Hi Folks,since a local dealer has a jubilee and gives big price reductions on selected parts (unfortunately NOT the new AMD-64's), I wonder if I should upgrade from an Athlon 2700+ (333) to a 3200+ (400). I already have 1 Gig of DDR400-RAM and a BIG cooler, so I'd just have to plug in the CPU and raise the FSB. Graphics is a 9800pro.I currently have FPS maxed to 30, but frames often drop into the low 20's, on complex airports lower (~15).Would the new processor give a noticeable raise in FPS or will it be just 1-2 ??? Any ideas anyone?Thanks,Torsten

The CPU and bus speed increase implies a > 20% performance increase, but practicality is never that kind to you. As you suggest, a couple of FPS increase tops is what you could expect.You may want to try overclocking up to the 3200+ range (that BIG cooler will help). If long-term overclocking worries you, you could overclock temporarily to give you an idea of whether the performance boost is what you expect. If you are happy with the boost, then buy your new chip, otherwise do what the rest of us overclockers do and enjoy the speed boost for free with your existing chip :-) - never had one die on me yet in 9 years of overclocking!Gary

I am just wondering. Since you say you have a big cooler why don

You are much better off to overclock. You already have everything you need for a successful overclock, so you can save a substantial amount of money. I have an XP2700, and I have it running at 11x220 @2420 mhz. That is higher than XP3200 speeds. My idle temp is 38*C, and the load temp after an hour of FS9 is only 41. Just make sure you have some case fans as well. If you need info on overclocking, go to http://www.overclock.net/index.php? It is a great site.