Worth the upgrade? X2-->C2D

[996GT2]

Someone recently offered me a good price on my mobo, X2 CPU, and Lapped AC Freezer 64 Pro Heatsink. Basically, if I sell all of these parts, I can upgrade to a Core 2 E2160 with a decent motherboard and a Freezer 7 Pro for relatively little $. I plan to OC the E2160 to around 3 GHz...is this relatively common, and what kind of mobo would I need to achieve this?

I'm pretty knowledgeable with AMD overclocking, but am very new to the Intel OCing scene (I've OC'd a couple of C2D systems for friends, but that's about it and they were pretty minor 2.8 GHz overclocks). I have some high quality G.Skill HZ DDR2, so RAM won't be an issue if I make the upgrade.

Do you guys think it's worth the effort to reinstall windows and everything to upgrade to C2D? What would be some decently priced OCing motherboards?

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[gardener27]

My build is the abit ip35-e , e2160 with intel hsf and i can hit 3.4 easily on mine and it's my first overclock.
I dropped mine down to 3ghz and it's flying .
A nice cheap build and performs just as good as the over priced ones you see on here.

 

[NoSoup4You]

Personally, I'd keep the 3600+ over an E2160. But the Intel chip is faster so it's really up to you. I don't think it would be worth the hassle for an E2160... but a 4MB cache E6x50 series chip would definitely be more tempting.

 

[gardener27]

I think he's trying to save money hence the question.
E4500's alot more than a e2160 .

 

[myocardia]

Honestly, what would be the point? You have a 7600GT. Save your money for a fast video card, that's actually being held back by your video card, then look into a C2D.

 

[996GT2]

Hmm I guess you guys are right. I'll be getting a pretty high-end Core 2 Laptop for college in a year anyway, so this computer will probably end up reserved for the parents' use. They don't do much other than e-mail and productivity tasks, so it's probably already way overkill for them It should make a nice upgrade from their P4 system though.

 

[RussianSensation]

That depends on how much is "very little $." If you can upgrade for $30-50, it's worth it. Also remember a C2D mobo supports quad processors and even Penryn. I am not sure if you play games or not though because in that case getting something like X1950Pro for $120 is a far better upgrade.

 

[nyker96]

if you do video encoding definitely!