Upgrade or wait?

[kemilyon]

If it is economical to do so ($500 or less) I am considering some upgrades to "future proof" for another 1-2 years. My rig is beginning to struggle with some of the latest games, particularly Crysis. I don't exactly know what the biggest bottleneck is, and how my money could best be spent.

I am also undecided if I should upgrade to Vista 64...

My rig:

MB: Asus P5B Deluxe
CPU: E6600 running at 3.3GH
Cooler: Tuniq T-120
GPU: eVGA 8800GTS 640 mb
RAM: G.Skill HZ 2GB DDR2800
HDD: WD Raptor 150GB
Sound: SB Audigy
PSU: OCZ GameXtream 600w
Case: Antec 900
OS: XP Pro

 

[festerovic]

IMO, adding money to your otherwise fine set up would be a waste of money. Sure it's a little older, but it plays every other game (not crysis or FC2) just fine, right?

Wait for the new batch of stuff coming down the pipes, it seems like they release newer fundamental changes in the tech every couple years, then there are just interim speed upgrades until the new tech hits again. Right now, we are in between major tech releases, so just hold on till the next platforms hit.

Consider- If you get a new CPU, you will need a new mobo. If you want a new graphics cards, you will want a new cpu to take advantage of it. If you want a new mobo, you better get a new chip and a new card, not going to be achieved for $500 (without sacrifice )

 

[grieve]

I dunno... you could go for an E8400 and a 3850 vid card and be smokin fast

**edit**
Although your machine is pretty decent now.

 

[ingeloak]

id say wait. your machine is plenty fast for the majority of games out today.

if your budget is 500 bucks for upgrade, save up and wait till the new stuff comes out after the new year.

Crysis is a hog, and makes even tough machines cry. Warhead has supposedly improved on resource management, so you might see better performance with that.

i too have been wanting to upgrade my video, but i havent seen a video card that offers a reasonable improvement within my range, without costing a small fortune.

mine:

E8400 3.0Ghz CPU overclocked to 3.8 (rated at 11.4Ghz)
4GB DDR2-800 ram, overclocked to 850
Nvidia 8800GT 512mb, factory overclocked to 670/1950 memory
650 watt PSU
WinXP 32-bit
antec 900 case
22" widescreen monitor (1600x1050 native resolution?)

granted, i could go with the GTX 280 or the 4870 x2, but they seem to only affect resolutions higher than mine... probably overkill for my rig.

 

[jthorn]

2 more years on your very nice rig, easy. Stretch it out.

 

[kemilyon]

Thanks for all the advice...building a new rig in one to two years sounds like the best idea