i built my system 9 months ago,
i've got a X2 4600, Asus M2N-E mobo & Zalman 9500 AM2.
i want to upgrade CPU but if i go C2D i'll have to replace mobo & cooler before i even buy new CPU!
is the X2 6000 a worthy upgrade? for £106 at scan.co.uk
p.s. dont know if its got any bearing on advice? but just bought BFG 320mb 8800GTS OC & am getting Corsair HX620

Your X2 4600 should work fine (maybe pushing it) with your GTS 320.

If you want to upgrade go with the X2 5600 ($149.00) or X2 6000 ($169.00) at (Mwave.com) they will work
as well as any C2D E6600 / E6700 / E6750.

There is very little reason to spend money on a new motherboard / cooler.

A year from now when DX10 is up and running there will be better CPU’s “Real Quads” and GPU to choose from.

Look at some of the reviews on the new E6750 and you will find X2 right in the mix and when you add AA/AF the
X2 is one of the best.

Just remember any thing over 60FPS means very little.

As far as your power supply Silverstone OP650 single rail 54A works great for me.
Note (Good Brand) single rail (35A+) will work well for your high end gaming machine.

Look at it like this - C2D is a fast sports car flying through the back trails than all of a sudden you hit some mud (AA/AF) you start to slow down, well the X2 (sports car with four wheel drive) might me a ½ a mile behind you, but when you add (AA/AF) to the mix it catches right up and stays real close and sometimes bumps the C2D bumper.

Just look for the reviews for yourself and remember 60FPS.

A word about "FPS" from the Guru3D.com

What are we looking for in gaming performance wise?

First off, obviously Guru3D tends to think that all games should be played at the best image quality (IQ) possible. There's a dilemma though, IQ often interferes with the performance of a graphics card.

We measure this in FPS, the number of frames a graphics card can render per second; the higher it is the more fluently your game will display itself.

A game's frames per second (FPS) is a measured average of a series of tests.

That test is often a time demo, a recorded part of the game which is a 1:1 representation of the actual game and its game play experience.

After forcing the same image quality settings; this time demo is then used for all graphics cards so that the actual measuring is as objective as can be.

Frames per second Game play

<30 FPS very limited game play

30-40 FPS average yet very playable

40-60 FPS good game play

>60 FPS best possible game play

• So if a graphics card barely manages less than 30 FPS then the game is not very playable, we want to avoid that at all cost.

• With 30 FPS up-to roughly 40 FPS you'll be very able to play the game with perhaps a tiny stutter at certain graphically intensive parts.
Overall a very enjoyable experience.
Match the best possible resolution to this result and you'll have the best possible rendering quality versus resolution, hey you want both of them to be as high as possible.

• When a graphics card is doing 60 FPS on average or higher then you can rest assured that the game will likely play extremely smoothly at every point in the game, turn on every possible in-game IQ setting.

• Over 100 FPS? You have either a MONSTER of graphics card or a very old game.

I know this will start some silly flame war, but remember look for reviews yourself! (FPS & AA/AF)

if you don't want to oc, the 6000 is the better one, because of the platform change, they perform evenly at stock speeds.

Go with the X2 6000+.It will save you money and it performs very nice.A friend of mine has one and it runs like a bat out of hell.It will compliment your video card nicely.Goodluck.

Dahak

M2N32-SLI DELUXE MB
ATHLON X2 5600+ @2.8(STOCK)
EVGA 7950 GX2 550/700
2X1GIG DDR2 800
TT TOUGHPOWER 850WATT PSU
ACER 22IN WS LCD
SATA2 80/250GIG HD
SMILIDON RAIDMAX GAMING CASE
XP MCE

if you got 2.8-3ghz out of the stock cooler with a good cooler then don't waste your money!

you do not tell your specs?

what is the cpu speed now? what is the temp at max and idle?

X2 4600 with zalman 9500 AM2 (2.4ghz) idle 35, load 45
Asus M2N-E
2gb Corsair XMS2 6400 5-5-5-12
BFG 320mb 8800 8800GTS OC
Tagan Easycon 430W
im a noob when it comes to overclocking, i believe my board is crap for overclocking, if anyone knows otherwise please suggest some easy overclock settings to get me started

I'll vote for the X2 5600 so he doesn't burn up the PSU and crap the parts.

before i upgrade CPU i am getting Corsair HX620