533 fsb or 800 fsb

That's not entirely true.  For most home users, the difference between a 2.8 and a 3.0Ghz processor is going to go largely unnoticed.  Unless you do some heavy duty video encoding or really serious gaming, you won't tell a difference, even with the faster FSB.  And on top of the new processor you'd have to buy, you'd need a new motherboard to match it.  I'm fairly sure your current board won't support the FSB increase, but I could be wrong.  And while you wouldn't HAVE to upgrade your memory to PC3200 speeds, if you didn't, the slower memory would just bring your FSB speed back down to PC2700 speeds, thus shooting yourself in the foot.  Overall, I don't think the performance increase you may or may not notice would justify the cost.

The difference would be significant;  however, if you upgrade, your warranty will be affected.

The CPU will cost you about $200-250 for a 3.0C/800;  you'll likely also need new PC3200 RAM, at about $120 for 512 MBytes - whether it's worth $320-370 to upgrade is really up to you.

 

The 4600 supports both 533 & 800fsb, but i agree, unless your a benchmarking junkie that has to have the best possible scores, then it would be a waste of money vs performance gain...

An 800mhz FSB system is better for sure but you won't see much of difference from what you have now.    If you're into gaming a  high end graphics card would be a far superior investment.  

Personally I think alevasseur14 is correct.

If your a performance buff you'll notice it, slightly

If your not, you won't

Message Edited by Snarl on 03-31-2004 09:13 PM

i ordered my dimension 4600 with a 3.06 ghz processor and 533mhz fsb, but I recieved a 3ghz P4 with an 800mhz fsb!

You need to contact Customer Care.

The phone number for Dell Customer Care is 800-624-9897. 

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums?category.id=customer_care