Upgrade an E6600 or save for a i7?

[Edgard of Rivia]

I have a sucker MOBO (ECS 945 M3 V3.0) and a Core 2 Duo E6600 (old faithful), 2gb of cheap DDR2, WD caviar blue 500gb, antec 650w (25A on the 12v rails), and a asus en8800 gts 320mb (running Vista Ultimate 32 bit, yep, no going further than 4gb).

 

Now, I was thinking of an update, and I do have us$300,00 available, right now.

 

First thing that came to mind was: hey, I want an i7! but, in japan's prices (I live in Japan by the way), that would mean something like us$600,00 (nice mobo+i7 920+ 4gb of ram,limited by windows vista 32bit). video card could be upgraded later (along with a psu probably).

 

but then again: I could buy myself a ASRock p45x3 deluxe + some 4gb of Corsair DDR3 1600 and + some decent cooler by us$250,00 ; keeping everything else unchanged, but opening some nice headroom for oc'ing the reliable E6600.

 

so, is it a bad move?

spending money on a 775 based platform, at this point, is a dumb idea or what?

[Edgard of Rivia]

oops, where are my manners?!

 

I'm new here, but intent to stick around.

I do live in crazy Japan right now, but I'm actually a Brazilian-born European descendant (as most Brazilians).

 

Nice to meet you all!

[ccokeman]

Welcome! There are no bad ideas but I would hold off until you see what the I5 and socket 1156 systems bring. Pricing looks pretty aggressive it you look through the online leaks.

[IVIYTH0S]

Welcome to OCC!!

Like Coke said, check out the i5's when they come out and if they aren't a big improvement, go AMD

[AMD64]

Agreed with the above wait for the new I5/I7'S. Yes some of the new i5s will be named with i7. confusing or what ^^ the i7 was never ment to replace core 2. thats the job for i5 lets just hope they have good prices.

[Flibo]

If price is a concern, I would suggest you to order stuff from the US. I live on the other side of the world than the US but still it's cheaper to order from there. (Compared to Finnish prices, Germany actually might be a better choice than the US )

[Edgard of Rivia]

Thanks guys!

I am really curious about the i5!

 

My indecision is mainly due to windows.

Right now, with a Vista Ultimate 32bit, i cant really use the full potential of the i7 right (64bit architecture + DDR3 above 4gb)?! But buying a new vista 64bit when windows 7 is around the corner is crazy.

 

Thanks for the ideas!

[IVIYTH0S]

Thanks guys!

I am really curious about the i5!

 

My indecision is mainly due to windows.

Right now, with a Vista Ultimate 32bit, i cant really use the full potential of the i7 right (64bit architecture + DDR3 above 4gb)?! But buying a new vista 64bit when windows 7 is around the corner is crazy.

 

Thanks for the ideas!

and you could use the free Beta of it until next year

[Edgard of Rivia]

OK, I've just sold my soul and bought a P6T Deluxe V2 + i7 920 + Corsair's XMS3!

 

For now I will run my hideous Vista Ultimate 32bit, giving up the 64bit advantages until windows 7 does come out. (RC version download and keys were finished yesterday).

 

Oh boy, I hope I can have a blast until the devil comes to collect!

 

Thanks guys!

[Fight Game]

You should be able to go from 32 bit vista to 64 bit for free, or $10 (usd) at the most if you call m$. 64 bit uses the same cd key.