Upgrade CPU or GPU!

[perryleros]

Hello everyone,
My current specs are:

CPU: Intel C2D E6850 @ 3,6Ghz
MOBO: Asus P5K Deluxe Wifi/Ap
RAM: 2 x 1gb Cellshock D9 Micron chip Ram DDR2-800 (4-4-4-12)
GPU: XFX Nvidia GeForce 8800GT 512Mb
STORAGE: WD Raptor X 150Gb, 1xWD Caviar SE 500Gb, 2x WD Caviar SE 300GB
DISPLAY: Samsung SyncMaster 226BW

I' m waiting alot of games to be released in 2008 (Alan Wake, army of two, Far Cry 2, Assassin's Creed, etc...). After Struggling to play Crysis at max specs without AA, im kinda worried about all those new games coming out and their scary requirements...
I was thinking of upgrading either the CPU to a quad core... probably Intel's new Q9450 or upgrading the GPU to Nvidia's GeForce 9 High end series.

What's your opinion? I'm open to recommendations.
Thanks,
Perry.

[DMB2000uk]

Well without knowing how much performance the quad core adds to those games (as neither the quad's or the games are out) and not knowing how much better the top 9800 range will be I don't think anyone will be able to recommended anything informed.

Your best bets is to wait it out until the parts are actually released and see which is the best value for money.

Dan

[Methious]

I don't think it's your machines fault with Crysis, every one has problems with Crysis probably due to it's poor coding. In reviews here on LR using monster machines even the highest end 8800 only ran 40 FPS. I'd hold off and see what 2008 brings.

[maj0r_pawnage]

Hello everyone,
My current specs are:

CPU: Intel C2D E6850 @ 3,6Ghz
MOBO: Asus P5K Deluxe Wifi/Ap
RAM: 2 x 1gb Cellshock D9 Micron chip Ram DDR2-800 (4-4-4-12)
GPU: XFX Nvidia GeForce 8800GT 512Mb
STORAGE: WD Raptor X 150Gb, 1xWD Caviar SE 500Gb, 2x WD Caviar SE 300GB
DISPLAY: Samsung SyncMaster 226BW

I' m waiting alot of games to be released in 2008 (Alan Wake, army of two, Far Cry 2, Assassin's Creed, etc...). After Struggling to play Crysis at max specs without AA, im kinda worried about all those new games coming out and their scary requirements...
I was thinking of upgrading either the CPU to a quad core... probably Intel's new Q9450 or upgrading the GPU to Nvidia's GeForce 9 High end series.

What's your opinion? I'm open to recommendations.
Thanks,
Perry.

err, you have a 3.6GHz c2d, what else could you want in a CPU, just grab a new GPU, possibly another 8800gt?

[w00fd06]

err, you have a 3.6GHz c2d, what else could you want in a CPU, just grab a new GPU, possibly another 8800gt?

It doesn't look like his mobo supports SLI from what i've seen, not entirely sure, but it doesn't look like it.

[perryleros]

Well, i can't find any use for a quad core concerning my needs...
Ill probably wait for geforce 9 series to launch and if there is a big performance difference, i ll sell my 8800 and get one of the new ones.

Thanks

[FZ1]

The new dual core ATI cards will be out soon...

[Sparky]

Well without knowing how much performance the quad core adds to those games (as neither the quad's or the games are out) and not knowing how much better the top 9800 range will be I don't think anyone will be able to recommended anything informed.

Your best bets is to wait it out until the parts are actually released and see which is the best value for money.

Dan

I'm with DMB2000uk. Wait until the new parts are out. My guess would be to upgrade your GPU but your system looks pretty nice to me as is!

[maj0r_pawnage]

sell the 8800gt and get 3870x2 ftw

[martini161]

unless you want to run everything maxed with 4x AA then you should be fine for a while with your current setup

[Apoptosis]

yeah it's a tough call between GPU and a new monitor... go from the 22" to a 24" or a 30" - that would be a nice jump and an advantage in gaming as you can see more of the levels with the higher resolutions.

[ibleet]

Unless you have money to burn, I would wait. Your rig should run Crysis at high settings. Mine has no problem at all.

[elkmanwsu]

Since you already have a nice video card..I think your best bet is to get another XFX 8800gt to go along with it...It sounds like you were ready to burn some more money.

I noticed the P5K Deluxe/WiFi-AP does not have SLI support so you would have to get a new mobo as well, but as far as cost/performance value I honestly think SLI with the 8800gt is the way to go...unlike with any other geforce card this is the only model that would be worth it price wise.

Since the PCI-E bus speed isn't a bottleneck yet you could even buy a 680i with 2 pci-e x16 slots and it probably wont break the bank too much.

[werty316]

A faster GPU would be more beneficial in games than a faster CPU.

[CoolZone]

I agree too that the best deal is to get a better video card,instead of the current one.You will have a much higher performance increase than upgrading the CPU,because those dual-core speeds are very,very good for todays' applications.

[slugbug]

Your rig looks good as it is. Why not wait a while.

[Conky]

I would also say to wait.

Your rig is pretty far above average and you are at the point where additional money thrown at it will only produce marginally increased results for your financial expenditure(translation: bad bang for buck )

[Wildfire788]

I agree with everyone who said to wait. We don't even know how any of the Geforce 9 series cards are going to perform yet. Maybe ATi has a trick up their sleeve that will put them in the lead for a while.

However, if you must upgrade, I do think that Q9450 would be a great choice if you don't plan on going Nehalem when that comes out.