Better Upgrade Path?

[mavrik36]

Looking for a little guidance on upgrading my current setup. Mostly, I am concerned about the performance gains of cpus vs. mobos vs. gpus.

I am looking to upgrade for gaming, and plan on overclocking a bit. Nothing extreme, just a little. After a some investigating, I have put two packages together which have a similiar price range. All prices are from Newegg, and that is where I will be purchasing my parts, after all, why do anything else when you can newegg? :roll:

e6400 ($222) + AsusP5N32 ($220) + eVGA 8800GTX ($580) = $1022

or

e6600 ($316) + eVGA 680i ($250) + eVGA 8800GTS ($400) = $966

I like both sets, but I am not sure if a better cpu and mobo will outperform the lesser cpu and mobo with the better gpu. Thoughts?

Thank you in advance for your help

 

[apt403]

What res are you gaming at? Its a waste to get an 8800gtx if your monitor is under 1600x1200. I would get the E6600/8800gts combo myself, the gts will last a while, and having a faster cpu couldny hurt.

 

[mavrik36]

Good point, I missed that in my figurin'

Unless the game has support for my LCDs native res (1400x900) I would probably play with the highest res that didn't give me a blurry picture.

The more I look at it though, the GTX bang for the buck doesn't add up quite yet