upgrade CPU or graphics card?

[Lefaux]

I'm looking at improving the performance of my computer for gaming. I get alot of slowdown in some more graphic intensive situations (mostly play wow, looking forward to Civ V).

1. This computer is primarily used for gaming.

2. price depends on which gets upgraded, I'm looking at ~400 for cpu/mb/memory or ~200 for graphics card.

3. Buying in the USA.

4. No real brand preference.

5. Current parts to reuse, I'll list my current system and items that I'm looking at here.

Current:
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 Motherboard
Pentium E2180 Allendale 2.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core
Antec BP550 Plus 550W PSU
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
EVGA GeForce 9800 GT 512MB
WD Caviar Black 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s

I'm considering either upgrading to an i5-750 proc with a new mb and memory for around $400.
-OR-
upgrading my graphics card to an Nvidia GTX 460 (haven't decided if the 1GB is worth the price premium.

I don't think I can do both the CPU and graphics card at the same time right now.

6. I've been doing a bunch of searching and reading, but can't seem to find something that fits closely with my situation.

7. I'll most likely run default settings, but may overclock as the system reaches its end of life so overclocking isn't that important.

8. I'll be playing at 1680x1050.

9. I plan to upgrade in the next couple of weeks or so, I could probably put it off longer if something big is coming soon.

Thanks for any advice

 

[mfenn]

The stock-clocked Allendale is probably what's holding you back in WoW. We'll have to wait until Civ 5 comes out to know what it's performance requirements are, but I'll bet that it won't be too GPU intensive.

The best bang for your buck is likely to be a Phenom II X4 955 and an AM2 board. That'll let you continue to use your DDR2. Here's a combo for $195.

 

[Lefaux]

I didn't even think about something that required the same memory. I'll have to read up on the Phenom II, but that's looking like a pretty good option. Even if it isn't enough by itself the cost will still allow me to buy the graphics card.

Thanks.

 

[mfenn]

I didn't even think about something that required the same memory. I'll have to read up on the Phenom II, but that's looking like a pretty good option. Even if it isn't enough by itself the cost will still allow me to buy the graphics card.

Thanks.

The Phenom II will give somewhat better clock-for-clock performance than your Allendale, and is of course clocked 50% higher and has twice the number of cores.

 

[pelikan]

All you need is an faster intel cpu. Your video card is fine for WoW.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Wait for the E6800 wolfdale to hit newegg soon. 3.3Ghz stock, dual-core 775 CPU, 2MB cache. Should be under $100.

 

[pukemon]

To the OP: Are you running that E2180 stock? If not, I had one and it should easily do 2.5 or 2.66GHz overclocked just by raising the FSB and using the standard Intel cooler. Doesn't hurt trying for "free" performance.

 

[Lefaux]

I'll have to find some benchmarks when the 6800 is available. That's not too long to wait.

I had previously tried overclocking with no luck at all, but last night I picked up some new thermal grease figuring it was worth trying. Turns out I don't think my heatsink was fully mounted properly. I put the new grease on and made sure the heatsink was all the way on and was able to run it at 3ghz all evening. I figured if I'm going to replace it it doesn't really matter if I burn it out.

I should be able to test this weekend how much just doing that helps.

Thanks to everyone for the advice.