Upgrade CPU or GFX Card?

[AndyT]

I am thinking of upgrading my machine in the next week or so, but am struggling with choosing either a new CPU or GFX card. I would like some of your thoughts on the way forward. Note, the system is mainly used for gaming (more than likely BF3).

Current setup:

ASUS Commando Mobo (Not Crossfire)
Q6600 G0 @ 2800MHz (Doesn't seem to overclock well)
4GB Kingston HyperX DDR2 800MHz
Sapphire ATI 5850 @ 800/1250
X-Fi Titanium Fatality Pro
0.5TB WD HDD
Windows Vista x64

I have just bought a copy of Windows 7 and am well overdue a clear-out of my system as it has slowed down to a bit of a crawl. I thought, seeing as I'm going to the trouble of reinstalling windows I may aswell do a bit of an upgrade at the same time. I have around a £250 budget (after gains from selling old parts).

My initial thoughts were the following:

ASUS P8P67 Pro Mobo
Intel 2500K
8GB 1600MHz G-Skill Ripjaws (They look absolutely horrendous, like a Fisher Price set of RAM but I just can't argue with the price!)
Samsung Spinpoint HD103SJ F3 1TB HDD
Keep all the rest the same and install Windows 7.

Price - Around £380 (Which is then partially reimbursed by selling old parts)


I had the feeling that the Q6600 was past it and my current mobo/socket/chipset whatever has hit a brick wall in terms of room for sensible upgrades. The thing is after playing BF3 Beta, I'm thinking maybe a GPU upgrade would be better in terms of performance increase in all games (I'm not just talking about BF3 here). In that case I would just buy a new HDD and a GPU (GTX 570 1.3GB) for around £330 total and sell the 5850.

However; I'm also thinking that If I don't upgrade the CPU now, I'll just have to do it later and that once that's done a GPU would then a nice easy off the shelf upgrade that can be done at any time, whenever I have a spare bit of cash (and can be done relatively stealthily without the Mrs knowing!).

So, my question is, which am I likely to see better gains with - a GPU upgrade to GTX 570 and a system cleanup, or stick with the 5850 and upgrade the CPU? Which do you reckon I'd get more mileage out of? Will the Q6600 last another year or so?

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

 

[Ginger-Menace]

id go with the 2500k route, as you say your current cpu wont overclock very well it may bottleneck you gpu, see if you can get the cpu to 3.2 ish stable then a new gpu like the 570 wont be bottlenecked

 

[shadow_boxer]

Very difficult decision. Your current system looks very well balanced. Also remember that Bulldozer is being released tomorrow so that may influence your choice of upgrade.

What resolution do you game at? Multiple monitors?

Also what is your current PSU?

edit.

What CPU cooler have you got at the moment? Does it have socket 1156/1155 fittings? Also the RAM may not fit under standard CPU coolers due to the taller heatsinks. You could save a bit of money and get 4GB of RAM (no need for 8GB with games) but given how cheap it is at the moment 8GB does make sense.

 

[AndyT]

Yeah, you're right I suppose it is quite balanced, which is where my dilemma lies really. I just can't really afford to upgrade both in one go.

I game at 1680x1050 on a 22" Monitor.

My PSU is an OCZ Stealth XStream 600W PSU - SLI Ready. I *think* it has a bit of headroom power-wise.

The whole thing just feels a bit dated now, maybe thats because ive let it get bogged down etc. But Loading BF3 Beta, flipping between Battlelog and the game etc. just felt really sluggish and it seemed to be showing it's age. Plus I could only really manage Medium settings, with some select options at High or Ultra to get min FPS > 25.

I recently OCe'd the 5850 to the clocks in my post above, but the performance increase seen in games was minimal (maybe 5-10%).

My Q6600 doesn't seem to overclock well, plus I'm a fairly impatient though somewhat apprehensive and not very ambitious overclocker (not a good combination!). It 's fitted with an Arctic 7 Pro cooler with decent thermal paste, but temps get fairly high on mild OC. I've tried reseating/remounting it and not had much improvement.

EDIT - I was just planning to use the stock 2500K cooler (retail) and OC it to around 4GHz. If the Ripjaws are too high I was also looking at 1600MHz Kingston HyperX 2x4GB modules. I'm going to go for 8GB as the difference between that and 4GB is only a few pints!

 

[mp260767]

i'd go with processor/mobo, and add a 5850 later on.

as mentioned keep in mind bulldozer release is said to be fairly close so worth the wait just to see how things stand.

 

[AndyT]

I didn't realise Bulldozer was out soon, I might have a look at it. I quite like the idea of using an established chipset/processor though, at least I know it'll work well!

 

[AndyT]

Quick update:

I have seen some preliminary Bulldozer benchmarks and they underperform, kind of as I had expected really. I'm also more keen to update sooner rather than later and if I was to go for the CPU upgrade I think I'd be happier opting for a well established chipset/CPU that has proven high quality mobo's/performance etc. over a relatively lengthy release period.

Based on this are there any other thoughts on my current dilemma?