Upgrading my 1.5 year old system

[klopas]

I have a $500 budget and just want to update my current system with whatever will help it the most. I was thinking that I would like to replace my motherboard with something that will allow me to upgrade more in the future and perhaps my video card as well. Would welcome any suggestions. I mainly use it for gaming and multimedia. Thanks!

Current system:
INTEL C2Q Q6600 2.4 S775 SLACR RTL

THERMALRIGHT|ULTRA-120 EXTREME

MEM 2Gx2|GSK F2-6400CL4D-4GBPI-B R

VGA EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR 8800GTS R

CASE ANTEC|NINE HUNDRED BK RT

MB GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R 775

HD 500G|SAMG 7K 16M SATA2 HD501LJ

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W MODULAR PWR SUP

 

[DaveSimmons]

Don't change the motherboard until you are ready to move to i7, a new CPU, 6 GB DDR3, and Windows 7. Windows 7 will supposedly be out late this year or early next year, and by then there should be good $150 i7 motherboards and fast, cheap quad-cores.

Meanwhile, you could buy a GTX card if you "need" to buy something new right now instead of just storing the cash in high-interest savings.

 

[betasub]

Upgrading the G80 8800GTS-640 would be a simple way to get a boost in gaming, while being compatible with a new or upgrade build.

I assume the Q6600 is overclocked beyond its stock 2.4GHz? Certainly with that after-market cooler it would benefit from being pushed to higher clock-speeds.

In these times of low interest rates, not sure how much is to be gained from DaveSimmons suggestion of a (short-term) savings account.

 

[polarbear6]

Originally posted by: betasub
Upgrading the G80 8800GTS-640 would be a simple way to get a boost in gaming, while being compatible with a new or upgrade build.

I assume the Q6600 is overclocked beyond its stock 2.4GHz? Certainly with that after-market cooler it would benefit from being pushed to higher clock-speeds.

In these times of low interest rates, not sure how much is to be gained from DaveSimmons suggestion of a (short-term) savings account.

sell the gta on ebay and get ur self a 4870
as u have a decent budget try two 4870
and squeze in another 100 bucks
and get a 9550 )
good for another 1.5 years i figure

 

[klopas]

Yeah, my savings account is currently at 2.65% when a year ago it was 3%. Was gonna get a CD but the ones I've found have been so low that it's not worth it.

So basically, unless I'm ready to upgrade to i7 with all the parts required to make that transition, hold off until I've saved enough money to do so.
And yes, I'm currently overclocked to 3.0GHz.

Originally posted by: ganesh1
sell the gta on ebay and get ur self a 4870
as u have a decent budget try two 4870
and squeze in another 100 bucks
and get a 9550 )
good for another 1.5 years i figure

I may hold off a bit and once I get around $1000 that I feel good about spending, switch over to i7 stuff.

 

[polarbear6]

u might as well wait till 2k then 4k and 8k and ultimately buy a time machine then buy a ultimate machine

hahaha sry abt that
i always wanted to share that opinion

 

[Denithor]

i7 920 $280
MSI X58 $190 - $20MIR (CF only - SLI not supported)
Corsair 3x2GB DDR3-1333 $90 - $20MIR

Total: $560 - $40MIR = $520

That will help lots for multimedia (encoding) but not too much for gaming. If your focus is mostly gaming, just grab one of these:

Powercolor 4870 1GB $195 - $20MIR
XFX GTX 260/216 $210 - $30MIR
Sapphire 4850X2 2GB $280 (make sure it fits your case)
EVGA GTX 285 $345 - $20MIR