Advice for partial upgrade

[AstroManLuca]

The wife says we will have a little extra "fun money" this December, so I'm thinking of doing some upgrades to my PC. I'm still pretty happy with it, but I figure I should take advantage of this while I can.

This is what I currently have:

Phenom II X3 720
Biostar TA790GX 128M
6 GB DDR2
Radeon HD4870 1GB
640GB Western Digital Caviar Black (boot)
1TB Seagate (storage)

The best CPU I could upgrade to would be the Phenom II X4 945. The 720's fourth core did not unlock, and it can't really overclock either. Not willing to spend the cash necessary to get an entirely new mobo/CPU/RAM. The graphics card is not bad but it could use an upgrade as well. And I've considered getting an SSD; instant boot and load times would be pretty sweet.

This is what I'm thinking of upgrading, in order of importance:

1. Graphics card - Radeon HD6870 or 6950
2. SSD - not sure what is considered good these days
3. CPU - my motherboard supports the X4 920, 925, 940, and 945. Going from three cores to four probably won't give a very big increase in gaming performance though.

Is it worth doing all this or should I just spend the money on something else instead?

EDIT: Apparently the Radeon 7000 series is coming fairly soon... if I'm not going to be able to upgrade until December anyway, maybe it's worth waiting for? Like I said, I'm still doing pretty well with the 4870, but I can't max everything out anymore, specifically Bad Company 2. A bit worried about BF3, I think it might chug on my setup.

 

[lehtv]

I think an upgrade to 6850 for $140 or 6870 for $160 would be the best value for money right now. It'd be enough to last a while, until you have enough cash for a platform overhaul.

Whether you upgrade the GPU now or not, I would aim for an Ivy Bridge + Kepler or HD7000 based setup in March-May 2012. Not upgrading the GPU now would of course make that easier, but on the other hand, upgrading the GPU now would not necessitate an upgrade to Kepler/HD7000. Should cost around $500-600 for mobo+CPU+RAM+GPU, plus optionally an SSD. SSD prices should also be lower by then so you might be able to fit a 64gb drive in more easily than now. What is your PSU?

Here are some figures for you:

Upgrade from 4870 to 6870: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/304?vs=290 ~60% faster for $160

Assume that a $200 Intel Ivy Bridge CPU will be 20% faster than a $200 2500K. That'd make it 150% to 200% faster in CPU heavy applications than an X3 730, and maybe 30-50% faster in 1080p gaming.

Assume a $200 Kepler GPU in 2012 will be 50% faster than a $200 560 Ti now. That'd make it ~150% faster than a 4870.

Combine the Kepler with Ivy bridge and you're looking at almost 200% increase in gaming performance as well as CPU heavy performance for $500-600, compared to 6870's 60% increase in gaming performance for $160.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Thanks for the analysis! I haven't really kept up with CPUs and graphics much since I built this system so it's nice to get some context.

My PSU is a Corsair VX550W.

 

[mfenn]

Since the funds won't be available until December, I'd wait to see what the landscape looks like then. Most likely the HD 7000 series will be out and we can make a good recommendation as to what's the best bang for the buck at that point.