Should i upgrade?

[SkeeterUK]

I have 3500+ venice skt 939 clocked at 2.5ghz roughly. Its fine for most stuff but i would like desktop to be quicker when windows is booting up and i supose would like to see games smoother and maybe faster if possable.

I was thinking of a 3800+ dual core but i dont know what the average one clocks to when ocing. I would like 2.7ghz minimum. I was thinking also of the opteron 165 or 170. Due to the better cache. Which i believe would help smooth desktop usage and gaming perhaps not make it faster but smoother yeah also more cache is good for ocing aint it?

Is the extra what erm 3800+ is 46 so er opty 165 is 65 quid so 19 quid more worth it for the extra cache on the opty and maybe higher oc on stock volts?

What ocing can be done averagly on opty 165 cpus.

If i do upgrade whats the stepping and revisions to look for that are good oc's with stock volts.

Also would i need to update bios on my asus a8v deluxe re 2. Currently on 1014 bios which is best for ocing i heard when i got it but not sure if it supports the latest dual core cpus.

Also will my ram hold the oc back or the cpus back in general since im on ddr1 for dual core comp. Oh yeah and is my freezer 64 pro good enough to cool a overclocked dual core to about 2.7ghz?

Last but not least i need to think how much better fps i will get in games. What kinda increase in fps can i expect (guess) in single core games with a dual core cpu, and what kinda increase will i get from dual core usage games?

As one thing im really hoping for is smoothness in test drive unlimited, i know a patch is coming but every bit helps i supose. Plus id like to get at min 35fps in tdu with 1280 res and 4x aa and hdr on. I get about 20 fps and jerky screen cos of the streaming landscape.

 

[n3crius]

Similar here. I'm still running a 3800+ (Newcastle) at clocked at 2.97 (if I remember right)

The jump to C2D with a new mb, set of memory etc should be a real change later this year. I'm holding out as long as possible though, feels like winter 2007 will be the optimal time for me to switch.

Some great CPU's on the market this year. Amazing how the 939/3800+ my machine has from a few years back lags behind the processors now.

 

[BAMBI]

Same for me but im trying to wait as long as possible (party due to the fact that im broke).

n3crius if your look at gaming improvements too dont forget the graphics card.

 

[jaykay]

Heres a thread on the overclocks of the 3800 x2
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17497478&highlight=3800+overclocking+table

 

[n3crius]

Same for me but im trying to wait as long as possible (party due to the fact that im broke).

n3crius if your look at gaming improvements too dont forget the graphics card.

for sure BAMBI.

My 6800Ultra really losing the battle these days. Many things are still playable (I can play SupComm on medicore settings generally quite well) but it won't be long before this old warrior has to be retired. It's going to have to be something special to take the place of that thing, in relative terms. The upper end of the 8800 range does look tempting but as I'm holding out until the end of the year I'm going to wait and see what else surfaces.