I'm thinking of upgrading my PC. Current specs are:

AMD 2500+
1GB DDR 400
Radeon 9600XT (AGP)
Abit NF7-S

I feel I need to upgrade so I could keep up with the latest games as well as playing those HD videos smoothly.

But I wonder if its worth to upgrade such rig? Let's say I go for Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 processor. Is it worth it? Would performance jump be significant? Keep in mind should I upgrade I would have to do away my current Graphic Card & mobo.

I don't want to go overboard with my budget (limit to 1.5K).

Any thoughts? Worth it? Or should wait a little longer?

the difference is significant without doubt !

wat latest games u refer to? from 2500+ to e6600 is a big jump. but u need to change ur m/b, ram n g/c. so i think 1.5k may no enough. oso for hd videos u should consider wide screen monitor too. more money thats mean

get another set of pc...
current pc can put at garage sales...WTS....

This post has been edited by cheahcl82: May 5 2007, 11:29 PM

With 1.5k almost impossible for upgrade to c2d. Maybe you could consider amd?

yes the performance will be significant compared to the amd 2500+. Plus you'll be moving on to PCI-E which gives you more choices on gfx.

However, with your budget, it's only possible to get E6350 plus other components.

Price list according to bulk and estimation.
E6350 - RM 450
Biostar Tforce p965 - about RM 300+-
Nvidia 7900gs - about RM 500
2GB ram - about RM 340

total should be about RM 1600.. again it's a rough price.

BTW. you've posted in the wrong section. this should be in the hardware Q&A section.

He would certainly need a new PSU

Its hard to upgrade with such of budjet..becuz your rig socket is Socket754 if im not wrong..if u upgrading GC and Mobo then u sure need to upgrade your CPU also.Lets say u buy a 8600GTS/8800GTS cost about 1k+..then plus mobo few hundred la..then u only left few hundred only.And for new mobo(DD2) if running the PC3200 Module is a wasting(But i heard DDr2 board cant run DDR mem,izzit?)

This post has been edited by minghao: May 5 2007, 11:31 PM

u need 2 increase your budget more if u want e6600 mobo.u need 2 change proc,mobo,graphic card,ram n most importantly PSU that many people tend 2 4get plus SATA harddisk if the mobo does not have PATA ide slot.that will b around 2500 roughly.

u might as well as change everything

e6600 alone cost at least one third of ur budget........not to mention u want gaming as well too........so it kind of limited for 1.5k of budget...

C2D need to use SATA HDD??!? Adoii...!

But should I go for AMD of equivalent performance to that of a E6600 would it be cheaper?

FYI the only AMD that is kinda equivalent to e6600 is the AMD FX series which will cost a lot more that e6600. Or else u can get X2 6000+ but its running on 90nm compare to C2D's 65nm , there's a huge difference in terms of power consumption and performance.

Erm....I m from Duron upgrade to E6600 user. Details as mine signature

So, for psu concern, Enermax RM285 has been failed me when it spark and malfunction within 6 months. I then using Kingmax RM48 anf used it heavyly to turn on 72 hours and so on without any issue..... this mean, cheap psu also can run, better psu for more protction, but not neccessary they wont fail u

For the harrdisk concern, I m using 200GB Seagate 7200.7 PATA (old type) without any issue. Running in Window Xp Pro SP2 really fast. Running in Vista X64 Ultimate is abit slow if ocmpared to XP.

FYI, Intel Core2 Series is a hammer to AMD. Dont get me wrong, I say the true according to most Tech web site review for the benchmarking when Core 2 Duo just been released. 9 of the 10 Thest are scored by Core 2 Duo....history been changed

Those website are: Dailytech, ExtremeTech, Inquirer, AnadTech.......etc.

Last advise, trust your buck, you wont regret if that is your dicision...as like me

This post has been edited by jimlim007: May 6 2007, 12:59 AM

eh thats like somebody asking is it worth it to upgrade from p3 /p4 single proc to c2d...

good morning bro... where have been all this while..

Athlon X2 3600 rm250
AMD any mobo rm280
7900GS rm 550
2 GB Kingston value DDR2 rm300
PSU - rm xxx

think most AMD mobo, esp. lower end one still has 2 PATA ports... so save ur HDD first.

If you'd really like to switch to core 2, there is an alternative which will really save you lots of money.

I've seen an Asrock Lga775 Core2 mobo around which supports both PCI-E and AGP, and best part of it, it supports DDR 400 too. So basically you can get quite a boost in terms of performance (though not fully utilizing it, and keeping your 9600xt and rams at the same time.)

However, with RM1.5k, i'd suggest you switch to AM2, get a decent mobo, a decent graphics and continue to enjoy your games. It will be a more balanced setup compared to a semi crippled e6600 setup. However, the crippled e6600 will still pawn the shit out of the AM2.

I would recommend AM2 as well.
For E6600, you would need to get a good and high end Mobo to perform.
Whereas AM2's memory controller is built in the chip itself. A normal Mobo for AM2 would do the job as AM2's performance doesn't depend much on the board itself. You would get more ompph from your $$$$.

What's the cheapest E6600 setup one can suggest? Let's say I'll settle for cheaper Graphic card (until I can afford a good one).

Gigabyte 81945P-S3 =RM290
1GB Corsair DDR2-667 =RM195
E6600 2.4 GHZ =RM835
Sapphire X550HM =RM155

Total =RM 1,475

This does not include PSU which u need to thought off after getting new mobo with the use ot 24pin ATX mobo connector..