Just your opinion on an upgrade

[CenT]

Greetings,

Currently I have this setup:

CPU: AMD64 3500+
MOBO: ASUS, 939 socket, AGP (no PCI express)
RAM: 2x 512MB
GFX: 6800GT 256MB AGP
HD: SATA

I bought it about 1,5 year ago, when it was quite highend. Only a bit higher cpu and the 6800GTX were out at that moment.
I'm from belgium, and since they always try to rip off as much money from us when buying electronics, I payed near to 2000€ (440€ for gfx, 440€ for my 19inch lcd) for my full setup.

I think I will only need a mobo/cpu/gfxcard update in the nearfuture. Perhaps wait until christmas/newyear to start looking out for new gear.

What do you guys/girls think about updating this system at the current date or any possible date in the future?

[Fozzik]

How much you want to spend for the upgrade is going to have a significant effect on things. I hate to say this, but if you want to clear up any possible bottlenecks and make the machine ready for future upgrades (1 or 2 years from now), you are basically going to need a new machine. THe hard drive is probably fine, but motherboard, memory, graphics, and CPU will all have to be changed.

Everything very much ties together. You want PCI-Express so you can have the best selection of graphics cards. Getting a new motherboard for PCI-Express means that you will want to get the new socket (either go Intel or AMD's new one), which means a new CPU and new memory (DDR2).

I would start saving up and planning on building a new machine. The hard drive can probably carry over (with a reformat), but everything else has got to go. Probably the first few months of next year will be a very good time to buy...if you can wait that long it would be good.

If you really want to buy now, take a look at my recommended systems for $1000 or $1500. The components in those systems will perform really well for you and give you the best change of upgrades in the future.

Honestly, the machine you have isn't bad at all for most current games... it's a shame that it can't be more easily upgraded. Future titles are going to be tough to play (mostly due to the graphics card) and because of the AGP to PCI-Express transition...a new graphics card basically means a whole new system. :(

[CenT]

Well, I've saved enough. Problem is that prices here are much higher than in the US I'm afraid.

But I'd always look for putting together a high end system again, but one that has some possibilities for future upgrades.
I would not give more than 500$ for a gfxcard, that's all. Same goes for the CPU.

So I would have like 1000-1500 to buy the new MOBO/CPU/RAM/GFX

I'll keep looking and reading up here, forum and you site has some nice information on them.

I'd prefer Geforce and I'm not really sure about cpu, I've always been a amd fanboy, but as for the future... seems that intel is knocking amd of his feet...

[Fozzik]

As you'll probably notice around the boards, the best advice right now for anyone thinking of getting a new high-end computer is to wait. With the big change that is coming very soon in graphics cards...it will be very beneficial to hold off as long as you can.

It is unlikely that I would recommend a graphics card that is over $500. The price to performance ratio is not very good when you get up that high.

ATI has new version of their cards on the way in about two weeks, and then both ATI and NVidia have next-gen architectures coming before the end of the year.

Intel does currently have a pretty large lead in performance and value in many cases. Not in all cases, though...and there are lots of things to factor into the decision. In the next few months there will be a much wider selection of Intel motherboards available...and it may be difficult to recommend AMD, at least for a little while. AMD's roadmap is very confusing right now, but my guess is that it won't be too long before we see an answer (at least in part) to Intel's new chips.

[Slide]

Well, I've saved enough. Problem is that prices here are much higher than in the US I'm afraid.

Can you not buy from the UK or Germany? Prices here are of course higher than the states but i'd guess cheaper than Belgium.