Upgrade e6750 (2.6ghz c2d) to i7- big enough gain?

[wp746911]

I currently have:
e6750 on ip35e mb
4gb ram
8800gts

Honestly I guess it works ok so far. I use it for some video editing (mild), and games. It still seems to play most games on moderate setting on my 19"lcd. I usually upgrade every 2-3 years b/c I can, I like the speed increase, and I enjoy messing with the computer- this time I'm just not sure if there is a huge performance increase taht I will notice on routine usage...

So is it worth getting a whole new i7 system? I guess it would be anywhere from 400 and up for a i7 (860) + memory + mb(1156). I don't think i would get an i5. Money isn't tight for me, but i don't want to waste it either. Do you think that that upgrade would be very noticeable? Maybe I should jsut save for a nice SSD hard drive instead?

 

[Herr_Koos]

I also have an 8800GTS, and if better gaming performance is what you're after, you may be better off by investing in a more modern graphics card.

But if you are willing to spend the money, an i7 will give you a big boost inn everyday computing tasks, especially the video editing. If you keep the 8800 however, the i7 will have a lot of idle time on its hands while you're gaming.

 

[amnotanoobie]

Which 8800GTS are we talking about, is it the 320/640mb or the 512mb one?

You could OC your cpu to 3.0~3.5GHz then decide if it is really time to buy a new vid card. I'm not really sure if the gains would be massive enough to warrant a whole new 1156 build.

 

[wp746911]

It's the older version- 320mb I believe. I think I might hold off on a new system for now- I have the funds, technically, but would prefer to do it slower and spread it out rather than all at once. I think I'm gonna start with a ssd drive (intel 160gb g2) and then maybe upgrade my graphics card. Then I guess I will consider upgrading the rest of my system- I'll let the 1156 chipset settle for a few months before I jump on it.

 

[one-shot]

I upgraded from an E6750 @ 3.7GHz to my i7. It was worth it for the apps I use.

 

[amnotanoobie]

Upgrade the graphics card first, the 8800GTS 320mb is really starting to show its age on new games. A 4770 or a GTS 250 might be a good starting point and would play most games on high (unless we are talking about 1920x1080).