CPU performance upgrade?

I have the Asus Commando Motherboard and I'm currently using a e6600 intel core 2 duo processor. The motherboard is 1066 FSB.

How much of an upgrade would going to the e7500 processor actually be?

My graphics card is already a geforce gtx 285. And I"ve got 4 gig of kingston hyperX ram, which with windows xp pro is really all you need.

Is the Anyone know whether the e6600 or the e7500 overclock better? I would think the e7500 with the 45nm would but thats not always true.

The upgrade test:

Open the Task Manager (CTRL-ALT-DEL), change your update speed to LOW. observe the CPU performance. Minimize, but do not close.

Close all tasks, make sure nothing major is running (maybe 5% CPU) and open one of your high-end games. Play for 5 minutes, then close and look at your Task Manager.

Have you maxed out one of your cores?

If no cores have run up against 100% load then upgrading your CPU will have no effect. Try this on a few other games.

Other:
If you did upgrade, you'd find such a small boost by spending even $150 that you might as well get a Q9550 for more money for some future leeway.

Personally, I'd consider maybe doing a 10% overclock on your cpu if needed and putting my money towards a future system.

You've got a nice system and lots of games run great on it. Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 would look amazing on it. if you really have that money burning a hole in your pocked, consider a better monitor or better speakers.

M-Audio AV40 speakers. Auzentech X-Fi 7.1 Prelude. (if you can, hold out for an OLED monitor in 2010/11. Drool)

(I'm fed up and seriously considering keeping my current system. but transition to a next-gen PS4 or XBox if they do what i want. If the games will install to the hard drive, and we see some strategy etc with Keyboard/Mouse support and a few good games you can colour me gone from this madhouse of upgrading, troubleshooting, and tweaking. Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 on the PS4? Yes, please..

It's worth noting that the next versions of the PS4 and XBox out likely in 2011 will now have enough power to do full antialiasing on top of looking better and more improved Physics etc. i love the idea that they will tweak a game to a single machine. This is going to be the start of the end for high-end PC gaming. Add in web surfing and e-mail and I'll be soon running out of reasons to own a new PC.

You may think, yeah PC gaming will be around for a long, long time. Not high-end though. The cost of making these games is increasing. The extra issues in supporting the PC are pulling game developers away. I just do NOT see what the PC industry can do to get people from continuing to migrate once the new consoles arrive)

Don't even bother.

hey, sorry to hijack this thread, but i only have a couple of questions. im planning to upgrade my cpu too. from an e4600 to an e8400 or e8500. is it worth it? i play a lot of modern games. gta 4 is just killing my pc right now(i get 30fps on all low!!!!!!!! ffs.), other than this, im all ok. not super smooth but just okay; get me? my system is: intel dg31pr, 9800gt 1gb, 4gb ddr2 800. and, there is a price difference of $18 between the e8400 and e8500(pricier), their spec difference is just 160mhz of clockspeed in favor of the 85 of course. is it worth the $18?? please keep in mind that my motherboard doesnt allow overclocking of any kind; sucks, i know.

to sum it up:

1. e4600 --> e84/8500. is it worth it?

2. e8400 --> e8500 for $18 more. is it worth it? (160mhz clock diff)

OK, Phontonboy, you need to stop spreading the same lameass advice. Task Manager has nothing to do with it.

Run your game with full eye candy and at your highest supported resolution. Note your FPS. Now, drop your resolution to 1024x768 or even 800x600 if you can, and now note your FPS. Did it go up? If not, you are CPU bound rather than GPU bound. This will vary by game obviously.

I agree that if your going to upgrade, get yourself a quad. Dont spend money moving from a dual core to another dual core, you wont notice the difference. Find a quad that is/can clock as high or higher than your current dual core and enjoy.

You can run your E6600 at 1333FSB and any 1333 CPU will run at 1333