to stable check it and keep an eye on temp, if temps are on the high side then you know you need to downclock it etc etc.

[Jojimbo]

H50 might be better depending on budget/case, H70 can take up quite a lot of room (2x 25mm fan + 50mm rad I think)

[Cooleko]

The h70 does take a lot of room but it keeps your CPU cool! my CPU never went over 35c last night in an 12 hour FFXIV binge. (get to know your case before ordering the h70, I had to mod my case to get it to fit because of a VREG heatsink and an internal fan)