Question of what would be best.

[Souldrea]

K as the title said I have a question of what way to go. I'm getting ready to put a little money into my pc, about $5-600. I'm gonna be helping a frein out by giving him what ever parts I upgrade. Both pc's are mainly for gameing. Main game right now is AoC. He has a old amd 3500+ with a ATI crossfire MB 939. I forgot what one but it has 2x PCI E 16x slots. And a X1800XT. Now I'm trying to figure out what he would benifit most from. A C2D E6600, he will buy a 650I mb, or a 8800gts 640. I was thinking that the E6600 would be best and I was gonna either get a Q6600 or a 8400 and a second 8800. But now Im reading that a GFX card would give him the better boost. So I'm a bit at a loss so I figured I would try to see what you all thought. And thanks for any suggestions.

 

[DSF]

If you're getting a CPU and a graphics card, why not give him both?

 

[Souldrea]

It will be one or the other.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

But with 500-600 you could get both a CPU and graphics card.

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: BlueAcolyte
But with 500-600 you could get both a CPU and graphics card.

Yeah that's what I don't get.

 

[Souldrea]

K would I be getting a true upgrade though. I was thinking if I went the cpu route I was gonna go with either a Q6600 or a 8400 and a second 8800 gts. Or if I went the GPU route I'm not quite sure yet but I was thinking 2 8800GTX from EVGA B-Stock. What I have now Is a C2D E6600, EVGA 680i sli MB, 8800gts 640, 4g of ram, and Vista Ultimate. I also wanted to try and squeez a 3-500g HD and anice HS and fan to to OC a bit. I have everything at stock atm.

 

[DSF]

No reason to get an 8800GTX with GTS prices as low as they are. Get a 512MB GTS for less money. It will run cooler and is almost as powerful. (Although frankly I wouldn't spend $400 on graphics cards any way you slice it right now. New cards are due out within a month which may offer substantially better performance.)

What size monitor are you running?

 

[Souldrea]

I have a samsung 22" widescreen. So what all would you suggest for me and my freind?

 

[Rottie]

22 inches wide screen is fine for gaming.

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: Souldrea
I have a samsung 22" widescreen. So what all would you suggest for me and my freind?

Then I wouldn't suggest sinking more money into SLI.

If it were me I'd hold out for another couple weeks and see what happens with the graphics card market then.