Upgrading CPU/Mobo

[SearanoX]

Right, because my brother's computer (formerly mine, a Pentium III 1.0 and Radeon 8500 Pro) is starting to crap out and isn't exactly the best performer, it's most likely going to be upgraded to a Pentium 4 2.4c and an ASUS P4P800. Now, the thing is that with my current system, everything is fine except for my CPU and motherboard, which are a Pentium 4 2.5a and an old Gigabyte board. These are really holding back my computer (mostly video card's, 9800 Pro) true potential, and I'm thinking of switching the two around, so that my brother will have my current CPU and mobo, while I get the 2.4c and the P4P800. He's fine with this, of course, as he's not exactly the biggest gamer, and likes to stick to older games anyway. He'll also have a slower video card that won't be held back as much, if at all.

My question is, exactly what kind of an increase in performance will I see? I've got my 2.5a overclocked to 3.0, which gives a nice boost, but I'm only getting around 15 500 in 3DMark 01 and 5 600 in 3DMark 03. I've been told that with a 2.4c I'd be able to get 17,500/6 000, without overclocking. Would this be a reasonable expectation?

In case that that was a little confusing, let me rephrase that so it's a bit easier to understand.

My current specifications:

- Gigabyte Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB
- 512 MB PC2300 RAM
- Intel Pentium 4 2.5a CPU overclocked to 3.0
- Crappy old Gigabyte mobo of which I can't remember the name
- Windows XP Home

That should be what matters most. Now, upgraded, I'm looking to have a:

- Gigabyte Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB
- 512 MB PC3200 RAM
- Intel Pentium 4 2.4c CPU most likely going to be overclocked to 3.0
- ASUS P4P800 Deluxe motherboard
- Windows XP Home

Thanks, and I'm hoping that I'm correct in my expectations. I don't like the fact that my video card is being bogged down by my CPU/mobo.

[Wiggo]

Sounds like what ya need to do. With the 2.4C ya'll get Hyperthreading enabled on it and the dual channel memory on the P4P800 will get rid of the memory bottleneck that ya old mobo has. BTW my 2.4C on the same mobo runs at 3.24GHz with just the standard Intel HSF so you may do just as well.

[SearanoX]

Thanks for the confirmation, Wiggo. I don't expect BLAZING FAST UBAH-SPEEDS, but it'd be nice to have something at least up to par. That overclock sounds very nice as well...I'll have to look into that.