Check my spec - advice welcome!

[sl33pyhead]

Right, I'm currently thinking of an upgrade to either of the following:

Asus P5B-E Plus (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Intel Core 2 DUO E6400 "LGA775 Allendale" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-6400C4 TwinX (2x1GB)
Western Digital Caviar RE 320GB 3200YS SATA-II 16MB Cache

or

Intel Extreme D975XBX2KR BAD AXE 2 975X (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - Retail
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-6400C4 TwinX (2x1GB)
Western Digital Caviar RE 320GB 3200YS SATA-II 16MB Cache

In both cases each setup would be partnered with an existing Enermax Liberty 600W PSU, and an X1900XT.

Now my question is really is the BX2 (975) and E6600 worth the extra over the P5B-E Plus (965) and E6400? Does the 4MB cache on the 6600 make a big difference at an equivalent clock to the 6400?

I'm open to alternatives, although it is worth pointing out that I have no plans to go either Crossfire or SLI in the future, and my case is a Lian Li V1000 series with the inverted motherboard mount so therefore any motherboards with heatpipes for the north/southbridges are out of the question (I know Asus specifically do nto recommend inverted mounting on their heatpipes). I also have a purely personal preference for Intel based chipsets rather than NVidia.

Any advice welcome.....

 

[mattpj]

4mb cache makes zero difference on an equivalent clock of any core2duo.

The only play it would make any difference is on Video editing, then it is worth paying the extra apparently. But only you know if this will help you. Even then is it worth the extra 80 pound from e4300 or e6300.

Also the 6400 is defintely the worst value cpu out of the bunch, you can easily clock 4300 past 3ghz and save close to 50 pound at the cost of NO performance.

 

[mishima]

I would get yourself a Gigabyte DS3 and a E4300. With the extra bit of cash you could then get yourself a Tuniq Tower or Thermalright Ultra-120. That would be great value for money. With those bits you could easily clock to 3GHz+

 

[melbourne720]

I would get yourself a Gigabyte DS3 and a E4300. With the extra bit of cash you could then get yourself a Tuniq Tower or Thermalright Ultra-120. That would be great value for money. With those bits you could easily clock to 3GHz+

2nd'd

 

[kmistry]

2nd'd

3rd'd