Upgrade Advice

[Shrubbry]

Hi all. My first post. I hope I got it in the correct forum. I have been coming here for quite a while getting great advice and info. Now I have a some what specific question.


I'm in the mood to upgrade my pc again but am wondering which component or if I should just wait a bit. I can't decide what will give me the best performance increase right now. I'll list the important specs:

CPU - Phenom II x4 BE (920 I believe, the one that is stock 3.0ghz) OC'd to 3.4 on air. stable and cool!

Mobo - Gigabyte MA790X-UD4P. All current driver, BIOS, etc..

RAM - GSkill 8 GB DDR2 1066

GPU - HD 5850

Win7 64 Ultimate

Does my system run pretty well? Of course. Do I get board and want new components? Yes. I'm not looking to upgrade out of necessity, I just want to see if I can get some more pew pew. By the way I use this rig for gaming and gaming only. I run lots of different games. Most being pretty current with the library ever expanding.

My first thought was to get another 5850 for xfire. I have yet to run a xfire or SLI system. I have always been a little hesitant due to reports of uneven performance gains, some games not supporting it, driver issues, heat issues, etc..

I guess my other option is to make the jump to DDR3. So new mobo, ram and maybe CPU? Can't remember if I can shove this proc into an AM3 mobo. Think so..

What I'm wondering is if I'm going to notice much from any of this. Maybe I should sit back and wait for the 6xxx series to come out. Maybe I'll just buy a new tower to satisfy my craving

Any thoughts?

Thanks all,
-Shrub

 

[Scanlia]

Getting another 5850 will nearly double the performance. All modern games will support it. DDR3 won't make that much of a difference in games. Get a 5850. The 6850 is reported worse than the current 5850. I wouldn't wait.