To upgrade or not to upgrade?

[RhoXS]

I am currently running a later production 3.0 GHz Prescott at 3.75 GHz in an old Abit IC7-MAX3 mobo. Although the Prescott runs stable and surprisingly cool, it is just time to upgrade to new hardware. I am now reasonably sure I am going to base the new system on an E6600 (2.4 GHz). I might go with an E6700 (2.66 GHz) if the now rumored price cuts are soon and worthwhile.

I realize the E6600 architecture is more efficient than the older Prescott. Nevertheless, can I expect to see any consequential real world speed improvements with a reasonable overclock of the E6600? 3.2 to 3.6 GHz appears to be easily achievable based on many of the other posts in this forum.

If I cannot expect any real world gain in speed, I probably will not upgrade yet or simply let the IC7-MAX3 simply run to failure and then do something. Upgrading will cost approximately $1K (new mobo, memory, vid card, & CPU)so I really do not want to do it unless unless I will have something consequential to show for the money.

[Zuzzz]

Ok I have a similar system that I use and I too have concidered the upgrade question. I would always ask the user, Does your PC serve your needs. YES, you will see a performance boost in graphics games etc. but do you NEED that performance? I personally will wait till 1st or 2nd Q of 08 to buy. Mainly I want to see how DX10 pans out and also of course this Vista situation. Next year at this time SRVC Pack 1 for Vista should be out. Vista's driver base should be much better and then, to me, its worth it to me to spend 1000 dollars on upgrades. For now I will hold off. Thats my 2 cents worth. But the bottom line is this. YES you will see a DEFINITE performance boost. YOU be the judge as to IF that boost is worth 1000 dollars right now. Good luck and happy PC'ing....

Z

[Vipasnipa]

A E6600 at 2.4GHz will perform noticeably faster than a Prescott at 3.75GHz. Comparing clock speed between the two is like comparing apples to oranges. The C2D can do many more operations a clock cycle than the Prescott can.

I went from a 3.0GHz C Northy to a 1.8GHz E6300 and the difference was night and day. Of course it's not just the processor that is speeding things up; it's the motherboard chipset (if you get a decent one like the 965) and the faster DDR2 ram.

[batboy]

It's a choice you have to make based on what you do with your computer. The Core 2 Duo are far better, but maybe your current computer is ok for now. Are you a gamer? Do you encode video? Do a lot of multitasking? If you answered yes to these questions, then you are ready to move to the world of dual core.

[hUMANbEATbOX]

^^ i would say even if you can answer yes to ANY of those question.

for me, i went from a 2.4c@3.5ghz to my e6300@ 3.5ghz 24/7. same video card on both systems, x800pro, but my agp x800 was unlocked to 16 pipes. i really only play CS:S and racing games regularly, both of which showed very nice increases, allows me to use higher resolutions, even though i am very videocard bottlenecked. when the time is right, i'll snag a new card, but for now, even with my x800pro, it was a very worthwhile upgrade.

[RhoXS]

Thanks for all the quick responses.

I do encode video but I am not a gamer. It would be nice if the encoding went faster and did not make the machine somewhat sluggish when performing other tasks. However, in reality, my existing machine has more than enough horsepower (3.75 Ghz, 250 MHz FSB, 2 Gig RAM) for my needs. It just has been a long time since I made a major upgrade. Also, due my dated mobo, I can no longer make incremental upgrades every now and then. In other words, I am going to do something because I want to do something, not because I need to do something. I am just trying determine what the best course of action is and when is the best time to do it.

Right now, pending some more research, I will probably go with the following combination of hardware:

2.4 Gig E6600
Abit AW9D-Max
Mushkin eXtreme 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
GeForce 8600GTS based vid card

I am also seriously thinking about using the Coolit Systems Eliminator packaged water cooling solution to help quiet the machine. I am using an Enermax wind tunnel type case. Using the Eliminator as the rear exhaust fan may help significantly reduce fan noise.

[batboy]

Some of those components look like what I have. There is cheaper RAM available now that is just as good as the Mushkin.

[Evilsizer]

please dont get the 8600gts its 20-25% slower then a 7600gt in same res/settings for DX9 games. i would either consider a 7900gt if you can for a short time or just wait out till the 8900's get released to nab a 8800gts 640 or gtx then.
IMO you would be beter off with this ram in the board/cpu combo.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231114
better deal imo they dropped the price agian on this ram is use to be 124 not that long ago.... looks like its time to pick up more/new ram...

[GTengineer]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231114
better deal imo they dropped the price agian on this ram is use to be 124 not that long ago.... looks like its time to pick up more/new ram...

I have been eyeing that myself, thats one hell of a deal and nice timings!

[RhoXS]

Thanks for all the feedback. I just ordered the following hardware from Newegg.

Abit AW9D-MAX Mobo
Intel E6600 2.4 GHz
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800
EVGA 7900GS
OCZ 700W Power Supply

As soon as Newegg restocks the Coolit Eliminator I am going to order it too. I will replace the rear 120mm exhaust fan in my Enermax windtunnel case. This will also eliminate the 120mm CPU cooler fan so I am hoping for a significant reduction in fan noise. I will probably remove the windtunnel shield as i do not think it will be needed anymore.

Thanks again for all the responses above. It all certainly helped to focus my decisions.