More processing power

Advice is always good so I will ask..Currently running a Intel core2 duo e6300 and want to upgrade rather than overclock (a little scary) since my Intel D975XBX2 motherboard will not support some of the newest processors but will go as high as at least the Q6600 (cuz I don't have a grand to throw out there on a QX6800).. Will I see a major improvement with the q6600 or would I be better with a faster dual core like a e6700.. As always Thanks for the responses

Hi

Probably not really....unless the programs you're using are optimized to make use of all 4 cores, you probably won't see a big difference. Many people don't understand why that is, but here's a little reading material on this. http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/page/cpu/all

You will see some improvements on general computing simply because the clock is higher and more cores to work on things, but on the whole it may not be all you think it will be. Reading some of the articles on that Hardware Secrets - CPU page may help and there are comparison charts there as well on all Core 2 Duo and Quad core chips.

The question of all questions - and the answer is pretty hardware specific - in that, "What are you going to do with your hardware?"

Gamers pretty much stick to dual cores because very, very few games see benefits from equivalent dual cores versus quad cores. However, if you plan on doing things like running an instance (or 2 or more) of F@H or S@H on your computer, you'll appreciate being able to run them on a couple of cores while still having 2 cores free for whatever.

Honestly, though, I'd go for a new build as the 875 s a pretty old mobo chipset....but I can understand if money is an object....

I built my rig in April of this year, and I put about $1500 for the total thing, minus the monitors, which I purchased later, for roughly $350 more.

Your D975XBX2 is supposed to have support for an Intel® Core™2 Duo processor in an LGA775 socket with a 1066 MHz system bus.

This would include an E8400 3.0GHz 6MB L2 cache. I am presently running this processor (overclocked to 3.6GHz with a Zalman CNPS9700 cooler). Core Temp reports only 62Cmax when maxed out using Prime95 stress program. Relatively speaking this is roughly twice the 1.86GHz you are running now. Even not overclocked, I think you would notice a difference. I don't know if your board will overclock or not. Intel boards generally do not have these options in BIOS. The price on the E8400 has dropped since I got mine.

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail $165.00 @ Newegg



Your D975XBX2 also supports Crossfire and up to 8GB of 800Mhz RAM, so I don't think it's so out of date you would want to replace it. JMHO

Here is a tool you can select a bench mark to make comparison of the two:http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/cpu-charts-2008-q1-2008/3D-Studio-Max-9,369.html

E6300 and E8400 you can compare to any type of benchmark here

Benchmarks Desktop CPU Charts Q3/2008

To Jim R.. First off according to Intel this board does not support anything over the e6700 (core2 duo) and the (qx6800) ridiculously large dollars!.. I do some gaming and one of my games reccomends a 2.4 to 2.6 gig processor (Grid)..Thanks for your help.. I guess I was also thinking of somewhat future proofing my rig by going quad core as I will probably not be able to upgrade any more any time soon. Crossfire on my board could also only run at x8 which would really not be as fast as my Toxic 4850 running at x16.. Thanks for your help