Worth a CPU upgrade?

I have a 4 year old CPU, it's the Intel Pentium 4 Northwood 2.4 ghz.
(RAM: 512 MB RDRAM)

How much performance gain will I get by upgrading to an Athlon64 x2 3800+ (along with a new motherboard). I'm in the $300-$400 chip range.

I'm a huge multi-tasker. WinRARing frequently. Frequent bottlenecks.
Should I bother with the processor upgrade? Or just increase my RAM to a 1 gb.
Thanks.

I want to upgrade but don't know where to put the money for a performance increase.

Regards,
Ryan

Unfortunately WinRAR does not take advantage of dual core processors. However, doing other tasks while unRARing a file will certainly take advantage of dual core.

At any rate, like everyone said, you'll see a major performance boost. Keep in mind that you'll also need to get new memory and possibly a new video card should you decide to upgrade.

AGP is scarce in Socket 939 boards these days.

-mpjesse

So, with my budget I brought up 3 $400 dollar chips.

Athlon 64 x2 4200+ (Manchester)
Athlon 64 4000+ (ClawHammer)
Opteron 170 Denmark

What do you think would be my best choice? I frequently unrar and perform many other tasks (if I can). Minimal gaming. Multi-tasking is a big part of my day.

Thanks sooo much guys.


- Ryan

Excellent...

Any other important pieces that I should consider. I'm upgrading an old Dell Dimension 8200. I could care less about the video card but what about PSU, RAM, and Hard drive. Should I be ok with a 250W psu, 1gig of ddr400?

Oh and i'm considering the ASUS A8N SLI Premium

- ryan

www.danasoft.com