Intel Core 2 Duo upgrade.

[jimbobaggies]

Looking at updating my system, for now just the motherboard / CPU / RAM, and will update graphics later next year. As a starting point I have picked out the following components, and would like to get some thoughts.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHz 1333FSB - £103.23
Asus P5N-E SLI 650i - £66.36
OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 CL 4-4-4-15 PLATINUM XTC - £35.07

The memory is 2 x 1GB, was wondering if I should go 2 x 2GB instead?

Obviously all input is appreciated, but if you want to tell me where to buy it needs to be in UK

[cloasters]

Bump city.

[jimbobaggies]

I'm thinking of going the whole way and doing the following upgrade... may even add in a Samsung Pebble 20" widescreen monitor.

Gigabyte GA P35C-DS3R, iP35 Express, S775 - £68.96
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550, S775, 2.33 GHz, 1333MHz FSB - £105.74
2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, CAS 4-4-4-12 - £40.70
512MB Asus 8800GT PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 1800 MHz, GDDR3, GPU 600 MHz - £173.77
500w Seasonic S12II-500 PSU, 12Cm fan, active PFC RoHS +80% - £53.69
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32Bit 1Pk OEM (DVD) - £60.97

£516.33

[Samuknow]

That is quite the system and should net you some zoom factor.

It will be much faster than the AMD system you have now...

[jimbobaggies]

Originally Posted by Samuknow

That is quite the system and should net you some zoom factor.

It will be much faster than the AMD system you have now...

Is it really though? I am wondering in the back of my mind whether to just get the 8800GT and monitor.... after all my current system is dual core and 2Gb of memory. How much better real world performance would I actually be getting for the amount of money?

[Favu]

It should be a nice amount faster, however I would suggest if you are going vista, perhaps 4 gig is a wiser choice? But that would require you to run the 64Bit edition.

I don't use vista on a daily basis - perhaps someone who does can offer more assistance

[Samuknow]

I can tell you the C2D are a world faster. Ask anyone here that sports one.

Especially in gaming...

[ccperf721p]

I do agree that Core2 is a fair bit faster than 939, but 939 still has some life in it. You would still get significant gains from upgrading the video card in your current system so I might do just the card and monitor and see if that does what you need. You can always move them to a C2D system at a later date if needed..