Replace GPU or Everything?

[RussianSensation]

If BD is really good, I also don't see AMD providing us with another gem like the XP2500+ @ $130 for a while. AMD desperately wants to increase the Average Selling Price of their CPUs: they really want to sell those BDs in the $190-300 price range. As soon as they have more competitive CPUs, they'll sell them at higher prices than where Phenom II X4/X6 sit. And I think you know this too.

 

[SickBeast]

They're not going to be able to do it. Intel is going to cut prices and then bring in Ivy Bridge. I don't see BD selling for $300 or even $200 for that matter. They might get $150 out of them as they have done with the current X6 chips.

 

[Meghan54]

I really think these days you are getting some of the best performance for the money, period.

No other time could you get a >50% OC out of a cpu when it was paired with cheap components.

What you're neglecting to see, Sick, is that with most of those "jewels" of OC'ing you're throwing around is that the associated components usually had to be higher end parts to get the cpu to be fully maximized in its OC.


Take my last cpu.....i7 920. It needed watercooling to get to and over 4GHz for daily use because of the heat it created. Even high end air cooling would barely allow 4GHz consistent use. It needed a good X58 motherboard (I used an Asus Rampage II Gene) and good RAM (in my case 6GB kit of Corsair Dominator 1600 C8.)

Contrast that to the 2500k setup that replaced it. Caught the cpu for $149.....pricematched at MicroCenter for a one-day sale price at the Fry's a mile down the street from the MC. The motherboard is a Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H, not the most expensive board out there by far and paid $109 out the door for it (not to mention the $15 MIR it has), and $60 for an 8GB kit of G. Skill 1600 C8 memory.

Between the sale of my old components and my purchase of their replacements, I didn't lose one penny and actually made a few bucks in the process.

Cannot remember the last time that happened......hint: it never happened before.

Say what you'll will, Sick, but the 2500k is an exceptional value given its overclocking potential and the relative ease of overclocking the thing, not to mention how cheap the other components surrounding the cpu can be and still achieve outstanding OC's.

Oh, and I see BD being sold for as much as AMD thinks it can get out of it.....and that's probably north of $200, at least initially....because the AMD fans will pay the price no matter what. AMD's not stupid and will price the cpu line as high as it thinks will still sell fairly well, as always.

 

[SickBeast]

meghan, at $149 a 2500k is a steal. that said, my phenom ii x4 for $149 ($139AR) including a good crossfire capable motherboard 9 months ago was an incredible value as well.

adjusted for inflation, $149 for a 2500k is fair and is in line with how much a good cpu cost historically.

i just think it's really stupid that intel has disabled overclocking on the i3 processors.

i don't disagree with your post, either. amd will probably charge too much for bulldozer. they already charge too much for the phenom ii x6.

 

[SickBeast]

hey op to directly answer your question, i would do nothing at this point.

your computer is not completely obsolete yet.

you could get a gpu and it would work reasonably well, but you will be held back by the cpu, and you will wind up with a weak gpu paired with a beast of a cpu once you eventually upgrade.

what you could do is just watch for deals like a hawk. if you see a cheap cpu/motherboard combo for $150 or so, jump on it. if you see a cheap gpu that's powerful and has at least 1gb of memory for $100 or so, that would work as well.

an option that might make sense for you would be to get a 2gb gpu so that you could plan to use crossfire when you finally get around to buying a new motherboard and cpu. the thing is, those cards are close to $200 afaik and there is limited use to having 2gb of vram aside from running them in xfire and/or using multi-monitor gaming.

/opinion