Tough Decision :(

[Gonzo0]

Heres my current system:

A64 3800+ X2 running at 2.2ghz
2gb Corsair Ram
Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro Sli
150gb Maxtor HDD
x2 Gigabyte 6800 GS in Sli

now do i either spend my money on a 8800GTS 320 OR....
do i spend the money on a C2D 6300, Asus P5N-32E 680 Sli, Geil 2gb low latency RAM

which would be the better choice??

 

[nbkpsycho]

Upgrade to core 2 duo and sell your existing setup and buy a 8800gts

What was so tough about that

 

[tomanders91]

depends, are you really into gaming? There is a little bit of a drought of good new pc games at the moment, so the system upgrade might be a good choice, then you could go for a 8800gts 320mb in a couple of months where it would have come down in price.

 

[Duff-Man]

Personally, I would upgrade the platform first.

The graphics card market is very fast moving, with major new advancements (and associated price-drops) every 6 - 9 months. Currently the CPU market is a lot more static. Go for the system upgrade now, and it will allow you to make the most of your new graphics card when you get around to buying it.

As pointed out above, you might make enough from selling your old bits and pieces (on fleabay at least) to get a 320mb 8800GTS, which would suit the c2d system nicely.

 

[Curio]

Heres my current system:

A64 3800+ X2 running at 2.2ghz
2gb Corsair Ram
Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro Sli
150gb Maxtor HDD
x2 Gigabyte 6800 GS in Sli

now do i either spend my money on a 8800GTS 320 OR....
do i spend the money on a C2D 6300, Asus P5N-32E 680 Sli, Geil 2gb low latency RAM

which would be the better choice??

Go for the 8800GTS 320, IMO. I certainly wouldn't swap the X2 for a low-end C2D. Have you seriously come across a situation where your X2 is struggling? I've just upgraded to one and it rips through everything. C2D's are great, sure, but they don't give your PC magical powers or anything RAM latency also doesn't make much difference at all. Add the 8800 to your current system and it blast through anything at max settings for some time - don't worry about future-proofing at this point......by the time any games come out that will struggle on your system it will be time to upgrade again anyway

 

[Gonzo0]

i was thinking of overclocking the 6300 anyways, plus i think my CPU or mobo is on its why out. I recently have been experiencing random crashes while the pc is idle. And as other people have said i can sell my old system and graphics cards on the bay then use that money to buy a 8800 GTS

 

[Curio]

i was thinking of overclocking the 6300 anyways, plus i think my CPU or mobo is on its why out. I recently have been experiencing random crashes while the pc is idle. And as other people have said i can sell my old system and graphics cards on the bay then use that money to buy a 8800 GTS

Your time and money, I guess

The random crashing could be any number of things - probably related to the OC on your X2. Mine doesn't clock well at all. You should probably check it out before you sell the parts on to some poor guy tho

 

[Gonzo0]

Strange if it is the CPU as people have been able to get 3.8Ghz stable on their 3800+, btw curio did you have a problem getting your 3800+ to post past 220Mhz??

 

[Curio]

Strange if it is the CPU as people have been able to get 3.8Ghz stable on their 3800+, btw curio did you have a problem getting your 3800+ to post past 220Mhz??

Remember you have CPU's that are good clockers and bad clockers tho. Mine will post at 2.2GHz, but it won't run stable. Although that could be the motherboard's fault - it's a budget model and I wasn't expecting great things from it anyway.

Did you try all the usual voltage tweaks on the CPU, RAM, etc?

 

[Jonny L]

Get the system upgrade, then later upgrade your graphics if you need to.

 

[Gonzo0]

Remember you have CPU's that are good clockers and bad clockers tho. Mine will post at 2.2GHz, but it won't run stable. Although that could be the motherboard's fault - it's a budget model and I wasn't expecting great things from it anyway.

Did you try all the usual voltage tweaks on the CPU, RAM, etc?

yep everyting even tried different multipliers, the lot