Need opinion about upgrade!!!!!

i have an ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA X48 INTEL MOBO, 1 GB 4870 ATI GFX CARD, INTEL DUAL CORE E8500... my gfx card overheated and is now spotting black bleed through on bf2 lol due to dust build up....my fault I'm an idiot for letting it get that bad...

Anyways i want to upgrade my computer to play BF3! my mobo is socket 775 so if i upgrade my cpu to a quad its gonna cost me at least 300$ for a good one. all the new technology is coming out and some people say i should by a new mobo and cpu.. but the dilemma is i need a new gfx card now. and i know my current cpu will bottleneck the gfx card.

I don't have a lot of money to spend but i was looking at the the new 6970's for around 350$.

I would you proceed if you were me? what would you get first second third? i have a 750 watt corsair power supply just encase you need to know.

Yup. If I was on a budget for gaming computer upgrades, I would first go for a GPU (especially since yours is about to fail).

After that, I would upgrade the mobo/cpu.

What is your budget? If I were you I would grab something like the GTX 560 or 560Ti for under 200dollars with an 1155 socket motherboard/i3-2100 CPU. Then when I get some more extra money, I would buy a 2nd 560 and SLI.

Or just grab a GTX 570 to play with and wait for the new AM3+ 990FX motherboards/bulldozer.

For $300 go with i5-2400 + http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157241

What resolution do you want to game at? For 1080p you can probably get a GTX 560 Ti for like $240 before MIR; for 1366x768 go with a HD 5850 or GTX 460.

Well the problem is the old LGA 775 chips are really overpriced so you're best off going with newer technology. The i5 + motherboard should be about $250 and the graphics card from $160 to $240. You also would need DDR3 but that's like $40 for 4GB.

It's a micro ATX and has onboard sound which is better than most older dedicated sound cards. The heatsink comes with the processor.

The processor is faster than just about anything out there except it's bigger brothers and highly overclocked 1st gen i5s/7s

if you dont want to upgrade to a new motherboard and processor. then get the core 2 quad 9650. it still performs really well in games like the new sandy bridge cpus.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115130


as for gpu. an HD6870 should work really well for your resolution.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150506


let me know if i helped

Dont upgrade your processor/mobo for 1680x1050. Just get a new graphics card and wait until you can afford a new system as the graphics card will trnasfer over. Also yes you can run an Nvidia. I would suggest something more like the Radeon HD 6950 or GTX560Ti for that resolution. Will save you money and max out the game settings. Also you cpu wont bottleneck those card as bad. Just my .02

Yes. Get the new GPU. Like you stated in your original post, your GPU is bleeding through. Grab the 560ti, upgrade your mobo/cpu when you get enough cash, then transfer over your GPU, and SLI it if you need too.

this board will only x-fire sli is not supported on this board. i can run a single nvidia but thats it otherwise its ati