Upgrade 1.5 year old system

[happydrinker]

I'm looking to spend some money upgrading. Also My brother and a coworker wants a desktop so I could also sell some parts to them (family first tho) and upgrade

current system:


CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 OC'ed to 3.6 on stock fan

MOBO - ASUS P5Q Pro

Video Card - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 512 MB

PSU - PC Power & Cooling S75CF 750W

RAM - OCZ 4GB 2x2GB DDR2 800 PC2 6400

CASE - Antec 300

Hard Drive - Seagate Barracuda 7200.1 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
2X WD black 1TB

DVD Drive - ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA

22" samsung and just bought a 37" tv for use as a 2nd monitor/consoles

uses: Gaming, movies, school, internet

Also just bought a i3 laptop to replace 4 year old laptop. I bought the E8400 cause all background programs run on laptop like msn, downloading, and anything else like that

I'm thinking adding a SSD for the OS, I'd also like a bigger case maybe like the 900 or even 1200 as things are tight in the case and the video card is limiting extra HD's. I'm tempted for a i7 but that involves a new mobo and ram taking me to a whole new system almost, but I rather wait for the new batch of i7's as i think theres a mobo pin change. maybe upgrade to a faster 775 quad?

Really I'm quite happy with the system but I'm looking to spend some $$ and figue my brother could buy my old parts for cheap and save me the trouble of craigslisting them. hes looking for a cheap system.

See anything that stands out?

 

[calguyhunk]

You don't really need a quad for gaming, but really depends on what games you play and @ what resolution.

Your system looks pretty good to me apart from the GFX card.

You did'nt give your budget, but upgrade to a GTX 460 (Fermi) & that should be plenty good.

If you wanna save some money - Radeon HD 5770

I think upgrading the CPU is not totally necessary, but if you really want - Core 2 Quad Q9650 - one of the best, but highly overpriced quads.

I'll say kepp the 8400, get that GTX 460 & keep it at that.

 

[happydrinker]

what about the SSD? I agree, but if my brother were to buy a desktop I could easily sell him the e8400 and pay the difference. Yes I like the 5770. but I think I'l just wait as you said and maybe buy the SSD as I think that right now may be the biggest improvement.

thx for the comment. I'm just on the fence about stuff like the case, I could buy now and when the time comes for an i7 in a year, the new case will still be perfect and overdoing it. Guess I should just save my money til i'm out of school. I noticed HDD came down in price alot and waiting will increase my bang for the buck.

 

[happydrinker]

Best answer selected by happydrinker.

 

[calguyhunk]

For SSD's wait for a couple of months. Newer, faster models are gonna come out & you can either get those, or the current gen ones @ a cheaper rate.

 

[calguyhunk]

Firstly, thanks

Btw, for now the best & fastest SSD's now are from Intel & OCZ (Vertex 2 Pro)