3400+ 754 1mb L2 vs 3500+ 939 512kb L2

[RCman]

Hi,
I have a freind willing to buying my computer for a very good price my question is now that my computer specs currently are:
- Asus K8N-E Deluxe Socket 754
- AMD Althon 64 3400+ 1Mb L2, Clawhammer
- Radeon 9600 256MB
- 1GB (2x512mb) of Corsair PC3200 DDR RAM
- Maxtor 80GB 8MB Cache 7200RPM
- 550 Watt Power Supply
- 16x DVD ROM & 52x32x52x Burner

I'm alittle short on cash right now, but if my freind buys the systems I could go for this setup:
- ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra Socket 939
- AMD Althon 64 3500+ 512kb L2, Clawhammer
- Radeon X600XT 256MB DDR PCI-Express x16
- 1GB (2x512mb) of Corsair PC3200 DDR RAM
- Maxtor 80GB 8MB Cache 7200RPM
- 550 Watt Power Supply
- 16x DVD ROM & 52x32x52x Burner

Would I see that much of a difference in performance? Will the L2 cache size "downgrade" hurt? Is it worth the time and money? Sorry for the stupid questions, just wanted another opinion. :grinthumb

 

[RealBlackStuff]

You should see an improvement immediately in the graphics department (if you are a gamer or do graphics-intensive stuff).
Performance-wise those CPUs are about equal.
Your new rig will be more future-proof with PCI-e, dual channel memory and the possibility to upgrade the CPU eventually to a 2-core CPU.

 

[RCman]

That's what I was thinking. I do some gaming and CAD work, and I knew that the PCI-e Radeon X600XT 256MB would preform better than the AGP Radeon 9600 256mb. I am worried that the CPUs are clocked both at the 2.2ghz range, but the 3400+ has double the L2 cache than the 3500+. I just want to make sure that I would be losing anything in the CPU department.