What would be a better upgrade?

[Allattar]

Ok I have the following

E6600
Asus P5N32-E SLI Socket 775 Nforce 680i
4GB Crucial Ram
BFG 8800GTX
Creative X-FI fatality Soundcard

Now I have the itch to change something in there.
My initial reaction would be sticking the e8600 chip in there would have the biggest impact.

Of course lets say that the cost of that chip is the limit of the budget. What else could I do to have the greatest impact?

 

[reflux]

What do you use your PC for? Is the E6600 overclocked? What screen resolution do you run games at (if you play games)?

 

[Allattar]

well its a games machine, and I do just end up building my own pc and making them as fast as I can.

The processor isnt clocked at the moment. Screen resolution is 1680*1050.

This current incarnation of my PC has lasted quite well since I bought the bits 2 years ago. Now I just want to push the boundary again and make it faster.

 

[reflux]

Overclock that E6600 to 3ghz+, and buy one of these:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-114-OK

Buying an E8600 would be a speed increase, but if you can clock your E6600 to similar speeds (which should be easy) there's no point really. Better to spend on a faster graphics card IMO.

 

[Allattar]

good point and that card should be running a little cooler than the 8800GTX

 

[icey_haj]

Overclock that E6600 to 3ghz+, and buy one of these:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-114-OK

Buying an E8600 would be a speed increase, but if you can clock your E6600 to similar speeds (which should be easy) there's no point really. Better to spend on a faster graphics card IMO.

+1 Correct answer.

 

[pastymuncher]

Check out my thread here. It started out as a E5200 thread but has grown into a dual core cpu comparison. It has E2140/E4300/E5200/E6600/E8500 at varying speeds. All the hardware was identical apart from the cpu's. Have a look at what a E6600 is at stock compared to what it can do when clocked and see what you will gain.