Best processor to have a noticeable speed increase over c2d e6600

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my grandparents have an aging dell with a c2d e6600 processor. it is the family computer and it is sluggish no matter what i try to do. upgraded the ram to 6gigs [originally had 2] installed win7 x64, i am going to format and reinstall win7 but i doubt thatll help much. i honstely want to throw this computer out of the window some times because its just so damn slow

i want to scrap everything except the optical drive, gpu and hard drive and make a new computer for them

what processor would have the most noticeable speed increase and will be good for another 5-6 years?

personally i have an i5-2500k in my gaming rig and i have been very pleased with its performance.

i have been thinking about an i5-2400 for them or an i5-3450. the gpu in the dell burnt out a few months ago and i replaced it with a radeon 6670 so integrated graphics dont matter that much

would i3 be better or should i just pay up and go i5

light to medium gaming will be done on this computer but for the most part itll be used for word, internet, flash games, itunes, a few rounds of killing floor and some starcraft 2

going to go with 8gigs of ram since ddr3 is dirt cheap right now
 

phyco126

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i3 is good. However, I do want to say that my parents have an e5200 in their computer and its very snappy. Might want to look at a few reasons their system isn't very responsive. Reasons:

- Viruses/Spyware
- HDD is full (this will cause noticeable slow downs if the HDD is over 90% full)
- HDD is heavily fragmented - run a defragment tool
- Too many programs running in background - use msconfig to disable unnecessary programs during start-up
- Antivirus/antispyware software running or scanning in background

There is no reason any C2D based system should run so sluggishly. Hell, my dad had a Celeron 1200 (1.2 Ghz Dual-Core) and it was very snappy and did performed well until he upgraded to a Q9650.
 

phyco126

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The computer is a Dell, so there is no overclocking to be had. However, an SSD would certainly make things snappier.
 
Your grandparents aren't likely to be doing any type of gaming but maybe some 2D card game stuff etc., and since you won't be overclocking it, as you'd want a set it and forget it setup with a grandparent situation, any of the Dual Core Socket 1155 i3 2100 series below will run circles around what is presently being run.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...15-092^19-115-092-TS,19-115-077^19-115-077-TS

The 2120 has a $15.00 off promo code and Free Shipping!

These will handle the light to medium gaming you mentioned with no problems at all, the 8 gigs of memory with Win7 64bit is perfect choice actually.

If you reuse the Dell case you may need an M-ATX motherboard (You'll have to determine what size M/B the case can take), and replace the Dell HDD to say goodbye to the Dell possible proprietorial crap on it.

You will need a stand alone Win7 installation disk not a system restore type of disk, a system restore type disk is tied to the Dell HDD hidden partition in some cases.

The OP/SYS Dell OEM license is on the case, the perfect situation is a genuine Microsoft Win7 installation disk, that you can use to do a scratch installation and then use the existing license, all you have to tell Microsoft is you had to replace the motherboard, if the online auto activation doesn't work, but more than likely it will.

If that is your case deny the auto activation until your new motherboard drivers have been installed, so your lan drivers are functional, just a few tips to help you! Ryan
 

marshal11

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