Upgrade options?

Perhaps its the endless threads about the 1530s or threads on 'The Beast' but I am starting to wonder about upgrading and would love to hear some input on my options...

Current specs:

T2600 CORE DUO (Not the Core2 version)
7900 GTX
2 GB OCZ PC5400

Now I know there is very little difference between the 7900 and the 7950 GTX cards so the price of upgrading to the 7950 is probably not worth it.

I plan on adding 2 more Gigs of RAM -

so my main thought is on the CPU. Is there a big performance difference between the first gen Core Duo and the Core 2??

Thanks for your thoughts...

 

In my opinion no, though I suppose it will depend on your needs. The overwhelmingly most important part when gaming is the GPU. You do know unless you are running a 64 bit version of Windows, you machine will not see all 4GB of memory.

 

Meh, it depends. Like if you're going from a T2050 to a T9500, you'll feel a difference. Then again, if you're going from a T2600 to a T7600, you probably won't feel the difference. And yes, it will depend on your needs as well.

The price of upgrading to the 7950 is indeed probably not worth it.

 

Thanks for both of your replies. As to Vista not seeing all of the memory, I believe this is slated to be fixed with SP1. So a CPU upgrade to the T7600 is possible?

What I would really love to do is have a backlit keyboard... LOL. I did order a black keyboard since I think it will look better. Any input from current M1710 owners feeling the same way as I and wanting to upgrade?

Ahhhhhh 'The Beast'. Maybe when the tax relief check shows up...

 

You can refer to the guide in my sig for a list of all compatible processors.

You will be able to upgrade to the T7600 given that your BIOS supports it.

I don't think a 32bit Vista SP1 will see all 4GB of memory as it's still a 32bit OS.

 

Windows will 'see' 4 GB, but you still won't be able to use it because it's a 32 bit OS.

 

Yep - thanks all for correcting me on the 4GB issue. My black keyboard shows up tomorrow so at least something will change... thx again for the feedback!