Need advice with older computer.

[SR001]

Well first off Hi everyone and thanks in advance for your relpies!

My current pc is about 3 or 4 years old. It is a compaq with:
A 3.20 ghz cpu running an intel pentium 4 941.
The mobo is a ASUS P5LP-LE (Leonite-GL8E)(Cedar Mill) with the 945g chipset, 775 socket, up to 1066 FSB, compatible with 6x00 and 4x00 core 2 Duo's.
It has 2gigs 5300 PC2 (667mhz) DDR2 kingston ram.
Nvidia 8800gt V-Card.
500 Watt Antec PSU.
140 Gig HD.
Vista home basic 32 bit OS.

I recently (within the last year) put in the 8800gt, 500 watt psu, and extra gig of ram. It upped its gaming performance, and overall usefullness with multiple applications quite a bit, but not anywhere near where I hoped it would be. I figured this was due to the processor slowing me down.

So my question now is, if I can find a cheap enough ($200 or so) E6600, E6700 core 2 duo, will this increase my performance quite a bit? Or will it be like the vid card and ram and only be so so? And if this is the case, is it because my mobo is so obsolete that its usefullness is well beyond its days? Im really on a budget here, I have had people say I might as well get a new mobo/cpu but this would ultimately require me to probably purchase new ram/new OS/and have to reformat. All of which I dont have the money/want to do. Im looking for something here to increase its usefullness when using multiple apps as well as gaming (not brand new games, but within the last 2 years or so of releases, such as COD3, Halo2). Until I get enough money next year or so to get a completely new build.

Any help regaurding what CPU's (other then the 2 I listed, or comments on them) would increase my performance greatly, anything else I could take into account/do, if upgrading is somewhat worth it/how much could I expect to gain by upgrading the cpu, basically any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Evolv]

If you're willing to spend like $200 for a E6700, then you can afford a new motherboard and cpu. E6600 and E6700 are discontinued and are very high priced right now. And your current motherboard with the 945g chipset will not support the newer Core 2 Duos such as Conroe. You're better off going with something like this:

Motherboard
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP43-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

CPU
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

With those two things it comes to $200. The motherboard doesn't have free shipping, so that might be an extra $9.

Your current stuff will be compatible with these components, even the ram. And you don't need a new OS, just do a repair install on the old hard drive. That way you'll keep your files and such, but you might want to back up your important stuff just in case.

This upgrade would definetly be worth it and will give a big performance boost.

 

[kmote]

The case is probably matx so that mobo would not fit. Either get a matx mobo or get a new case. I would recommend keeping all your current hardware but getting a newer case then wait till you have some more money and go with a CPU/mobo upgrade this will also allow you to OC the CPU a little.

 

[hikaricloud]

New cases aren't that expensive, but that mobo is out of stock. You may want to look for something else...if you want to save money, grab an E5200, and overclock the crap out of it.

 

[Evolv]

Oh wow, the EP43-DS3L is now deactivated? I just posted that yesterday and it was $80.

 

[SR001]

Well as it turns out, im going to wait for awhile (probably a year or so) and then build a nice computer with everything I actually want. So im just looking to dump as little cash into this right now as I can, I figure theres no use upgrading and upgrading, when im gonna make my own rig in such a short time. So im simply asking for advice on 1 thing. The e4700. It appears to be somewhat similar with the 6 series from what I have seen at least. I found a guy (locally) willing to sell me an e4700 out of a machine which he has had in his store since he bought it (really unused) with the heatsink for 70 dollars. Good deal? And what could I expect performance wise just from adding this processor to my current rig? As really if I wont hardly gain anything, ill just keep my p4 and wait. But I dont think 70 bucks is a whole lot to add to it and be done. Opinions?

 

[philbar71]

for $70 that is a pretty good price. will trash your pentium 4, if you could find a e2200 for cheaper that would be even better.

 

[SR001]

Well I would look for something like a cheap e2xxx, BUT my mobo has strict guidelines.

Socket: 775
Supports the following processors:
Core 2 Duo E6x00
Core 2 Duo E4x00
Pentium D 9x0 Dual Core
Pentium D 8xx Dual Core
Pentium 4 6x1 series
Celeron D 3xx series

So im just looking for the best/cheap fix I can get. So far im thinking that 4700 isnt too bad.

And also, if I can find an even cheaper e4500, would that be worth it to buy it or just go for the 4700. The only difference is the 4500 = 2.2mhz and the 4700 = 2.6mhz. How much of a noticable difference would there actually be between those 2 chips?

 

[Evolv]

Both of them processors have the same cache sizes and 65nm tech. The only differences between the two is that the 4700 has a x13 multiplier, and the 4500 has a x11 multiplier. So the 4700 could probably overclock a little higher but if you could find a 4500 for significantly cheaper, it would probably be a good buy.

 

[SR001]

sigh... Well im not going to be able to overclock seeing as I have a prebuilt machine and mobo So I guess that doesnt matter, basically im stuck with what I get.