Which CPU?

[Trem]

I have an Asus P5W-DH Deluxe motherboard and 4gb of ram. I have a core 2 duo 6600 CPU at the minute. Running Vista Ultimate 64 bit.

Since I got my PS3 I have been streaming films to it, now I aren't saying there has been any problems in doing this but I am thinking there may be in the future.

Is there a better CPU that I should spend my money on at the moment, do the quad cores make much difference over what I already have?

I don't want to spend a fortune either.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jonty]

Hi Trem

Stick with what you have. The E6600 performs fine, and can be overclocked if you need more performance. Yes, there are newer CPUs (i.e. the quad-core Q6600 and Q9300; and the dual-core E8400), but they don't really offer huge performance jumps (they are better CPUs, to be sure, but maybe not enough to justify upgrading).

As for streaming, this doesn't really tax the CPU as it's more a question of bandwidth. The actual decoding and playing of the files (I guess music and/or movies?) is done on the PS3.

Kind regards

 

[Trem]

Thank you sir, that answers everything I wanted to ask.

I do have a huge Zalman fan on my CPU and it isn't overclocked so you are right I always have that option.

Cheers Jontlar.

 

[Jonty]

You're welcome, Trem. Of course listen to the others too, but hopefully they'll agree if money is tight then just stick with what you have for now.

Kind regards

 

[Cromcruaich]

I agree. You'd hardly notice the performance difference upgrading your processor at this time. Those 6600 can be good overclockers as well. They suffer a bit in comparison to the new ones with a lower fsb - but I bet you can push that up to match the new e8xxx ones as well (with some research etc )

Quad core is a waste less you running software that can utilise 4 cores, or running lots of tasks - I say software manufacturers put that X in the top right hand corner of their windows for a reason!

 

[bob269]

Just make sure your HDD is defragged now and then.