How much better is a E5400 than E2160?

here is the e2160 vs the E5300. the 5400 would be slightly better

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/98?vs=69

Kinda looks like it might be worth the upgrade to the E5400 then to pump out just a little more juice ?

if you can get a good price on it and your mobo BIOS supports the upgrade

Looks like it'll be about $68, then AS5 about $9.

Seems to be a little more than a 'cheap' upgrade.

The E6500 is only $10 more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

My RAM is 667 MHz, should I worry about upgrading the "FSB" to over 800 MHz then (with the E6500) ?

And motherboard only supports the 800 MHz DDR2 RAM if I was to upgrade that also.

1. Do you plan to OC? Is the E2160 OCed?

2.
No. FSB is quad pumped. Meaning the DDR2 667 RAM can support up to FSB 1333 (assuming 1:1 FSB:RAM).

3. What's the rest of the specs?

4. Imo, the LGA775 is a dead socket. No point in upgrading your E2160 unless you plan to get a Q9xxx/Q8xxx. The C2Qs are too expensive for a dead socket CPU. Unless you can find a Q8400/Q9300 for ~$80-100, the upgrade isn't worth it. You can easily get an AM2+ board (so you can use DDR2 RAM) a Athlon II X4 for a little over a $160. For $250 or so, you can get DDR3, AM3 board, and a Athlon II X4.

Or, you can wait until Sandy Bridge/Bulldozer comes out and do a full upgrade (CPU + RAM + motherboard) then.

I can't over clock.

I can't support Quads.

I'd have to reuse my dell cooler.

The E2160 is 'weak' for Unreal3.

I'm not looking to spend more than $60-80. Thus a CPU upgrade.. not a new computer. (I have to eat that month I upgrade..)

what dell do you have? something like the E510 or E520?

Inspiron 530D

the cooler is this one:

http://www.newgeardeals.com/dell-inspiron-530-531-vostr...

I'm assuming it'll work for the new E5400 ?

it will work, make sure you update to the latest BIOS

OK, I'm thinking put in the E5400, then after that might as well scrap the whole system and save up for an i series or AMD product ?

well, the market may be completely different by then. obviously even with the E5400, your PC's better days are in the rear view mirrow

I can't find specs on this thing. You are upgrading for UT3? Are you sure it is your CPU holding you back and not your GPU? What GPU do you have?

^ Yeah, you should NOT have problems with UT3 and a E2160. A friend of mine has a E2200 and a GTS250 and he plays UT3 fine at 1680*1050 with a OC on the GPU.

Radeon 4670.

UT3 uses 100% of my CPU. Only a few maps bog down.

^ Are you serious? Me thinks you have too much stuff running on the background. Also is the game patched with the latest updates?

Also, make sure "FPS Smoothing" under Advanced Video Settings is "off".

Yes I am serious.

The game is on Steam thus has everything auto.

I think I'll go ahead with the CPU if I can fit it in. But with Portal2 coming out, that's gonna be priority one.