New CPU or gfx card?

Actually you will a good improvement in game... My bil house sat for us in May and used my 3870 and immediately ordered his upgrade because there was suck a big difference... I would think that going from the 7 series to the 8 is a small bump and would say that you should wait to have a little more to go up one more notch at least...

Most bang for the buck is in the video card though... in order to get a GOOD upgrade in CPU one would usually be lookng at a new mobo too which drives the price up quick...
 
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I would recommend upgrading you graphics card but at only 2.0 ghz it will bottleneck most of the faster graphics cards. I recommend a 4890, newegg has one around 160 dollars with rebate which is amazing considering you can overclock the hell out of that GPU. In the end i say get an aftermarket cooler and overclock your cpu as high as possible and get a new GPU.
 
Well, you could pick up a 9800GT for $100.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130435

And you would definitley see a noticeable improvement in games.

However, for the same $100+ a few more bucks you could get something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103678
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157160

I think doing this would do much more for you computer as a whole than upgrading your video card would. Most importantly, it would greatly increase the speed of your computer as a whole, not just in games. Sure, you would see a greater improvement in games by upgrading to the 9800GT. But that's all the graphics card is going to do for you. Your computer speed while doing everything else will be exactly the same. By upgrading the CPU and mobo first you can greatly improve your computers overall speed AND gaming performance (Albeit not as much as upgrading to the 9800GT, but an increase in performance nonetheless). And actually no that im thinking about it, i'm sure that your current mobo's chipset and Hypertransport speed is old/slow. This mobo has a newer chipset (GeForce 8100) and a higher HT speed (2600MHz Hyper Transport (5200 MT/s) which would be better optimize/increase the data transfer between your CPU, northbridge, and GPU. I highly recommend upgrading your mobo/CPU first.

I'd also watch out, i'm sure Vee is going to jealous of ur new badass PC :)
 
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I concur with the video card upgrade being a priority as well, but try researching REALLY thoroughly first.
If you take the time to price out a few things, you may be able to upgrade the CPU and GPU without spending a rediculous amount of cash. The really tricky part will just be finding a Socket 939 Athlon, as they're getting pretty rare these days.

To accent the importance of patience and research: I saved upwards of $500 on my PC build just by being patient and making sure I found the best prices.
 
TheEnd said:
Absolutely not.
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Hi Vindication.

Also, I have an AM2 slot, and I believe I'm getting a new CPU. Source requires more math calculations than it does rendering power, and I can deal with the rendering so long as it's as powerful as it can be without the CPU dragging it behind. Besides, video cards are easier to come by and they get cheaper faster. I think I'm going for the 3.0GHz Athlon X2 deal.
 
Sykes said:
Hi Vindication.

Also, I have an AM2 slot, and I believe I'm getting a new CPU. Source requires more math calculations than it does rendering power, and I can deal with the rendering so long as it's as powerful as it can be without the CPU dragging it behind. Besides, video cards are easier to come by and they get cheaper faster. I think I'm going for the 3.0GHz Athlon X2 deal.
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good choice. If all you play is source games get the proccessor first. you dont need a super good gpu for source. you just need a good cpu plus you get the cpu now, you can save up more and get the gpu you want in your budget.

ps. get a radeon 4770 if your looking for a budget card. best $100 video card out there.
 
I'll probably get the video card for Christmas. I doubt I'll make money before then ;)
 
Sykes said:
Hi Vindication.

Also, I have an AM2 slot, and I believe I'm getting a new CPU. Source requires more math calculations than it does rendering power, and I can deal with the rendering so long as it's as powerful as it can be without the CPU dragging it behind. Besides, video cards are easier to come by and they get cheaper faster. I think I'm going for the 3.0GHz Athlon X2 deal.
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Lol i'm definitely NOT Vindication. But I am a friend and I know you quite well. Really a shame things went down the way they did. But oh well, as long as ur fraggin' it's all good with me.

Also, I think that's a good choice my friend. Like I was saying, upgrading your CPU is the surest way to improve you systems performance on the whole. Not just in games.

smoochee said:
ps. get a radeon 4770 if your looking for a budget card. best $100 video card out there.
Click to expand...

Ah yes, definitely QFT. Forgot all about the 4770.
 
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TheEnd said:
Lol i'm definitely NOT Vindication. But I am a friend and I know you quite well. Really a shame things went down the way they did. But oh well, as long as ur fraggin' it's all good with me.

Also, I think that's a good choice my friend. Like I was saying, upgrading your CPU is the surest way to improve you systems performance on the whole. Not just in games.
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Hehe, I guess that only narrows it down to a few names. I can hardly think of anyone that thinks what happened was a shame, and not a complete disaster and the most idiotic thing anyone in the clan ever did. But please don't be Pickle. I think I'll have a heart attack if you're Pickle. He hates me now :P

Anyway end of that topic in public forums. Thank you all for your opinions, suggestions, and advice! It's been very helpful, and I'm now getting something completely different than I first planned.

Thanks!
 
Sykes said:
Hehe, I guess that only narrows it down to a few names. I can hardly think of anyone that thinks what happened was a shame, and not a complete disaster and the most idiotic thing anyone in the clan ever did. But please don't be Pickle. I think I'll have a heart attack if you're Pickle. He hates me now :P

Anyway end of that topic in public forums. Thank you all for your opinions, suggestions, and advice! It's been very helpful, and I'm now getting something completely different than I first planned.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Lol na not Pickle. Shoot me a PM if you wanna chat.

Glad you have what you want picked out!
 
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