My MB can't go past an EE 955 or 965 EE so I can't go to a Core Duo or anything like that. I am using 32-bit Vista Ultimate with 4GB of RAM and an ATI 4670 card, primarily for watching SageTV. The board has a 975X chipset.

My question is would I notice much of an improvement jumping within the 900 series going from a 3.2GHz 800MHz FSB to the 3.46 or 3.73GHz 1066 FSB? Particularly for using DirectShow filters for decoding H.264 video.

I need to prolong this computer as long as I can, and I can't adequately overclock my current CPU, so that is out as well.

Any opinions would be appreciated, especially from anyone who has actually tried that sort of jump.

Thanks.

According to Intel, that chipset supports core 2 duo's with a FSB of 1066 MHz or less. A good option would be the Core 2 Duo E7500.

That chipset sure does, but the Asus P5WD2-E Pemium board it's on does not due to how it powers the CPU. Cores need more advanced VREG/PS phase supplies or some such thing than Pentium D 900 series and earlier.

I have other 975x boards that handle Cores fine, but they have more advanced CPU PS circuitry.

I doubt you would see much performance gain from 3.2, though Hyperthreading on the Extreme Edition might help with decoding video. Overclocking my old 925 by 300 MHz showed no significant performance gains in any software.

Here is a review that includes both the PD 965EE and the your 3.2 GHz one, along with some Core 2's and Athlons, so you can see the difference between the two.

I was skeptical as well but saw an article on an Aussie OC board that showed a pretty substantial difference (30-50%) on many tests. I can get the url if you are interested.

I can't see where you have your URL of tests.

I think the FSB and unlocked multiplier are helping as well, obviously.

In short, if I can take this to where it needs to be with a little margin for H.264 & HD SageTV stuff, Team Media Portal, and very basic games (UB Funkeys) I'd rather get a processor and spend 20 minutes swapping it out and selling the old on on Ebay instead of building a whole new system.

Sorry, if forgot to post the link:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2795&cp=4

The unlocked multiplier will only help if you are planning on overclocking.

Hey, thanks for taking the time to repost that URL. I had actually seen that one.

Here is the Aussie one I was using:

http://www.overclockers.com.au/article.php?id=452447&P=3

Thanks again.