Upgrading from P4 Prescott to Core 2 Duo

MartMax

Hi and happy new year to all.

Currently away on holidays but cannot resist to plan some upgrade on my old beast.

My current build is as follows and now considering going dual core in the next few weeks. Well, with limited budget, I would like to minimise part replacement. I wish I could spend less than 600 Euros but with current pricing from Komplett, it does not seem possible.

[strike]Intel P4 Prescott 3.2Ghz 800Mhz FSB[/strike]
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz (230 Euros)

[strike]ZALMAN CNPS7000B-AlCu[/strike]
Stocked fan (Free)
[strike]MSI 865PE Neo2-PFISR[/strike]
MSI P965 Platinum Socket 775(156 Euros)

[strike]Corsair TWINX512-3200C2 DDR-DIMM 512MB[/strike]
[strike]Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2 DDR-DIMM 1,024MB[/strike]
Corsair TWIN2X 6400 DDR2 1024MB CL5 800MHz Kit (146 Euros)

[strike]128MB Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro[/strike]
XFX GeForce 7600 GS 512MB - PCI Express (149 Euros)

SATA 160GB Samsung SP1614C 8MB
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic
Plextor DVD recorder PX-712A
Antec SLK2650BQE Thermally Advantaged Case
OCZ Modstream 450W 12U Power Supply
Dell 2005FPW 20” Flat Panel Display

I think the above should be enuff to serve my needs for new the Vista and web publishing / photoshopping / video encoding… and of course Sims 2. Ehehe. Also being not too future proof so I can spend lot less. After, all these things come and go in cycles. Surely in 2 years, they all will be replace again and again.

I have a number of questions regarding the changes :

First, the processor itself – does it make a lot of difference between E6400 (2.13GHz) and E6600 (2.4GHz) in term of processing power, obviously to suit my day to day works? Is it worth the money to go for E6600 now?

Secondly, it came to my findings there are couple of different chipsets for Intel dual core platform, 965, 975, etc. I cannot convince myself which one is what and which really suits me.

Thirdly, memory wise – should I be spending more on getting better clocked modules or getting more cheaper memory?

Lastly, I am really hoping the rest of present parts will work with the new components especially the PSU. Will they work?

Comments or suggestions are always welcome.

Merci.

Mart

8T8

CPU if you can afford it especially for video encoding the faster E6600 will definitely help.

RAM go for capacity over low latency modules. Save yourself a bit of cash and get 1GB of Crucial DDR-2 553 RAM for €113.

The motherboard if fine for your usage nothing extravagant is required.

PSU the 450W will power all that just fine.

You can save a bit more money by changing the graphics card if your not really a big gamer and The Sims is the most you use it for get an X1600 Pro for €90 or if still set on the 7600GS this MSI one for €109 is a better deal.

With the savings of the RAM & the GPU you should just almost make it so the E6600 is within your grasp though also keep in mind there is a price drop scheduled for Core 2's sometime in February (though waiting is another matter).

MartMax

cheers.

i guess i will wait for a number of weeks, hoping that prices especially the CPU fall.

mart

MartMax

Hiya lad

It seems that Intel CPUs hv fallen in price last week.

And.. now my new upgrade config is a bit out of date - old thread! But my purpose for this upgrade hasn't changed since then.

Now considering going with a E6600 (€220) and 2GB Crucial PC5300 CL5 kit (€99). Am not sure which mobo and graphic card I should go for to keep the budget more or less < €500.

Any suggestions?

Cheers
Marty