What to upgrade next?

ashmelev

Distinguished
Apr 20, 2007
2
0
18,510
Main box:

M/B: DFI Lanparty UT NF4
CPU: AMD Opteron 170 (overclocked to 2.4 GHz)
RAM: G.Skill F1-3200PHU2-2GBZX 2x1GB
Video: eVGA 8800GTX
Monitor: LG LG L204WT 1600x1050 resolution
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB
Sound: Creative X-Fi Platinum
PSU: OCZ PowerStream OCZ520ADJSLI 520W
OS: Windows XP Pro x64

I've build this computer a bit over a year ago, the last upgrade was a video card. I use this computer mainly for gaming: WoW and other games. WoW seems fine, even can 2-box it, but some games were not so smooth. For example Supreme Commander basically been freezing with frame rates dropping to 0.5FPS.
So I wonder, what's the best upgrade path from there? I've been thinking about jumping onto Intel bandwagon, getting D975XBX2, Q6600 and some PC6400 memory. Should I just wait for Penryn and new generation of chipsets from Intel?
 

jeff_2087

Distinguished
Feb 18, 2007
823
0
18,980
To upgrade now you'd need a new CPU, board and RAM. If you're willing to shell that out I'd say get a solid 965P board like the Gigabyte DS3, 2 gigs of DDR2-800, and an e6xxx after the price cuts. Which e6xxx is your choice, you could go for a cheap 6300 and OC it up around 3GHz then possibly replace it with a Q6600 when they're apparently just $266 in Q3, or get something a little more long term like an e6600.