opinion on upgrading my system

i'd like to ask you guys for some opinion....

but first i dont want a biased opinion so those "fanbois" as you call them... pls dont make fun in this topic


generally, i would like to ask if what would be better choice

choice 1: change my processor to an athlon x2 4400+ am2 (the price here is about 250usd) so that my cpu doesnt bottleneck my gpu, and wait for the newer amd procs and check if it is the better choice than c2d;

choice 2: buy c2d e6600; gigabyte 965p-ds4, 2gb corsair xms2 ddr2 800, and a better ps and not bother waiting for the newer amd procs

the thing is i bought my system last july 06 and i was thinking of waiting for the amd x2's to the price cut.... but unfortunately after a month or 2 c2d came out.....

btw... i dont oc my system


here's my system spec

athlon64 3200+ orleans
msi k9n platinum
2gb infineon ddr2-533 (was a steal at the time i bought it... ddr2 suddenly doubled the price when the c2d's came out)
palit 7600gt sonic (factory oc'd 575/700)
western digital 250gb 2500ks (16mb cache)
asus cdrw and dvdrw
task 450w ps



thanks in advance

i have around 1200usd equivalent for use.... thanks!

You could buy a Core 2 CPU and board now and keep everything else, then replace your graphics card in the summer when ATI finally (hopefully) provides some competition for the 8800 series.

Your DDR2 533 will work fine in a stock speed Core 2 rig, anything faster wouldn't really help anyway.

Buying an e6600 with a decent board would give you a pretty nice performance boost, and the 7600gt is capable enough to play older games (like CS:S) on max settings and newer games on more modest settings. Then you can replace it whenever you want, and already have a good CPU.

This is all assuming your card is PCI-E, anyway.