Upgrade or rebuild? Gaming PC - Budget Flexible

[fazzmania]

Hello, thanks for taking a look at my thread.

My current system is as follows

CPU - E7200 @ 2.53ghz
Board - Gigabyte EP35 DS3(No support for current gen chips)
GPU - 9800GTX Black Edition
RAM - 4 Gig DDR2
PSU - Corsair 550 Watt

Native resolution 1680 * 1050.

I am trying to decide whether a partial or complete rebuilt is necessary, I don't really need top of the line so if there's a sweet spot requiring minimal upgrades that would be perfect, however some future proofing would be nice too.
I've been considering just upgrading to a Q9** series quad proc as an easy upgrade since it doesn't need a new board, but obviously that leaves very little options for the future. I also thought of getting a new board and running another 9800GTX in sli, though that option is fairly limited too.

I'm open to be convinced of a full rebuild, my budget could probably be stretched to around $1400 or so. Basically what I'm asking is, should I just sell this system and have a serious look at The recommended build thread?

Thanks for your time, Fazz

 

[gkay09]

A Q9400(Overclocking it would be a good option) + HD 5850 -> ~$480 would suffice to make your PC a potent gaming rig...

 

[fazzmania]

I suppose that would work, and I could upgrade to [strike]SLI[/strike]crossfire with a new board later on... Would the 550 Watt PSU be able to handle the new CPU + GPU ok?

 

[gkay09]

^ That Corsair can easily handle even the HD 5870...But HD 5850 crossfire might not be possible though...

But if you still have double thoughts on the upgrade, seel your PC for a good price, and buy an overall new PC with an i5 and HD 5850, that can be built for ~$1k...

 

[fazzmania]

Think I'm going to go the upgrade route with the Q9400 + 5850 as I don't need absolute bleeding edge, thanks for the help.