Upgrade CPU or GPU?

[capnspiffy1]

Hello,
I am interested in upgrading my comp and dont know which part to upgrade. I have a Pentium Dual Core E2160 (OC'd to 2.7ghz) and a Radeon 4850 512mb card. SHould I upgrade my cpu to something like an E8400 or a g card like the 4870? Im running 3 gig of ram and a 500W psu on a Asus P5K Pro mobo.

 

[lumpy]

Going with e8400 is what i did.O/c too 3.8 rock solid.It depends how much You have to spend.your psu is a little weak imo also.If you had more power You could get another 4850 in sli.

 

[Shadow703793]

^ Can't SLI with a 4850

@OP:What PSU do you have (exact model)? Also depending on what you need consider a Quad core (ie Q6600). The GPU should be good for up to 1600*1200 in most games.

 

[Zenthar]

First, anything "bothering" you about your current build? Any game that do not play as well as you would like? I don't think there really is a point in upgrading "for fun".

 

[lumpy]

My bad.duh cant sli ati stuff.sorry

 

[lumpy]

Zenthar is right,what are Your intentions?Gaming,video encoding,just surfn the net?Whats the goal?

 

[jerreece]

Your video card is fine. If you upgrade anything, I'd go for CPU.

 

[mtyermom]

I agree with jerreece, the cpu is your weakest link at this point. It might be worth wait to see what, if any, effect AMD's new releases will have on the current CPU pricing structure.

 

[Outlander_04]

CPU

an e7300 . Cheap , fast

 

[capnspiffy1]

My intentions are for gaming. I recently bought far cry 2 and the most FPS i can get are around 29 and I've tried every possible resolution/graphic setting combo available. Also, if I upgrade the CPU, will that wipe my copy of Vista? or will it not be affected?

 

[hsetir]

If you game at 16x12 res or higher, a better gpu would give you more benefit.
4870/gtx260 hovering over $200 so are considerable.
My friend with q6600 at 3ghz and 8800gs SC, gets about 30fps all maxed out at 12x10 res. Thus I think upgrading gpu is better.
Also if you use vsync, enable triple buffering in display control panel. It prevents pulling down fps to half of refresh rate if vsync on.