Is this a sensible upgrade?

[Snubber]

Need a sanity check on an upgrade for just gaming, in particular BF3 and Skyrim.

Current rig - Q9550 o/c'd to 3.4GHz, Gigabyte P35C-DS3R, Radeon 5850, 4GB DDR2. Had this setup for 2 years. Game at 1920x1200.

Can sell the above CPU, mobo and memory for £200

Buy the following:

i3-2100 £90
Asus X58 Sabertooth £140
8GB DDR3 memory £40
CPU cooler £25
2nd 5850 for x-fire £100

Net outlay = £195

Or I could just sell my current 5850 for say £85 and buy a new GTX570 or 6970.

I think it's a no brainer...I appreciate the i3-2100 is slightly inferior to the Q9550 (although apparently it still runs BF3 beta well...even though it does not have 4 real cores). Getting the X58 mobo also opens up future upgrade path.

Any thoughts/advice gratefully recieved. My budget is a strict £200 plus anything I can get from selling my existing CPU, Mobo, memory, GPU.

 

[Snubber]

Add the following into the mix instead of the Intel i3:

AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE £80
Asus Sabertooth 990FX £150
8GB DDR3 memory £40
CPU cooler £25
2nd 5850 for x-fire £100

Net outlay = £195

 

[Snubber]

Doh...

scrub the X58 Sabertooth and replace with Asus P8Z68 1155 mobo...which is cheaper at £132.

I think the main point is whether it is sensible to take a sideways step in terms of CPU gaming performance whilst opening up opportunity for SLI/X-Fire and future Socket 1155 CPU upgrades.

Cheers,