Upgrade advice

[LeonarD26]

Hey everyone, I'd love some upgrade advice from the community.

I am currently running:

Abit IP-35e with a E2160. It's overclocked to 2.7Ghz and has 4 X 1 RAM
My video card is a 7900gs.

I have a custom WHS box for storage, so that's not much of a concern.

Would it make sense to upgrade the CPU and video card and keep my current MB, or would it make sense to start over?

If I did upgrade my current setup I was think about a 4670/4770 and either a Q6600 or Q9x00

I don't usually sell my old equipment, but I think it makes sense to do so, so I can recoup some costs.

I don't game as much as I used to (2 young children) but it's still somewhat important.

I'd like to keep the costs down as much as possible....

Fire away!!! Thanks!

 

[Denithor]

What about your current setup holds you back in stuff you do? Games run slow, doesn't encode video fast enough, etc...

Two inexpensive upgrades that will be very noticeable: EVGA 9800GT ($100-$10MIR) + Q8200 ($160).

Just make sure to update BIOS on motherboard to latest before swapping chips.

 

[LeonarD26]

Should have mentioned what I use my system for.... heh

I don't encode often, but games are sluggish. I have a 20' widescreen, and game at a max resolution of 1680x1050

So, I guess what I"m asking is what video card should I get to game at that resolution.

I'd like to upgrade the cpu so I can keep this system going for as long as possible, but it's not a necessity.

The idea of an SSD is intriguing, probably too much $$$ right now...

 

[WildW]

I would say the video card is your priority then - probably worth holding out for the 4770 when you can get hold of one, its a solid improvement over 4670.

Core2Duo at 2.7 GHz isn't really holding you back at all at the resolution you're running. If you want a snappier PC experience, maybe consider a fresh Windows install on a faster hard disk? (You don't mention what you have already so I'm guessing on that.)