One last upgrade or save it for the next gen?

[jmwpom3]

Ok guys,
I have a choice of my own to make that you might be able to help me with.
I've got an older Aurora 7500 from alienware:

Asus A8n Sli Delux - Socket 939
2 Mg OCZ Gold dual channel kit
2x 74GB Raptor HD
Opteron Dual Core 180 - (Denmark I believe)
Nvidia 7950 (GTX or GX2 not sure anymore... but it's a 2 slot card)
+ DVD burner, all the basics, etc.

Here's the question:

With this setup I can play everything including Oblivion, Call of Duty World at war, BF2, etc all with decent fps. However, I'm not sure how it'll handle Far Cry 2 or Crysis, etc.

So, would I even see any benefit in upgrading that 7950 to a 4850 or 4870 or even maybe a couple of 8800gt OC cards in SLI? Or should I just save up for the new system I'm looking at :

E8500 Core 2 Duo (possibly cheapest i7 if I wait a bit for the $ to come down)
3 mg OCZ plat trip chan
1 tb barracuda
And either a single 4870 or 2 4850 or 4830's even in CF

I've worked out several options along these lines for around $1200 mark.

Opinions???? Don't have the 1200, probably could get the money for the GPU upgrade on mine but maybe it's best left in the piggy bank for the next step..( poss

 

[jmwpom3]

Here's another thought:

Anyone interested in buying my Alienware machine? Then I would have no issues at all... take the cash from that and add a bit and go intel.

Another thing, it seems that sweep has gone back to ATI for Vid Cards again huh? When I bought my 6800ultra and then the 7950 it was all Nvidia. Glad the two are still pushing each other to go bigger and badder.
Just my 2¢

 

[IH8U]

Honestly I'd wait till January, as there will be lots of deals on the net, and B&M stores too. Not to mention the Phenom II on the 8th, meaning the prices on something like the phenom 9950 will drop significantly. RAM is dirt cheap right now, as are HDD's. As for a case I prefer Antec (same with PSU's, but do like my Zalman).

 

[Outlander_04]

Id wait and upgrade the lot .
I doubt the more powerful gfx cards will work to their full potential in that motherboard , but a 4850 could be a good upgrade to extend your pc's life and then when you do a full upgrade you could get another 4850 for crossfire .

 

[unclefester]

Imho, you would probably be best served to hold out a little longer for a new system. The next generation of technology is on the horizon (be it Intel or AMD). Although one of the cards you listed would more than likely fit into a new build it would be bottlenecked by your current CPU.
You should be able to play Crysis and FarCry wth what you have now, it's just that you won't have all the eye candy.

 

[jmwpom3]

Id wait and upgrade the lot .
I doubt the more powerful gfx cards will work to their full potential in that motherboard , but a 4850 could be a good upgrade to extend your pc's life and then when you do a full upgrade you could get another 4850 for crossfire .

Have they gotten that forgiving now that you could buy cards 6 months apart and have them still match up? I'm not as informed as I'd like to be these days but I remember when SLI first started it was like, buy the same card from the same vendor and even the same lot# if you can do it.
Is xfire a little more forgiving than that these days?