Hey all,
I'm new to posting, but I have been reading these forums for quite some time. Very informative. Anyway, I recieved some gift cards for Newegg for my birthday, and I can't decide on getting the Core 2 Duo E6600 or an ASUS 7950GT. My current rig is a Pentium 940 @3.8Ghz, ABIT AW8-Max board, Gigabyte 7600 GT, 2 GB Mushkin Ram, Zalman Cooler. I've read so much on the Core 2 Duo's and even though I have a somewhat modern CPU, I can't help but think the E6600 would be a huge jump in perfomance. Any help would be appreciated.
Joey
PS. I bought a ASUS P5B Motherboard, so it supports either Pentium D or Core 2 Duo.
The videocard would be a big waste of money when the DX10 are coming up in mid november. I would go for the C2D cpu and start thinking about building a new system.
At the moment your motherboard will not support CD2 so unless you have a huge gift card I would go for the better Graphics card.
X1800XT is nice but X1900XT is much nicer and not that expensive.
Its your gift card not ours so enjoy .
And happy Birthday
I didnt see the P5B
that changes things a bit.
the core 2 will give you the biggest boost.
but I still think the graphics would be most noticable (gameing)
yeah, i was leaning toward the E6600, just wanted to get some more opinions (hard to make my own decisions sometimes). I don't do much gaming, and the 7600GT is an ok card. Guess waiting for DX10 is probably a good idea. I appreciate all the help.
yeah, i was leaning toward the E6600, just wanted to get some more opinions (hard to make my own decisions sometimes). I don't do much gaming, and the 7600GT is an ok card. Guess waiting for DX10 is probably a good idea. I appreciate all the help.
I still say to wait for Kensfield; if anything, Core 2 Duo prices will go down.
As for waiting... You could wait, but then again, you can always wait a few months and then again a few months for something new ... blablabla . PC's always change and every few months there are techs that are a lot better...
that is pretty much untrue, games (at the moment) dont benifit from dual core, not many at least, the benifit from quad core will be even less...
even though quad core is truely awsome, I think it would be too long a wait, you'd have to wait until mid-late nexyear to get an *afordable* quad core....
I'm getting a core 2 duo E6600 (new build) myself, it should arrive at the start of next week ,(i've been waiting a month odd now.. ), i say get the e6600, it's basically the speed of a fx62, the FASTEST CPU AVAILBLE!!!!!!!!!
I find it humorous when people always say wait wait wait, that's the most overused words in all the tech forums when someone asks for advice, "wait". I think if someone really wanted to wait, they wouldnt be asking for advice. Waiting to me is useless in the Tech world, You might as well wait forever if you're going to wait 3-6 months on something. As for DX10, I wouldnt wait on that either, Im thinking its going to be a long time before games are mainstream DX10, look how long it took DX9, and it wasnt as big a jump from DX8 as this is. The cards, I'd seriously wait until the second batch of DX10 cards, Anyone remember how the first dx9 cards performed? FX Series anyone?
Why not Just got for the best you can afford at the moment, and enjoy the performance now, until it wont suffice any longer. That's just my opinion, and im sure many will disagree.
although i guess it does matter what his needs are, as he didnt say what he does mostly..he only said he wanted an upgrade...
if he plays games alot then i guess the way to go might be a new graphics card, although getting a e6600 would bag you perhaps 10-25 frames per second more.
I find it humorous when people always say wait wait wait, that's the most overused words in all the tech forums when someone asks for advice, "wait". I think if someone really wanted to wait, they wouldnt be asking for advice. Waiting to me is useless in the Tech world, You might as well wait forever if you're going to wait 3-6 months on something. As for DX10, I wouldnt wait on that either, Im thinking its going to be a long time before games are mainstream DX10, look how long it took DX9, and it wasnt as big a jump from DX8 as this is. The cards, I'd seriously wait until the second batch of DX10 cards, Anyone remember how the first dx9 cards performed? FX Series anyone?
Why not Just got for the best you can afford at the moment, and enjoy the performance now, until it wont suffice any longer. That's just my opinion, and im sure many will disagree.
Bravo! Excellent advice! If your system is lagging, and you want better, do what you can now with the best you can afford now.
I would never buy new technology that has not been out for at least 6 months, too many bugs/compatability issues first time around.
The biggest factor limiting your gaming is the 7600GT. Grant it, the E6600 is sweet but the P940 will do the job for the moment.
I would either get the X1900XT 256MB card or the 7900GTO and overclock that baby.
The video cards are around 250 at the moment. If you don't plan on OC'ing, the X1900XT is the better card.
Take a look at my price/perf chart, here. And the X1900XT has the current best price/perf of the "high-end" cards.
Chiefvalue currently has the best price for the X1900XT 256MB, here.
DX10 probably won't be worth getting for at least 6-9 months.
On the other hand, getting the CPU, you will only have to upgrade to DX10 next year.
Getting a new video card now, then you will want to get a DX10 card and a C2D next year. So it depends on what you want for the moment. Better gaming at the moment or least expensive upgrade route?
,(i've been waiting a month odd now.. ), i say get the e6600, it's basically the speed of a fx62, the FASTEST CPU AVAILBLE!!!!!!!!!
