upgrading advice for a new intel

[tonewheel]

Hello all. I was scouting around looking at my computer specs and realized that i just might be able to squeeze a few more years of use out of her.

I have an intel 945GPM mobo with a pentium D940 (which runs a 3.2Ghz stock)

From what i can tell the mobo is a socket 775 which could also facilitate a core 2 duo or maybe even a quad core???

I know my stuff is old but if anyone could let me know which processor i could upgrade to that would be a good compromise between performance and price and maybe keep it under $200. I don't really want to buy the baddest thing on the block more just looking for a year or two fix until i get a whole new comp.

Also i have a 3870 ati gpu and i think my main bottleneck when gaming is my cpu, especially with games like supreme commander

Also Also i am looking at specs right now and it seems that my mobo can only go up to 800Mhz FSB.... is that true or could i clock it up to 1066 somehow (I have never tried overclocking so don't really know what is and isn't overclockable, but i would like to try it)

Thanks

[worshipme]

Unfortunately your motherboard does not support the Core line of processors, you will need a new motherboard if you want to upgrade.

You could get a decent motherboard and CPU if you still have $200 to spend:

Phenom 9600 (amazing price for this) + ASUS 780G.

[tonewheel]

Oh bother.... so i guess my machine is a dinosaur and it's just a matter of time before it is totally eclipsed. Oh well

I appreciate the quick reply but do you think that amd stuff you showed me would that be compatible with my current ram... I believe I have 4 gigs of 533Mhz(?) ddr2

[Teny]

Number of Memory Slots 4×240pin
Memory Standard DDR2 1066
Maximum Memory Supported 8GB
Dual Channel Supported Yes

Yes, its compatible with your current RAM.

[tonewheel]

sweet well i guess i can salvage some of my old setup.

It looks like i'll have to build a new pc anyway so is there any real benefit to the amd quad over say a similarly priced intel dual core. I like to do alot of gaming but the real purpose of my rig is for multitrack audio recording and some photoshop

[Teny]

well as of now, a higher clocked Dual Core is better than an lower clocked Quad Core when in gaming.
But Far Cry 2 seems to benefit the Quads, but not by much. So i am assuming that Quads will be in gaming by around next year.
For everything else, a quad core is better.

[JogaBonito1502]

Go with the AMD quad-core. For the main purpose it will be a lot better and it won't be bad for gaming. If I were you I would hold out a little more and just try to build a new rig.

[tonewheel]

hmm.. so the quads are better at pretty much everything except gaming as of now but that seems to be changing... i think i got it.

Now i just need to figure out if i want to do this now or hold off a bit and buy the better setup. Oh the choices

[worshipme]

I recommended the 9600 because it's at such an amazing price. Only $119 for something that is almost as fast as the Q6600. The similarly priced Intel dual core would be the E7200 and I'd definitely take the Phenom over that.