Intel C2D E4300 vs. Amd X2

[tbone8ty]

Im trying upgrade my computer and im on a budget

im upgrading from agp and 754 pin

all i need is video card(already decided on 8800gts320mb), mobo, and cpu....

i figure the AMD X2 (939 pin) would be a good choice because then i dont have to upgrade my memory, i already have 2 x 1gb of gskill ddr400 instead of having to get the new ddr2 memory.

this way i can spend the extra cash on the video card.

am i gonna see bigger performance if i go the e4300 rought? and have to get the ddr2 memory?

[nn_step]

the biggest performance gains in games come from the best video card

[[XC] gomeler]

like nn_step said, your VGA will be the biggest bottleneck in regards to gaming. Since you already have 2 gigs of DDR and you are on a budget I'd say go with the s939 opterons if you can find them along with one of the nforce4 boards, almost all of them were great clockers. You might want to get the 640mb 8800GTS if you can spring the extra cash, the 320mb will bottleneck you if you ever play at medium to high resolutions or high textures.

[olirc]

After an RMA i had a ATI 1950Pro AGP but in the meantime i had bought a new video card so it was layin around till i bought me these components: Asrock Conroe865PE C2D 4300 and so on so you can use AGP even with a C2D system. Just look at http://www.asrock.com for more motherboards with AGP & DDR support. They even have one that support AGP, PCI-E, DDR and DDR2 but be warned that PCI-E on this motherboard is only 4X and not 16X!