upgrade or new system?

[Hajaro]

Looking to upgrade. It is worth going for whole new sandybridge system or just go for a few different components.

Currently have a AMD Phenom II X3 720 Processor(2.8ghz), 4g ram DDR3-SDRAM PC3-8500 and Radeon Hd5870 Graphics card. I have a 27" Monitor and run usually at 1920 X 1080 when gaming.

I was thinking of putting a AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 980 Black Edition "140W Edition" 3.70GHz precessor into my M4A785TD-V EVO motherboard plus some faster ram (sugestions required). Would I see a improvement with a new graphics card?

What I don't want to do is splash a £1000 on a system which gives me little improvement when I can just buy a new processor, ram and graphics card for half of that.

Does a SSD make a huge difference to performance?

Thanks for help.

 

[FatFishMonster]

i am in the same boat as you. undecided about upgrade path or new system.

a 2500k would be the biggest boost in performance, but is expensive.

SSD's make a huge difference to windows boot time, app loading times. i know a few people that claim its the best upgrade they have done

 

[fowler002]

whats your current psu?

expensive? for ~£300-£350

cpu http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-360-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1275

mb http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-364-GI if you don't plan on going xfire(says xfire but the 2nd pci is x4 NOT x16 so the performance of the 2nd card will be hampered)

for xfire http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-368-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990

pcie 3.0 future proofing http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-192-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990

ram http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-094-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

cooler http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-001-GD&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

or even http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-093-TR&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

if the psu is some cheap/unbranded one then you'll need to upgrade that as well, if its a corsair, seasonic, enermax etc 500w+ you'll be fine.

for the graphics card you could either get a 2nd 5870(if you go the z68xp-ud3/msi route, will want a 750/850w psu) or just wait for the new nvidia/ati cards to be released, not really worth upgrading to 6950/570 only one would be 580 but thats £360+

 

[Hajaro]

psu is a corsair 650w.

So u r suggesting best go with a new processor, motherboard and Ram but keep graphics card unless i am willing to splash the big bucks?

 

[fowler002]

psu is a corsair 650w.

So u r suggesting best go with a new processor, motherboard and Ram but keep graphics card unless i am willing to splash the big bucks?

would appear so

oh and the psu will be fine, might even get away with 5870 xfire tho might be cutting it fine.