Memory, CPU and GFX choice questions

[gt40]

Are you really going to see that much performance gain from a E6600 vs E6400 - for about 30% more in price?
I only ask because I am looking for a simialr system , and have decided the performance/vs price doesn't justify the E6600.

[Fat Tone]

Well you have a point, but if I was going to buy at that price point it'd probably be AMD (I've always been loyal to them). At the E6600 price point, the 5400+ still has the drawbacks of the smaller cache and much higher power consumption.

I don't upgrade too often these days, so I want a big hike over my 3400+, and one that's going to last.

[Mehen]

I would probably say go with the E6400 just so you can throw more money at a video card.

just overclock a little, get a couple hundred MHz, you won't have to touch the voltage or anything or worry about heat issues.

- oh yeah, pretty sure you can't run ECC ram, might have to re-evaluate the budget.

[Mehen]

Check out this article: http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/02/...for_the_money/
"The Best Gaming Video Cards for the Money: February 2007"

[schmosef]

I originally had an E6400, then sold it to someone and got an E6700 when they became available.

Honestly, there's very little noticable performance difference.

I'm not a heavy gamer these days so perhaps the story would be different if I was but for working in MS Office and even programming with Visual Studio, I'm not sure I could tell the difference on a blind comparison.

[Fat Tone]

I'm seriously considering just sending £300 to my mortgage company