Need help deciding on upgrade or crossfire

[harr89]

Hello,

I currently have a radeon 5850 that I may consider upgrading to a gtx 580. However I also have thoughts of just adding on another 5850 if I overhaul my system all together as im using a motherboard from an even older system (p35-ds3l). Im currently running a q9550 and I would like to upgrade to an i7-950 (230 @ microcenter) coupled with a msi big bang motherboard.

So basically I am looking at either

A)changing to a different socket 775 mobo with more stable cpu power for higher oc on q9550 + crossfire ability. ~500 USD

B) overhauling entire system including ram, power supply, video card, processor, mobo, and a case. ~2k USD

This upgrade would last me for a year+ most likely if I dont get impulsive as well as increase my capabilities of running multiple copies of vmware and maxing out video games @ my current resolution of 1920 x 1200. The real question is whether this investment may be worth the cost now or if im better off waiting for cyber monday/black friday.

Any help is appreciated

 

[geofelt]

1) That $230 microcenter deal is a great one.
2) The MSI big bang motherboard is very expensive, considering you can do about as well with a $200 motherboard like the asus sabretooth. The advantage of X58 is that you can get more ram, up to 24gb for vm machines.
3) I would not invest more on a 775 based system. Plan on selling the parts off.
4) With sandy bridge launch(jan 9 rumored) I think I would wait for that.
5) On a single monitor @ 1920 x 1200, the GTX580 should be able to run anything well. If you are looking at triple monitor gaming only then should you be looking at sli. I would do the GTX580 now, and see how you do.
6) ATI high end cards are delayed to december. Only then might there be price pressure on the GTX580 cards.

 

[Zenthar]

My 2 cents. The 5850 was never a high-end card so why would you need one now? Investing on a LGA775 system might be wasteful now unless you get a really great deal somewhere like finding a used Gigabyte EP45 board that support XFire in x8x8 for about ~50$ then adding a 2nd 5850. Otherwise I think your best bet might be to wait for Sandy Bridge since it will introduce new sockets.