Graphics upgrade or time for a full refresh

[theurbanmyth]

Hi,

I have a 4 year home-build that is now not *quite* cutting it in some of my Steam games (like Shogun 2 - GPU limited) and has started the odd bluescreen. Although a new graphics card would solve my current issue, is it really worth it given I have limited budget, and only one chance to upgrade this year...

Current equipment:
Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H GeForce 7100 Socket 775
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Socket 775 (3.0GHz) 1333FSB 6MB
Corsair 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400
Samsung SM2053BW 20" TFT Monitor 1680x1050
Sapphire HD 4850 512MB GDDR3
Arctic Power 500W PSU

all the rest I'll keep/reuse...

I'm in UK and usually use ebuyer, but to save $/£ conversion, realistically I could either upgrade graphics to around 560i / 7850 / 6870 territory, or try and go low-end new IvyBridge build, with cheaper graphics - but funds will be very limited.
Any thoughts?

 

[wondermonkeys09]

For starters, I would spend more on the gpu. If you want to upgrade the cpu and gpu, I would go with the 6870 and an amd 965. If you are only going to upgrade your gpu, I would get the 7850, since is all around better the 6870, and has much better overclocking than the 560ti. It is also a bit cooler, and slightly faster. (But it cost`s a bit more.) NOTE: I am also fairly new to this, so take my advice with a grain of salt.