I currently have a dell c521 with amd 64 something at 2 GHz and 3 Gbyte of ram. All stock except for mem. Im pretty sure it has a AM2 socket but someone please correct me if im wrong. Im looking at newegg.com for an upgrade to dual core. These are what im chosing from.http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList....932490&name=65WNow, how much of a difference will i see from 2.7GHz for $109 and 2.1GHz for $48? I want a quick and easy swap so i dont plan on adding any extra cooling or anything. I dont plan to overclock (unless i can get away with it without mods). Im really cheap but will spend the money if i have to(and regret it later for sure, and have to hear it from my wife and blah blah). I just need to know how much the upgrade will boost performance and if that extra little bit(for a lot more money) will go the distance. Thanks,Rob

You do have an AM2 socket? Is your current CPU single or dual core?15 months ago, I got an Opteron 1212 (2 ghz) and overclocked it to 2.8 ghz with good air cooling. This was the 90nm core. It was easy.You are looking at Brisbanes, 65nm cores. That should normally be better, but AMD has had trouble with their 65nm process. If you want your cake and want to eat it too (that describes me), zero in on a lower clocked Brisbane or Santa Ana Opteron. Read the Newegg comments about how they overclock (this will help to see how Brisbanes overclock). The 1212 Opteron is a screamer at ~$70.Depending on your research, get a lower clocked Brisbane or Santa Ana and overclock it with the included heatsink/fan. If your motherboard is decent and can supply the voltage, you should be able to get to 2.6+ ghz. If you're going from single core to dual core, it will be a big difference.

One more thing. If your motherboard can handle it (might need a BIOS update), you should consider a Phenom (quad core Athlon successor). The B3 stepping just came out that kills the TLB bug. So these are pretty good chips now (and the best for the AM2 socket).Review is here:http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3272&p=1The Phenom probably won't increase your FPS as much as it will help with texture loading (4 cores helps with this). They do cost maybe more than you're willing to spend.