I currently have a P4 extreme Edition HT 3.4ghz non-overclocked. Will i notice a night and day difference with one of the new Core Duo 2 processors?

Yes I read Core Duo 2 blows p4 away but anyone here actually have one and compared?

well when i went froma AMD 64 3700+ 1mb to a AMD X2 4400+ 2mb there was a driffrence but not a night and day... if its running fast enuff for you now and does every thing u need then dont wates the money.

But if your like me, then every speed incress counts

The EE chips are very fast. You may notice a gain when doing a lot of multitasking with the Dual core chip. My AMD 3800 dual core can do a great deal of multitasking with a lot of apps open.

One thing i did see incress in speed alot if Resizing Alot of Pics at one time and Video editing is faster not.

One question, what do you use your computer for?

Unless you say extensive 3D rendering, or compression of large video files, or some other massively CPU intensive task, it'* hugely not worth the money.

My AMD single core, 32 bit 2600+ is still an awesome computer. Albeit I also have a dual core 64 bit 3800+, AND a Core Duo laptop which is equivalent to about a 4400+ and honestly the times I notice the laptop being faster are rare.

99% of the population should be investing their CPU money into high end hard drives, that'* when you can genuinely say, "Wow, that money was worth it"

Instead spend $350 on some 10k or 15K ULTA160 SCSIs, stickm' in RAID 0 and notice a real difference. Or for simplicity just get some WD Raptor'*, less overhead cost than SCSI drives, not as fast, but still worthwhile.

Big difference between a 12ms and a 3.5ms seek time!

(Ok, so that was partly a rant over the new Core2s and people being obsessed with them.)

aCiD- X2 to that

Thats whyt i have two SATA 2 160gigs ina Raid 0, thats where all the speed comes from
also 2GB of memory helps alot!

Bandit

Like I >AM< a person who does lots of CPU intensive stuff, but I just don't do it THAT often to justify expensive processors and new boards.

I got dual (RAID0) 36GB 10k Ulta160 SCSIs on my main workstation. And my AMD 2600+ has dual SATA 120s on RAID0.

Since all my stuff is kept on the rather volatile RAID0 setups (as reliable as SCSIs are...) I also keep a tape backup of my main systems.

1GB of RAM is mandatory nowadays, you really have to be a reasonably serious user to need 2GB. When I get into Photoshop pretty hardcore I can get up to needing 3.5GB at times , but again, too expensive and not needed often enough to justify.

My Pentium D (dual core) 3ghz performs pretty well with 2gig ram for Pro/E. Everything else is quick work for it.

Fast HD'* are definitly a good choice. I have a 74GB Raptor that runs at 10,000 RPM. Quite a noticeable difference over the standard 7200 RPM drives.

My current specs are as follows but I keep hearing this Core Duo 2 is so amazing. Thank for all the replies.

specs.jpg