upgrade advice

[eastyy123]

at the moment i have a phenom II x4 with a geforce 460 graphics card and 4gb of dd3 ram as some games like the witcher 2 really stutter at higher details

thinking of upgrading but only want to spend a couple of hundred at the very most

been looking though tons of benchmarks seems like going from a phenom II to one of the new sandybridge intel processor and motherboards wouldnt really give much a performance increase (within that budget )

a graphics card say one of the amd 6950 might give me a instant performance boost but what i am wondering is really should i replace my current motherboard with one of those new asus sabretooth/crosshair V amd3+ motherboards

if anyone has any ideas i would be greatful

 

[wantedSpidy]

I would probably start by adding another 4GB RAM module. Dirt cheap to do, and may just get rid of the stutter you're experiencing. Then I still wasn't satisfied I would upgrade my 460 to a $200 level card.

Total upgrade cost ~ $150, provided you get $80-$100 for your 460

 

[mfenn]

Definitely do not buy a fancy AM3 mobo. It won't do anything for your performance. Adding more RAM as Spidy suggested is a good idea to start with, especially if you run a lot of background processes. Otherwise, you'll be looking at spending at least $230 to get a worthwhile upgrade over your GTX 460.

G.Skill DDR3 1333 4GB $32
6950 2GB $250

Oh yeah, and the Witcher 2 is a beast of a game. On all max with "ubersampling", it's this generation's Crysis. So don't feel too bad.

 

[eastyy123]

thanks for the advice never thought about upgrading the ram (as i thought 4gb was more then enough)

graphics card i may wait a while till prices drop (i hope they do anyway)