Worth upgrading ?

Currently have :

e6600
gigabyte ds3 rev 2
512mb gainward 8800gt


My question is it it worth upgrading to a q6600 g0 and a mobo that is capable of pci-e 2.0 as im pretty sure this mobo is only pci-e 1.

Regards

Depends whether you need to or not. Do play lots of modern games? If not, you might be ok with what you have for a while. And even if you do, there isn't much that can stress an E6600 just yet.

Either way though, I would suggest just waiting anyway. Unless you desperately need extra speed right away, it would be worth waiting until the new year. There will be lots of better gear and better prices.

unless you use programs that use smp or all 4 cores most of the time, there really is no point. the q6600 is just 2 e6600's on one pcb. no games use all 4 cores afaik. i say save up your money as thats a really decent system. after christmas there'll be loads of new cpu's gfx's and others. so if you save that 165 or so pounds you could upgrade to a much better cpu that might come across.

PCIe 2.0 won't do diddly squat for performance. DS3 supports what? 1066 CPUs only? in which case an overclocked Q6600 is going to be as good as it gets on that motherboard. Purchase a 1066 quad before they go out of fashion to get the most mileage from the motherboard makes some sense although the benifit from 2-4 cores is not as big as the benifit from 1-2 cores except in a limited number of applications.

If you're thinking about changing the motherboard then it doesn't make much sense to combine it with a 1066 Q6600. You could upgrade the motherboard now and continue to use the E6600 until the newer 45nm Quads are available.

Wait until after Xmas (always a price drop), and the Penryns and new mobos are freely available.