Improvement with C2D OC?

[chief5286]

Hey everyone.

As I've posted before, the upgrade bug has struck for no apparent reason.

As you can see from the sig, I'm running a 3500+@2.3, 1 gig mem, and X1800XT 512 (OCd when I play Oblivion, stock for everything else). I know this is still a decent gaming setup, though hardly top of the line now a day. According to most benchmarks, the X1800XT OCd doesn't get beat by many cards (except the 8800s), and when it does, not by much (again, except the 8800s). If I did upgrade, I'd probably keep the VGA card for a while, probably at least another 6-12 months.

My question is, if I were to upgrade to a C2 4300 with 2 gigs of memory and OC the sucker, would I even notice much of an improvement in the games I play?

Obviously, I would notice in the video encoding department, but what about in game? If I did upgrade, would the improvement even remotely come close to justifying the expense (I would probably turn my 3500+ system into an HTPC and drop in my old 6600gt)?

Here's what I play mainly:
Oblivion at 10x7 High settings with 2AA+HDR
CS:S
Rome/Medieval Total War (would like to get Medieval II)
BF2 12x9 max
Probably going to get Battlestations Midway and Supreme Commander.

Any feedback would be appreciated.
(will also post in the VGA section)

 

[chief5286]

Yea, the big OC numbers on the 4300 are the reason I'm considering this. When I built my current rig, I made the mistake of getting a mobo that won't oc more than 100mhz period.

Would the framerate increase be noticible though? I mean, are we talking 1-2 FPS at normal game settings or something that would actually be quite an improvement?

My reservations are that it is an expensive upgrade considering the RAM that I would have to buy, and there are rumors that a switch to DDR3 may come soon.

Is there any merit to the DDR3 thing? If tha's going to come about in the next 6-12 months, it doesn't really seem worth it to plop in a C2D now.

 

[halbhh]

I'm sure these options have been asked and answered before, and could be googled, but I'd want to eliminate the possibilities for saving money, before I puchased a new MB.

A) Is there a low cost MB that would allow you to run the C2duo with old style DDR ram? B) Also, the performance hit buying the cheap, slower DDR2 vs the 800 speed may not matter much (it takes 20% performance difference to really matter to most people!), so one could save money with slower, cheaper DDR2 ram, planning to upgrade later. And Finally, C) if you know you want a new technology sytem (with DDR3) in 14 months, it makes sense for the budget conscious to do *cheaper* upgrades: just a faster chip for your current motherboard!

 

[halbhh]

That's certainly one option for him then.