Looking to do an upgrade, but not sure which way to go.

[azuza001]

Hey guys, it's been awhile since I've posted here. I'm looking to do an upgrade to my system to give it that "christmas cheer" level of power but I am unsure where to go on this. (Seems like every year at this point I start looking to upgrade)

My current system

Processor : AMD Phenom 8650 Triple Core at 2.3Ghz
Motherboard : Asrock 780 GXE crossfire board
Powersupply : Coolmaster 700 Watt Crossfire/SLI
Memory : 4 Gigs DDR2 ram (2 X 2 Gig)
Video : Nvidia 9800 GT

I was running a 4850 awhile ago but that card died and the Nvidia one was cheep on craigslist so I picked it up to hold me over until now. I've got about 200$ to spend here, so where do I go from here?

These are what I were considering. I could upgrade my Processor/Heatsink and do a single video card, or do dual video and stick with the factory Phenom. Or maybe I should just keep saving and replace the entire thing?

If I go with option A this is what I'm looking at.

Processor : Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition Deneb : 95.99 on newegg ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103644 )

Heat Sink : COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 : 26.99 on newegg ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065 )

Video Card : Radeon 4850 HIS graphics card : 102.99 on newegg ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161297 )

Or Option B which would be either just 2 Radeons and crossfire them or a single HIS Radeon 6850 ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161348 ) and the new heatsink and overclock the Phenom 8650. I know these processors don't OC well though, so I am pretty sure that the processor would still bottleneck this idea.

Any suggestions would be helpful. Even if it's just save my money to get "such and such" lol. Thanks guys.

 

[QuietIce]

It would definitely help to upgrade the processor and heatsink but I'd wait on the video. If this is mostly a gaming rig then you can get the 740BE and save yourself a few bucks while getting an AM3 CPU for a future board upgrade. The AM3 CPU (740BE) will run in the AM2+ board you have now but the 940BE won't run in an AM3 board later. Just something to consider ...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103699&cm_re=740_BE-_-19-103-699-_-Product

 

[rpsgc]

Go with option A. Your current CPU would seriously bottleneck option B.

 

[Trap05]

If you have classifieds access there's a few cards in there better than a 4850 I believe

 

[azuza001]

Doh, forgot to look at the AM3 cpus, figured I would get more bang/buck on an AM2+ because it was a bit older. Ok, I can get with that processor, and I did look at more reviews and saw that a 4850 wouldn't be that much better than the 9800 I already have.

So assuming I go with that processor and heatsink, that leaves me 100$. If I can get another 50$ together, would you suggest a 5770 or just keep saving for the 6850?

 

[Trap05]

6850 or 6870 would be significantly faster so I'd save for that route and do your cpu & cooler now.