CPU worth upgrading for gaming?

Current Rig is a Dell e521 that I've upgraded quite a bit.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2.0GHz
eVGA Superclocked 8800 GT
4 gig Corsair DDR2
470 w PC Power & Cooling PSU

The only thing I really haven't upgraded is my cpu and motherboard, the cpu is a AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2.0GHz. This seems to by far the weak link in the machine. I'm getting all 5.9 Vista scores aside from the cpu, which is 4.8. My 3D Mark score is 7640.

How much do you think the cpu is bottlenecking my machine and is it worth upgrading??? If I find there would be a substantial performance increase in upgrading to a AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz, I'll do it. Any ideas how much my 3D Mark score may increase?

The only high performance uses of the machine is for gaming. I'm running BF2142 and Call of Duty 4 on all high settings with no problem... but I know Crysis will take whatever I can throw at it.

Here are the links to my current cpu and one I'm considering upgrading to if I find it is worthwhile:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103735

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103773

Thanks!

Hey chaps.

I also have a 8800.
Had a Intel E6300 (1.86ghz)and got 7600 3Dmarks in 3Dmark06.
Then i upgraded to a E6600 (2.40ghz) and now i get 8600 3Dmarks.

So changing definatley will give you a boost, obviosely. But in my case its a pretty huge boost. COD4 everything on looks soooo goood!

Dell uses a non-standard MB mount, so a standard MB will not work in the Dell case. I am not certain, but I think your machine should be upgradeable to at least a X2 5600+. I would make a quick call to Dell to double check. Should be a nice performance boost.

It may work, but i would check with Dell to be sure. Some of the older AM2 mb's capped out at 5600+ for some reason. Since Dell's are custom, there is really not much way of telling without asking them.