Substantial Gains: Motherboard and CPU Price-to-Performance

LetitbeCaptured

Distinguished
Dec 23, 2011
5
0
18,510
Hey all,

New to the forums here, but I'm pretty well versed with getting redirected here with responses from my Google questions. =]

I haven't been able to find any answers to this one, though, so hopefully someone can give me a little insight.
My question is about how much each of these things would boost my performance if I were to upgrade in that manner.

My system right now is this:

Motherboard: GB DS3L - Intel Socket 775 - DDR2 RAM Standard - 800/1066/1333 FSB Standard
CPU: Intel Dual Core E2160 @1.8GHz Stock w/ 1MB cache (Can be pushed between 2.8GHz and 3.2GHz with air cooling)
RAM: 6GB DDR2 800MHz (PC 3200) Dual-Channel
Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 2GB with Vapor-X Cooling

Here are my two options for upgrading:

A ) Keep DS3L Motherboard with the LGA775 socket, upgrade CPU to Intel Dual Core E5800 @3.2GHz stock w/ 2MB cache

B ) Upgrade to LGA1155 Motherboard, Upgrade RAM to DDR3 standard, Upgrade CPU to Intel G630 @2.7GHz w/ 3MB cache
--------

Option A will cost me about $70, while option B will cost me about $160 for the whole thing.

My questions, specifically, are about price to performance on this upgrade, as it applies to a PC that is meant mostly for gaming.
How much gain in performance would there be in going from an E2160 to an E5800?
Would the gain from going to a DDR3 Motherboard and a G630 far usurp the previous setup?
Would the biggest upgrade provide enough of a performance increase to warrant spending more than double the price?

Thanks a lot! =]
I hope I've made my situation clear enough--sometimes I struggle with that.

Cheers,
Donovan