Bad time to upgrade my rig?

[thecoffeeguy]

So I have been wanting to upgrade my rig for sometime now, but read in a couple other threads that better stuff is around the corner.

So, what should I do?

I am running a Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4ghz, 2gigs memory and a GForce 260 card.

I was looking to upgrade my rig to a quad-core AMD with 4gigs DDR3 memory (minimum) and go to Windows 7 x64 bit.

My rig is primarily gaming and I feel I am behind the curve.

If I decide to upgrade, is going for a L3 cache worth it, or not?

Cheers.

 

[Jovec]

So I have been wanting to upgrade my rig for sometime now, but read in a couple other threads that better stuff is around the corner.

So, what should I do?

I am running a Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4ghz, 2gigs memory and a GForce 260 card.

I was looking to upgrade my rig to a quad-core AMD with 4gigs DDR3 memory (minimum) and go to Windows 7 x64 bit.

My rig is primarily gaming and I feel I am behind the curve.

If I decide to upgrade, is going for a L3 cache worth it, or not?

Cheers.

If you want to go AMD for gaming definitely look into Phenom IIs with L3. Gaming is one of the few app types that sees real benefit from L3. You'll also want to look into overclocking the CPU-NB.

AMD CPUs are capable gamers, but if your primary interest is gaming you'll get better CPU performance (translate as "higher minimum framerates") from Intel. If you don't plan to overclock (either the CPU or the CPU-NB) then you'll almost certainly want to go Intel. The choice becomes tougher if it comes down to AMD+more GPU vs Intel+less GPU.

 

[nenforcer]

I am in the same boat as you. The LGA775 is just a horrible platform to be stuck with currently.

I have a Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz 4MB and 2GB DDR2-800 with 2 x 9800GT in SLI on Windows Vista x64.

I would want to upgrade to either a Core 2 Duo E8400 or a Core 2 Quad 9550 w/ 12MB L2 but the prices are just way to close to the Core i5 / Core i7 series.

The performance is fairly close but it just doesn't make any sense to upgrade to a last gen system at the current prices.

I'm going to install Fallout 3 and see how that plays and then try GTA 4. As much as I'm temped to upgrade I don't think I'm going to have any performance issues.

 

[Rifter]

have fun trying to run GTA IV on a 2.4Ghz dual core. GTA IV need a quad to get any kinda performance, its one of the first games that actually NEEDS a quad core.

That said if you were going to upgrade now you really dont have any options where future upgrades will be an option. All currect sockets are dead. With that said there is nothing wrong with the performance of a current i7 or phenom II X6 system.

 

[khansolo]

At most, perhaps find an old Q6600 or Q9xxx cpu to upgrade your cpu. It's a big boat, I too have an LGA775 system with a Q6600 and GTX 260. With all the info comin out, I'm gonna wait for Intel's sandy and AMD's bulldozer first. I HATE the fact that both are pretty much abandoning current sockets. I was all up and about to jump onto an i5 but it disappointed me so much that they were gonna phase out the 1156 already.