Should I jump?

[Wolfshadw]

I have an opportunity, for about $160, pick up a Q6600 processor/mobo combo and 4 Gig (2x2GB) DDR2-667 RAM. My current set up is as follows:

HTPC:
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-965GM-S2
Processor: Intel Core2Duo E6600
Memory: 2x1GB DDR2-800
Graphics card: ATI HD 2600 Pro
HDTV: Olevia T232 32" @ 1366x768
Projector: BenQ MP610 @ 1280x724
Windows XP MCE

Gamer:
Motherboard: ASRock 939Dual-SATAII
Processor: AMD Athlon X2-4800+
Memory: 2x1GB DDR-400
Graphics card: NVidia Geforce 8800GTS-640
Viewsonic VG2230wm 22" 1680x1050 monitor
Windows XP-64

Current Uses:
I use the HTPC to rip DVDs (that I own) and re-encode to DivX. I also watch movies from Netflix Instant Download. The most graphically intensive game I play (for now) is City of Heroes. These are dedicated systems. In addition to these, I have a Dell GX270 for web browsing and e-mail as well as a laptop for business and financial use.

What I'm thinking:
Spend $120 for the Q6600/Mobo combo (from a friend) and $40 for 4GB of RAM. Swap the E6600 in the HTPC for the Q6600. Swap the 2x1GB of DDR2-800 RAM in the HTPC for the 2x2GB DDR2-667. Move the E6600 and the 2x1GB DDR2-800 RAM from the HTPC, add the new mobo and rebuild the Gaming system. With the newer processor, I should have more headroom to add a better graphics card early to mid next year.

Your thoughts? Would you jump or, perhaps, recommend a different configuation?

-Wolf muses

Edit:
I should also mention that spending $160 stretches the budget a bit; i.e. I won't be able to make any other purchases until sometime around March 2009.

 

[aevm]

Does your HTPC edit videos and compress them, maybe turn them to DivX? If yes, the upgrade to Q6600 would help. If not, it would just add two idle cores and waste electricity.

If I were you I'd just save a bit more cash and replace the 8800GTS with a HD 4870.

 

[jerreece]

If memory serves, I believe the Q6600 is basically two e6600 chips put into one. So as aevm said, you could see some faster compression/decoding times for video editing. But anything else, you'll have a couple CPU cores sitting at idle most of the time. You probably wouldn't see much improvement.

Now, buy that Q6600/Mobo combo for $160, get some DDR2-800 memory for it and you'll improve your gaming system a bunch. That Q6600 will absolutely crush your X2-4800.

OCZ SLI 2x2GB (4GB Total) DDR2-800 $39.97-$30MIR = $9.97
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3404049&csid=ITD&body=REBATES