New CPU

Doesn't matter......both Dual or Quad CPUs are going to give you better performance out the box. But to be straight, I'd say go get the Intel Quad Core processor, although I am a AMD fanboy. 😉

Buy the best you can afford. I like to buy one step down.
I bought the Core2Duo 6700 not the 6800 because of the huge difference in price and the small difference in "power".
With 3 gigs and a good card the machine will last for a few years.

In order to upgrade your CPU, you will probably have to get a new motherboard(mobo) also, you definitely will if you change from AMD to Intel. Make sure the the RAM you just bought is compatible with the new mobo or you'll end up buying all new RAM. Also ensure that the new board has the correct connection for your new video card(PCI express).

I would reccomend either 2gigs or 4gigs, and shy away from the 3gigs that you have. Reason being is that this forces the memory controller into single channel instead of dual channel. This really can effect Performance. Depdending on how much video memory you will have on your new video card, it may not all show up in the OS anyways...

Im using Vista Home Premium and have 4gigs of DDR-800mhz, yet it only shows 3.5gigs in my performance specs. This is because Vista only reccognizes 4gigs of TOTAL memory, including all those on stand alone devices. So after you add together the sound card, video card, etc.... it will take whatever is left from the 4 gigs... in my case, 3.5gigs.

Its odd, but trust me...keep it in dual channel.

I would reccomend either 2gigs or 4gigs, and shy away from the 3gigs that you have. Reason being is that this forces the memory controller into single channel instead of dual channel. This really can effect Performance. Depdending on how much video memory you will have on your new video card, it may not all show up in the OS anyways...

Im using Vista Home Premium and have 4gigs of DDR-800mhz, yet it only shows 3.5gigs in my performance specs. This is because Vista only reccognizes 4gigs of TOTAL memory, including all those on stand alone devices. So after you add together the sound card, video card, etc.... it will take whatever is left from the 4 gigs... in my case, 3.5gigs.

Its odd, but trust me...keep it in dual channel.

Thanks man, I did not know that. So you think I will be able to see better performance by removing 1 gb of my RAM??

Your idea sounded pretty good you know. It all makes sence.

Smailey 😀

Let me ask you this. Does your mobo have 4 memory slots or 3? If you only have 3, then you are only a single channel board and you can leave it in... if you have 4 slots, take out one and see what happens. Make sure that the 2 stick left in are in the same color. You want them to be in different group of slots. Do some surfing, play some games, etc, and see if you notice any difference. What you will probably notice is that the computer seems no slower, but is running 1 gig less.

Strange, but true. I personally do not know why MS left Vista at only 4gigs when many mobos now support 8gigs. I also hear that MS will be coming out with a new OS in 2009. So who knows what is going to happen now.

Smailey112 wrote:

But it does not do very well. In 3D Mark 06, I get like 0 to 1 fps with my CPU.

Well I can tell you this for nothing. I ran 3DMark06 when I had an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 and I got 2FPS. I think 3DMark has some sort of bug at the CPU tests so ignore that.