Future CPU Upgrades?

[tweakbz]

I know some of my fellow readers are keen on what hardware trends one might see, and I wanted to tap into that knowledge and see what might be "best" (or second-best) this time next year, if anyone knows? (Aside from SandyBridge) ... Also, I'm an Intel fanboy, though if AMD has something very nice, I might go with that. Really depends on a lot of variables. So, last year I build the system noted in my signature(Core i7 920, DDR3, etc) and loved it. Around the middle of this year, I deployed overseas (for a year!) and I will not return until late summer 2011...And I was wondering if I should see what's available first and perhaps build a whole new system, or just go for a PSU / GPU upgrade?

I had planned on getting a new pair of GPUs to begin with, but I am wondering this: Even if I did it right now, would I be facing some type of bottleneck if I purchased a new GTX 580 or 6xxx series if I didn't get a higher-end CPU? Would I be fine with a basic upgrade or would I have to build a new platform? I'm a pretty big gamer and was (mostly) satisfied with my rig, although I could've gone with higher-end GPUs.

What would you guys do? Stay with what you have, upgrade here and there, or go with an all new platform? I ask now and this far out from coming home that way I can adjust my budget accordingly and figure out what I'm going to do! (I like to plan long term...)

Thanks for the info, folks!

 

[Emperus]

The X58 platform is plenty strong for you to think of replacing it so soon (especially considering the fact that your query is from a gamer's perspective).. 3.2 GHz is a baby number compared to what you can reach on that chip using the H50.. So save your cash and go for a dual GTX 570 setup.. That should give you enough graphics horsepower for all available games currently and future.. Your processor can easily reach upto 4.0 GHz which should help clear up any bottlenecks also..

 

[tweakbz]

Even that far ahead? It's going to be like 10 months before I see my rig again In any case, I'm liking the answers! When I overclocked the cpu, I had a typical HSF on it, not the H50, and I didn't even think to OC any higher. I saw that Corsair released the H70 with a few revisions...I have the push-pull setup on mine. Figure that's plenty of juice; I don't really plan on a serious water solution.

So yeah, thanks guys! Two GTX 570s sounds good. I bet this time next year though there will be something better, so we'll see. Appreciate it

 

[tweakbz]

Nice article..thank you!

 

[Emperus]

Yeah.. It'll be plenty good 10 months and more from now surely.. And yes, there will be better video cards by that time and so, you can save your cash and worries for then..