which one to use as main pc?

[G1BB0]

I have bought a second machine off MM

current pc is -

c2d 4300 @ 3ghz
asus p5ne-sli
x1800xt 512mb
4gb ddr2 ocz 6400
2x 250gb wd hdd's
corsair 520w
antec soprano

monitor is a dell 2005fpw 1600x1050

spec of pc just acquired -
Aurora™ 7500

Processor: AMD Athlon™ 64 FX-57 Processor with HyperTransport Technology
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional UK with SP2 - English
Case: Alienware® Full-Tower Case - Saucer Silver
Chassis Upgrades: AlienIce™ 2.0 Video Cooling System with Acoustic Dampening
Power Supply: Enermax EG701AX-VE (W) 600 Watt Power Supply SLI ready
Motherboard: Alienware® nForce™4 SLI™ Chipset Motherboard PCI Express
Memory: G.Skill 2GB DDR ZX PC3200 (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channnel Kit (F1-3200PHUS-2GBZX)
Video Card: Dual NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7800 GTX KO ACS PCI-E 256MB DDR3 with SLI Technology
Hard Drive: 160 GB Serial ATA 7,200 rpm w/ 8MB Cache - Quantity 1
Optical Drive One: 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Recorder
Sound Card: Integrated High-Performance 7.1 Surround Sound with S/PDIF and Coaxial Digital Outputs
Network Card: Integrated High Performance 3Com® Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (DSL-ready)
Floppy Drive: 1.44 MB Floppy Drive - Black
AlienRespawn: Alienware® Respawn Recovery Kit
Alienware Cinema Studio: Pinnacle Studio version 9 SE
Tuning - Cable Management: Alienware® Cable Management System
Tuning - Performance Optimiser: AlienAdrenaline: Video Performance

now I sort of have guessed the c2d is prob gonna be quicker... just sort of looking at what would be best way to maximise both, maybe upgrade a gfx card or component here and there and sell on redundant parts. I want to use one for race07, GTR EVO (maybe a bit of cod4 aswell lol) on my 37" lcd via vga or hdmi (only does 1080i tho)

any advice thoroughly welcomed


G1BB0

 

[HangTime]

Your current PC has a faster CPU, more RAM and more HD space; the only thing the other rig has going for it is the SLI setup. Even then, 256meg is a bit on the low side for modern games.

I might be tempted to drop the 7800gtxs into your current rig, they will only run at 8x but hopefully not too much of a performance hit. As long as you don't go overboard on the res/AA (maxing out the VRAM) they should be quicker than the x1800xt.

3 years ago that Alienware setup would have been a bit of a beast, yet today even your modest rig is better.

 

[MeatLoaf]

As above, keep your C2D rig, but swap the GFX cards over

 

[G1BB0]

I assume the 2 7800gtx's in sli will be more than plenty on a 20" @ 1680 x 1050?

would it be worth using the case, psu, dvdrw, hdd..... upgrade the cpu, mobo, gfx and ram and sell off the old parts to offset the cost?

if so and baring in mind the games I play (as above) what would you suggest as a basic but semi futureproof (18 months or so) upgrade

hmmm too many options lol