533 MHz FSB vs. 800 MHz FSB.....am I doomed?

I currently have a Dell Dimension 8250 with a P4 3.06GHz, 533 MHz FSB, 1GB of PC 1066 RDRAM and 512 kb of L2 cache. I like to play a lot of games and am always looking for ways to "make it quicker and meaner".

Here's my question....with my current 533 MHz FSB and 512 kb L2 cache configuration, am I just "too far behind" the current available technology (800 MHz FSB and 1 MB of L2 cache) to sink any money into my computer? Is the performance gap between the 533 FSB/512 L2 and the 800FSB/1 MB L2 so great that it's just wasting money trying to speed up my current one?

Am I better off starting with the newer technology than attempting to "tweak" the current computer?

Thanks.....I am open to all suggestions on replacing or improving what I have.

Texasbobby

 

I wouldn't be worth your money to upgrade just the processor. If I were you i would save your money and upgrade the motherboard processor and ram. Since your current configuration uses RDRAM and not DDR like the current motherboards this is the current downfall. I doubt your motherboard supports the new 800fsb if it's using RDram. Now i may be wrong but your ram would be the bottleneck in the system even if you upgraded to the latest processor. IMHO save your money and get a new 915 or 925 based motherboard. They will be releasing the 1066 fsb processors very soon. Plus you'll have dual channel ddr-2 and shtuff like that

 

is it "really" worth it???


see for yourself!!

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=1806&p=8


just my opinion....

 

I agree with Ironsnipe. Even though the 533 to 800 FSB might not make much of a difference, upgrading to a board with DDR RAM would.

Good Luck.

 

Wow....doesn't look like the FSB is the real problem. Is RDRAM that much slower than DDR 400? For what they charge for RDRAM, it should be a worldbeater!! Why's it so expensive if it's slower? Hmmmmm..........