Rig Upgrade: 1000 budget

[MCMK]

Approximate Purchase Date: Post Jan. 2012

Budget Range: 1k

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming

Country: Canada

Parts Preferences: ASUS fanboi

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Yes

Additional Comments: Current parts list:

M488TD-V-EVO USB3.0
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T
4870 (CF) Some random 750
Power Supply Some random 2x2 1600 Ram
HAF-X case
Force 3 120G SSD
1TB+ JBOD HDD's

Was thinking 2x 6950 (fan of the ASUS 6950 Direct CUII
1k+ PSU (for the new GPU's)
Some triple channel RAM

Additional thoughts: The mobo is dated and does not let me take advantage of the front USB 3.0

Basically have one last chunk of money on upgrades and will not have a chance to revisit the RIG for upgrades again for quite some time and am having a hard time figuring out my best bang for my bucks.

Any help or suggestions are welcome.

 

[BohleyK]

Your best bang for the buck would be just to buy another 4GBs of RAM and a new video card. You don't need a whole new machine.

 

[MCMK]

I guess I did not really go in-depth on what kinda info I was looking for in this thread. Let me expand on that.

My GPU's are dated and am considering the one listed in the OP . However I would like them in CF but they are HUGE. What mobo would even accommodate them so they could breath? I do like AMD but as torn as they seem to be having a hard time with AA.

Then there is the eternal debate over the cf/sli vs a single top tier GPU that I am still unsure of.

My x6 AMD processor, from what the interweb is saying, is not being utilized properly by a lot of software and seems, in come cases, to be lacking even behind the x4 models.

That said with 1000 how could I change the config to be optimal mix of CPU, GPU (and PSU i would imagine) with that dollar amount.

It would be most helpful if someone had models to reference as I do enjoy looking things up and researching further options I have not considered.

Thanks

 

[geofelt]

New 7000 series cards are due out at about your purchase time frame. But the high end cards won't be out till later, as will kepler.

From a graphics point of view, you can go with a single GTX580 and a 600w psu. Or, you could go cf 6850 and a 750w psu for about the same price.
GTX580 will be more consistent, but cf 6950 will give you better fps benchmarks. Budget about $500-$600 for either depending on if you can reuse your current psu.

For the cpu, you have discovered that core count past 2 or three is not much use for gaming. Core power is. A X4 is a good gaming chip in the mid priced range, but will not be significantly better than your X6.

If you want a big change, the Intel 2500K is by far the best gaming cpu, plan on $200 there.

A P67 or X68 based motherboard will be $100 if a single card will do, or $150 if you need cf/sli.

4gb is a bit short on ram. If you can manage 64 bit, then get an extra 4gb. A matched 8gb kit will ba $50 or so.

That comes neatly to your $1000 budget. Shop well, and you can do better.