Hardware Upgrade question

[VikingCrown]

I am thinking about doing some upgrading to my current setup. Currently I have a P4 2.8 w/HT and 1 GB DDR running on a Gigabyte 8I915P Duo Pro motherboard. My MOBO has 2 DDR2 slots so I have already ordered 2 GB of DDR2 to throw in there, but my question lies more about the processor. With the current BIOS available for my board, the fastest chip I can put in there is a P4 3.8 w/HT or a P4 3.8 Extreme Edition. Would it be worth it for me to invest in either of these chips?

I am mainly concerned with video conversion and general speed increases on my PC, I do not game on it and other than Sage, Web browsing by me and my wife and archiving my video collection the PC isn't used for much else.

I would love to get a new Motherboard and processor, but seeing as that would require an OS reinstall I'm really not feeling like putting up with that hassle. SO if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions I would really appreciate any input you have!

Regards,
VikingCrown

[Paul H]

RE: new Mobo, are you using XP?
If so you can do a 'repair' and save all your programs, drivers etc.
First backup your HD.
Then remove all the drivers used by the old MoBo.
After installing the new MoBo, CD & HD etc, set your Bios to boot from CD.
Insert your XP OS CD and turn on the computer.
Let Windows Install normally until the installer looks for previously installed versions of windows then select "R" for repair.
Windows will install the OS and set the registry for all the programs on the HD.
All that is left is to load the drivers for the new MoBo, SP#2 and updates (it's up around 80 for my OS).

I've done this severial times with great success!

[Djc208]

If you can run a C2D or one of the new C2D P4s on the existing motherboard, (check for a more current bios) then I'd say no, they're too cheap and the second core can help prevent the system from bogging down, plus they use less power. Otherwise it only makes sense if you can get either dirt cheap. If you can get a E4000 series or better processor and MB for less than either of the P4s then obviously there's no benefit in upgrading.

And as Paul H said, you don't have to re-install everything with a motherboard change in XP. I didn't even do the re-install, just shut down the machine, changed out the MB and processor and re-booted. Windows gave me a couple of notices about new hardware which I canceled, then uninstalled the old drivers and installed the new drivers and rebooted the machine. I had to re-verify my version of windows after the reboot (because of the major hardware change) but everything else worked fine.